Due: *Monday* October 11th (paper due the following Monday.)
Note that October 11th looks like a Wednesday on normal Calendars, but it is a Monday in Bridgewater.
This is a modification of a lab from Rowan University. In this lab your robot will measure a cardboard box. You will use a gopigo robot to do the project. Your robot will have to sense the box and measure how far is has traveled when it believes that it has gone beyond the end of the box.
Each group has the standard robot kit in the lab. The bin contains:
A gopigo robot
with raspberry pi
gopigo board
sensors
1 Sonar Sensor
1 I2C distance sensor (provided they get here when I expect)
the builtin encoders
If you are missing something, you need to let me know ASAP - don't go scavenging.
Two cardboard
boxes are also at the back of the lab for you to practice on. A new
box will be used for demonstrations on Oct 11th.
As previously mentioned, the lab is available anytime that the Science Building is open except for during a class.
Comp 206 meets the times in this lab this semester:
Your task is to build and program a robot that can do one or both of the following tasks. Note that the first task can give you a maximum grade of 89 (B+) if done perfectly, while the second , harder task can get you a full 100% if done perfectly. However if not done well, both projects can earn you much lower grades. It is better to get the first task working well and then start working on the second task rather than just starting on the second task and not getting it working very well.
Task 1: Your robot must calculate the volume of the box, having been given the depth and the height of the box by the instructor, with your robot measuring the width of the box. You must have a way of entering the depth and height information into the robot. You can assume that the depth and height that you will be given as integers, however you should make no such assumptions for the width that the robot measures. (it should be a floating point value) All measurements will be in centimeters. When your robot has traversed and measured the width of the box, it should display the volume of the box on its display.
Task2: Your robot must calculate the volume of the box, having been given the height of the box by the instructor, with your robot measuring the width and depth of the box. As above, you need a way of entering the integer height of the box into the robot. Your robots measurements of the width and depth are to be done as floating point values though. Again measurement will be in centimeters. When your robot is done measuring , it needs to print out the volume of the box that is has calculated.
Sensor calibrations: the box will be cardboard and at least 6 inches high and at least 6 inches in both lenght and width. Beyond that nothing is guaranteed.
Don't move the box. The box will be light and might move if your robot runs into it - this will give you incorrect readings for sure.
Have fun with it and I look forward to seeing your projects.
The project report is a report of what you tried to do, what you did, what you learned and what you accomplished. To make my correcting easier, let me give you guidelines on what I'd like to see in it. Make sure you use section headings to make each section easy to find.
Introduction
this is where you explain the problem you were trying to solve and why it is relevant
Robot design
Here tell me what sort of robot you designed (in hardware). Tell me what worked and what did not work. Discuss what you learned based on what worked and what did not. Some of the robot is setup for you, but sensor placement is up to you and could make a great deal of difference.
Software design
Here discuss what sort of control program you built. Again tell me what worked and what did not. Discuss what you learned about robot control software from your experience. Discuss your approach and its relevance to both the current task at hand and the general problem of robots acting in the world.
Concluding discussion
Summarize what you learned. Consider the following target audience: next year's robotics students. In this section, summarize from the preceding sections all of the worthwhile dos and don'ts that you discovered in doing this lab. It is not really relevant that your robot did really great unless you tell the reader why. Think about what you would have liked to know when you first saw this lab, and if you have any insights after doing the lab, share them here.