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.