Robotics Themes & Projects
Robots Go To School
following is the overview of a school specific robotics project that I undertook with students at Melbourne Grammar Junior School in April this year. It is a creative example of applying robotics to a themed project. The students had two half day sessions with me for the robotics programming and concept plan. The art teacher then worked with another group of students to make the campus "icons" - the oak tree, tower and MGS front gates, and paint the base mat ( thin mdf wood). Whilst this short time allocation was not ideal, students made significant headway with programming and I feel sure that with another half day the programming and project would have been perfected.
Project Overview
The idea was to create a symbolic school campus mat for the robot "students" to roam on. The robots would undertake various "classes" on the campus and change "classes" each time the period bell rang. The project encompassed several facets - make and decorate a symbolic campus, decorate the student robots, test all the thresholds and then program the robots, share your program with the 2 other groups and then run the robots.
After discussion and planning, the students created and decorated a symbolic “Melbourne Grammar - Grimwade House campus base- board approximately 2.5 x 3 m with artistic additions of some of the campuses iconic features such as the towering oak tree
The image at right represents the schematic that resulted from the students initial discussion and planning session
The robot"students" were programmed to undertake "lessons"
Due to time constraints students started with the basic NXT robot and modified and decorated 4 Robots to look like ( we used photos and poly-balls) themselves:
1. Aerobic Dancing Robot
2. Art Robot
3. Soccer Robot
4. Music Robot
1 The Aerobic dancing robot executed 3 different dance sequences each initiated by the sound sensor ( class bell) . This robot stayed in the aerobic gym, ( pink area) kept in by the light sensor and the black tape.
2 The Art Robot will stared it’s sequence drawing at the easel when the first period bell rang. The Robot drew until the bell rang again and it then backed up ( an exact distance in) , turned to the red line and then followed the right edge of red line until it saw green ( soccer field) to it’s next class-soccer.
It then played soccer until the bell rang again. The Robot then located the right edge of the black line and line followed until the light sensor saw the silver tape at the music room. It then commenced to play the drums.
When the bell sounded again it then backed up, turned to the blue line and then follow the right edge of blue line until it saw the silver tape , it will then stop and play the drums in it's music class
3 The Soccer Robot started it’s sequence playing soccer on the oval until the bell rang. The Robot then located the right edge of the black line and line followed until the light sensor "saw" the silver tape at the music room.
At Music the robot commenced to play the drums. When the bell sounded again it then backed up, turned to the blue line and then followed the right edge of blue line until it "saw" the silver tape at the Art class.
At the easel the Robot drew until the bell rang again ,it then backed up, turned to the red line and then followed the right edge of red line until it "saw" green ( soccer field) and stoped back where it started
The photo above shows the execution of the students' plan
4 The Music Robot When the bell sounded the music robot commenced to play the drums. When the bell sounded again it backed up, turned to the blue line and then followed the right edge of blue line until it "saw" the silver tape.
At the easel the Robot drew until the bell rang again , it then backed up, turned to the red line and then followed the right edge of red line until it "saw" green ( soccer field).
It then played soccer until the bell rang again. The Robot then located the right edge of the black line and line followed until the light sensor "saw" the silver tape at the music room and stopped back wher it began
Each group only programed their robot’s activity and then shared their program with the other groups . ( except Aerobics)
The students cut, pasted and modified the shared programs and added them into their program so that each robot started at a different "class", executed 2 other "classes" and ends up back at their starting point ( except Aerobics)
The Robot’s Build
All 3 Robots needed to be mechanically the same, as all 3 needed to be able to do the 3 activities. Groups shared ideas and collaborated on one agreed build design based on the standard NXt robot plus an additional motor
i.e.- Add Motor A so that the robot can draw and play the drums
Each pairof students ( excluding Aerobics Robot) was responsible for handing onto the other 2 groups a copy of their full program
Programming - Degree of Complexity
The students worked with light threshold readings, converting rotational degrees to linear movement and sound sensor callibrations to program their robots
It was gratifying to watch the students focus on the tasks at hand with such single-mindedness. Whilst the programming still needed fine-tuning it was pparent to all that the students had a firm understanding of what they were doing and how to do it
It's worth noting that these students were fifth and sixth grade students with liminted/no programming experience. It was a pleasure to work with students who had such enthusiasm.
