News Feed: Week 9

During this week of engineering lab, we've accomplished many things. The robot is pretty much finalized and is working the way it was planned. The only thing that it needs work on is the touching of the buttons, but that can be fixed fairly easily. The manual is still being worked on and will be finished before the final week of engineering labs. The final report and presentation is also being worked on. We wanted to show our audience what we've been actually working on and on top of this post is a video that exemplifies that. As you can see, that is the basic function of the robot and we're expecting elementary students to build and program that exact same robot in an elementary classroom with ease as long as they have the lab manual with them.

News Feed: Week 8

During this week of engineering lab, we got a finalized idea of how we're going to go along with the robot arm approach. We have the code already complete and all we need to do is test it before week 9. If it doesn't work, then additional tweaks might be required. The light sensor was already tested and it ran successfully. The color sensor also worked separately from the entire code. We're assuming the entire code will work according to the results we obtained from operating them separately. The manual for the experiment for the children is being written according to the programming. The manual still needs a bunch of work and we're assuming it is going to be composed of four parts: The building of the body, The building of the arm, The functions of the sensors, and The programming. With these categories we're assuming children would be able to conduct this experiment by themselves.

News Feed: Week 7

During the week of week 7, most of the programming was written. Since we finally obtained a color sensor, and got the color sensing codes to function on the NXT G program, the biggest part of the programming was finished ( line sensing and color sensing code ). The code needs a bit of tweaking, but it would still function if it were to be run on the actual experiment. As for the robot design itself, we decided that the arm needed more work. So on top of working on the code, we worked on remodeling the arm. While the guys were working on these aspects of the project, the girls started to write the manual for executing the experiment. Summaries of the program were given to them and the function of the robot was explained to them so they can write effective directions to approach the experiment. On top of everything, we're actually trying to get the actual light boards to work. It's not finalized yet if it works or not. Here are some pictures of what we've been doing and what we've accomplished:

News Feed: Week 6

Last week we decided to design a similar project to one of the Engineering 102 projects from last term.  This week we picked up the wall with flashing colors and lights for our project. With this wall we can now proceed to attach an arm and sensors to the robot. We also decided which sensors we would like to use in this project. We chose the color sensor to decide whether or not a button should be pressed and either the ultrasonic sensor or the light sensor to stay parallel to the wall.There is a key difference in which our robot will not have to turn because we feel that the sharp turn would be too difficult for the kids to successfully execute.

basically our group is building up a robot model that is similar to the one in the video below, except that ours should be simpler since its for a different age group (1st - 4th graders)

News Feed: Week 5

In this week’s lab, we fixed the blog format, added new comments for what we are going to do in week 5. We also talked about possible designs for the robot and processes to complete the program. We discussed where the third motor would be best placed depending on the height of the wall. We also feel that something that extends out of the robot would be better than a claw but are waiting for your input before acting upon that thought. As for the program we are waiting to see the wall and finalize the design ideas before continuing. If possible we will talk to students who have already completed the project in the past few years and receive input from them.

News Feed: Week 4

During week 4 we received the Lego NXT robotics kit and began designing models of projects. We looked into past projects done and brainstormed ideas for a project that we would want to do. We decided to build a tri-bot platform onto which the students could add sensors and write code which would complete objectives that we place. One of the ideas that we were considering was to have the students design the robot to follow a line until they reach either a colored area or an object and bring the object back to a designated location. We were also thinking about having the students make use of the speakers on the bot to say which colored object it was picking up.

News Feed: Week 3: Design Proposal

This week we read up on other experiments for the NXT kit we are purchasing. We discussed possible experiments and have started to brainstorm about what idea we can use for our experiment. In addition we wrote up a design proposal which is posted below.

Introduction

            Engineering and robotics are growing more and more popular with today's youth. Many high schools and middle schools have robotics teams where kids come together and learn some of the basic aspects of engineering. This is  greatly beneficial for a growing field, however, for those who do not get involved engineering remains a mystery.

            Our goal is to create a robotics project using a Lego NXT robotics kit that first through fourth graders will be able to use. While there are plenty of activities for fifth through eighth graders, there is a surprising lack of activities for younger children. We hope that by designing an experiment for children of that age group we can spark interests earlier and give children a small taste of what engineering is about at a young age. We hope that by doing this we can increase interest, knowledge and enthusiasm about engineering.

Project Constraints

When Engineers plan to do a design project, a couple of constraints should be considered,

1-     Design Constraint:

·         Since our audience is first to fourth graders, the robot design should not be complicated, so kids would be able to build up a robot that is similar to our pre-built base by them-selves.

·         Moreover, the function of the robot must be easy and interesting. Kids should be able to understand how the programming works.

2-     Time Constraint:

·         Since the kit will be delivered in week 4, an approximation of 5 - 6 weeks should be in consideration to finish building up the Robot.

3-     Budget Constraint:

·         The estimated cost should not exceed $300, so that schools can purchase it and get the benefit of it. Furthermore, parents would buy it and let their kids play with it.

Timeline

·         Week 1: a group was formed. A project has been selected from the section themes. A blog was initiated with the group contact information and a brief introduction of the project.

·         Week 2: we decided to purchase the NXT Lego, since it is has some features that may assist children to play with.

·         Week 3: Design proposal was written

·         Week 4: come up with an idea about the robot functionality

·         Week 5: build up the robot and play with the programming

·         Week 6: using NXT Lego software to develop simple codes

·         Week 7: have children test the experiment

·         Week 8: modify experiment based on children’s feedback

·         Week 9: finalize the experiment and test it before the presentation

·         Week 10: presentation

Materials

For the particular experiment, it was decided within the group to use the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit. This kit was chosen for its multiple functions that are provided by the kit; and can also be executed by a variety of age levels. The NXT kit was considered over the Lego WeDo robotics kit for several reasons. The WeDo robotics kit stated that it would be more appropriate for the grades of one through four, but the level of discipline was too simple for them to do and for the group to carry out a good experiment. The WeDo kit only involved building structures that have basic movements, while the NXT kit has a plethora of experiments and functions that can be utilized and carried out by the children. The NXT kit experiments can be made up simple enough by the group for children to work on. It's also advantageous for the group members because every group member had some experience with the NXT kit from last semester due to an engineering project. With all of the background knowledge and the amount of different experiments that can be carried out by one kit, there was no argument on which kit should be used to make experiments for the children, and the kit turned out to be the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit.

       

Figure 1: Lego WeDo kit that was                          Figure 2: Lego Mindstorms NXT that was chosen

considered an option for the project.                       for the experiment.

References

LEGO. (2011). LEGO Education WeDo Robotics Construction Set. [Online]. Available: http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/lego_education_wedo_robotics_construction_set/2096

LEGO. (2011). LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Base Set. [Online]. Available: http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/v_lego_sup_reg_sup_mindstorms_sup_reg_sup_education_nxt_base_set/2095

Robotics Learning. (2011, September 31). LEGO Robotcs Kids Class Descriptions. [Online]. Available: http://www.roboticslearning.com/kids.html