Monday, November 10, 2008

The Course Robot

The key points from chapter six to remember when building are:
  • Modularity
  • Balance - low center of gravity = stability
  • lightweight and strong as possible
  • Proper structural support
Of these points, as my partner and I are planning to create a robot that is both slim, low to the ground and light-weight; we will use the concepts of balance, lightweight structural support and keeping the robot low to the ground. These will keep the robot from flipping over during the various obstacle course challenges as well as reduce unneeded weight which could slow down the robot. More to come...

...Today we worked on programming the robot to make the first leg of the course. This included setting up a light sensor and touch sensor as well as getting the robot to run straight. For the most part the program was successful, however the robot had difficulties in keeping a straight path. For the challenge this will be our main concern.

For Monday we will have to setup the program for the ultrasonic sensor as well as create the evasion program for our ultrasonic sensor on the last leg of the course.

After COUNTLESS on-course tests and the never ending re-balancing of the our course-bot...and admittedly due to calculating the angles at which the robot generally steered off of course...Hakyoon and I finally managed to navigate the obstacle course, scoring perfect 10's across the course with the exception of the last leg where the robot skimmed the can and earned us a lowly 7 :S

4 comments:

a_kennedy said...

good ideas but do you have any way to institute them as of now? just seams like there gonna be hard to do onec your there if you dont have a plan, happened to us at least

c.cuthbert said...

good points, great ideas.

K.Yong said...

"Modularity" what does this exactly mean in Lego format?

l.clark said...

Responding to err Kenny I think...
Modularity in terms of LEGOs means constructing robots essentially in certain 'parts'.
For example, when building our course robot, we had 6 main parts: The body/chassis, the motor attachment w/wheels, the ultrasonic attachment, the light sensor attachment,the sound sensor attachment and the structure supporting the NXT block itself. Each of these parts where separately constructed and could be detached with ease.