Lego Robotics Project

The whole Lego robotics project consisted in first building five different robots and programming them in RoboLAB. The second part was to build the same five robots but this time we had to program them in Not Quite C. The final and most important part of the project was the final competition. In this last part of the project, we had to create a robot that would would clear out some rocks (Ping pong balls) and boulders (Tennis balls) from Mars (White mat).
The first five robots we built were:

Turning robot
This is the first robot we had build. Its main objective was to go forward and whenever it hit something, it would turn 90 degrees and then go forward again. In order to complete this job, we added a touch sensor on the front of the robot and built a bumper in front of it. For the sensor to be activated, it had to be pushed or it had to hit something.

Caged robot
Using the same base robot from the turning robot, we build this one and programmed it in RoboLAB and in Not quite C. The main purpose of this robot was to stay inside of a loop. To make sure it successfully complete the required task, we put a light sensor on the front; its job was to tell the robot to go in reverse and then turned wherever it sensed the black line the surrounded the loop.

Path Robot
This robot was very similar to the caged robot, in fact, we did not change anything but the program. instead of having to stay inside the black loop, this robot was supposed to follow that path, and go around it three times. To complete this assignment, we just changed the reading on the light sensor. Whenever it sensed white, it would turn a little, that way it stayed in the path.

Walking Robot

The main purpose of this robot was to walk 10 feet, stop and then play a song. To build a walking robot, we had to used both motors. We built some kind of legs with the Lego's that were connected to the motors. When the motors were on, the robot actually walked.

Carpet cleaner
for this part pf the project, we used the same model from the path robot. The purpose of this robot was to push 20 ping pong balls out of a white mat. To complete this objective, we used the program from the caged robot. The only thing we had to change was the color reading on the sensor since the mat we used for this one was brighter and it was also a different material. With this robot, we got a record of 42 seconds untils Kyle's group came with their huge robot and got away with a record of 12 seconds.

March 31

Today all the first five robots were due in NQC. One of the few problems we had with this one was that the caged robot wasn't staying inside the loop, but after modifying the program it worked out really good. We completed the first five today and should be ready for the final competition.

Final competition

Before the final competition a new memeber, Katia, was welcomed in our group.

As said before, this robot is on a mission to Mars and it is supposed to completely remove some rocks and boulders from a given area. Each rock (Ping pong balls) removed is worth 1 point. Each boulder( Tennis balls) is worth 4 points. In the middle of the mat, there are two zones; zone 1 and zone 2. Zone 1 is worth 10 points and zone 2 is 50 points. In order for the team to get points for zone 2, zone 1 has to be clear.

The competition consists of 3 attempts of 3 round each. Every round is three minutes long. The team is allowed to pick up their robot any time within the three minutes for their own benefit.

For this competition, we decided to create a whole new robot that looked like the path robot. We added a bumper on the front along with a light sensor.

First attempt (April 14)
Throughout the semester we learned to program in C and NQT. The first 5 robots of this project can be described as practice for this final competition. Today, we were given about an hour to work on whatever we needed to work on. The program used for the first attempt did not work the way we wanted to and we ended up with no points for these first three rounds. When the final round was over we were last, but this only made us stronger for the next competition..

Second attempt (April 23)
Today, after taking a test, we headed down to the lab. We did not have time to work on anything. We were supposed to have everything ready for today. For this second try, we wrote a much simpler program much like the one used for the path robot but with a touch sensor. We also reinforced it and made it stronger. After the first round and clearing out zone 1we were in first place, so we decided not to modify anything. When the second round came, the team started out real good, but in the middle of the round, the left wheels came off which made us lose a lot of valuable points. During the third round, we did not do so good and ended this part of the competition in third place.

Presentation (April 28)

Before the final part of the competition, we had our project presentation. We started with a general introduction made by one member of each group. This intro lasted for about 12 minutes. After we were done with the intro, our team was first. We begun by explaining the final competition. We talked about the experience we had during our first attempt and how we solved the problems to have a better second try. We also emphasized in the changes that were to be made for the final three rounds. We explained the programs used throughout this competition and how they were repaired. Our group was not able to bring the robot to this presentation because it was broken in pieces due to some inconvenient from the day before. The changes made to the robot were also mentioned. When the presentation was over, we were able to go work on our programs and robots.

Third and final attempt (April 30)

For this part, we used the same program from part 2. We added a pivot wheel to the robot which made it faster without the need of increasing the power. We also changed the batteries to make sure the robot would not die in the middle of the competition. Changing the batteries affects the light sensor so we modified the the readings on the light sensor. During the first round, we took first place again. For the second round we were down to third place. In this round, just like in the first one, the robot got stuck with one of the barriers and we had to pick it up. In the third round, the bumper started to brake off but the robot was still going and gaining points. Toward the end, one side of the bumper got in the way of the touch sensor. When the robot hit one of the barriers, due to the broken bumper, it got stuck. At the end of the competition we were in fourth place. This was one exciting competition.

This picture shows how joyful it is when one of your opponent's robot (Kyle and Justin haha) gets stuck.

Videos coming up...

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For this project, we had to write a technical paper. When we started writing the paper we decided to look up the definition of engineering online. Wikipedia.com was very helpful when it came to finding this definition so we got the definition and changed some stuff around and some words. What we did not think about was that another group was going to do the same thing and put the wikipedia definition of engineering on their paper. When Mr. Krall went through the first draft, he realized that two papers had a similar definition and he decided to look it up online. I guess this wasn't such a good idea. Don't do it.

In general, the project was a lot of fun..a lot of lessons learned. Make sure nobody steals parts from your kit. Be careful with your robot. Don't kick it by mistake and don't step on the ping pong balls.

This was an awesome class!!