March 30, 2004 1

Prairie Creek Elementary RoboClub

March 30, 2004 Meeting

March 30, 2004 2

Today’s Agenda

Robot of the week Teams GEAR Robotics Challenge 2004

Challenge description and rules Brainstorm solutions (individual teams) Share ideas Homework assignment

8:25 Snacks

March 30, 2004 3

Robot of the Week

RoverBot! It has taken us a long way Characteristics:

Differential drive (one motor to drive each side)

Touch sensors on each side Good for collision avoidance

Light sensor pointing down Good for edge detection

Advantages: Simple, solid drive train Uses all your sensors

Drawbacks: Slow (good for line following)

Gears could be changed Sensor assembly is flimsy

Can you improve this?

March 30, 2004 4

Teams

Team # Team Name Student

1 OlicatsCaitlin

Olivia

2 “Theee” Computer NerdsJake

Dylan

3 TechnolobytesTravis L.

Hunter

4 LonghornsJosh

Branden

5The Guess WhoTeam Undecided

The Procrastinators

Trent

Shyam

7 The Nerds of 127JKRBrooks

Philip

8 MoonrakerTravis G.

Cubby

March 30, 2004 5

GEAR Robotics Challenge 2004

Operation Demolition

Competition is Saturday, May 1 Time TBD? At Richland Elementary

Practice day Saturday, April 24 Noon to 4 pm At Richland Elementary

We have less than 5 weeks to get ready TAKS testing the week of April 26, too

March 30, 2004 6

Operation Demolition

A decommissioned nuclear reactor must be demolished

The reactor area is too contaminated for humans

A robot must be sent in to Turn on the emergency backup cooling valve Remove all the radioactive material

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The Game

The emergency valve is a rectangular panel on the side of the table It must be pushed for ½ second to activate Worth 10 points

50 orange wooden blocks are slightly radioactive Must be moved to scoring zone Worth 1 point each

2 yellow wooden blocks are the reactor core Also move to scoring zone Worth 10 points each

Human contact only in end zone Four teams play simultaneously

March 30, 2004 8

Playing Field

1.5”

Side View of Reactor Platform

March 30, 2004 9

Brainstorming Session

Break up into teams Think of ideas to help solve the challenge What can you do to get more points than your

competitors? Robot design (size, shape, speed, strength, and so forth) Software design (what kinds of programs would work?) Operation: how the player can operate the robot Offensive and defensive strategies

Wild, crazy ideas are okay. Add more ideas to those of your partner You have 15 minutes Parents: side meeting while teams brainstorm

March 30, 2004 10

Brainstorm Logsheet

Robot Design Software Design

Operation (Things player can do) Strategy (Offense & Defense)

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Parent support

Activity will be less structured now That means your help is more valuable than ever

Parents can really help the children succeed Help them focus their effort (but allow room for creativity and

failure) Challenge their ideas with open ended questions

How would you solve this problem? Can you think of any other way? What are some problems you might have with your idea?

Only students may design and build the robot Adults may assist with troubleshooting design problems

Teams will make fastest progress if at least one parent helps each week I know this may be tough. Just do your best.

March 30, 2004 12

Brainstorm Results: Robot Design

Treads; strong; Turn arms to scoop forward Light sensor front & center Shield & spear to deflect other ‘bots Center touch sensor Hockey stick to push blocks & offensive weapon Sweep on back to get stuff missed; light sensor

on back Small wheels in front, large on back Faster, line follower Stong & fast Big claw in front to scoop all at once Change gears so it is faster.

March 30, 2004 13

Brainstorm Results: Software Design

Forward then left or right as required according to time

Boomerang kind of thing, scooping up and returning to base

Boomerang with touch sensor to decide when to return

Diabolical laugh at every bump

March 30, 2004 14

Brainstorm Results: Operation

Interlocking parts and matching programs for each configuration

March 30, 2004 15

Brainstorm Results: Strategy

March 30, 2004 16

Rules

Match is 2 minutes long Only one team member at table 60 second set up and clean up times

1 point penalty for each additional 30 seconds Robot must fit entirely within 10”x10” start box at

start of round After start, player may handle robot anywhere in

end zone All scoring must be done by the robots Only the robot may touch game pieces in the No

Human Zone (NHZ) 1 point penalty for each human touch Blocks scored with human assist return to center area

March 30, 2004 17

Rules (continued)

Penalty for touching ‘bot in NHZ: Must return ‘bot to end zone Lose any blocks the ‘bot currently controls 1 point penalty

Player may touch robot in the end zone and any blocks ‘bot has moved into the zone May rearrange ‘bot and blocks and run a program to push

blocks into scoring zone May repair ‘bot or change its configuration May run a different program

Robot may collect blocks from other teams’ scoring zones

March 30, 2004 18

Rounds

5 Seeding rounds Random match with 3 other teams for each round Lowest score of 5 will be dropped Ranked by sum of remaining 4 scores

Semi-final rounds Top 8 seeded teams 6-round mini-tournament

Final rounds Top 4 teams 3-round mini-tournament

March 30, 2004 19

The Robot

Must fit into 10x10 inch square prior to start of each match May exceed dimensions after the start

Must use only allowed materials (next slide) Other materials may be added for decoration only No tethering devices or devices exclusively to

hinder other robots Have asked for clarification of this rule

March 30, 2004 20

Robot Construction Materials

May use any of the LEGO parts in your kits Maximum: 1 RCX, 2 motors, 2 touch sensors, 1 light sensor

Also: 1 – 20 oz plastic soda bottle Paper clips (any size and amount) Rubber bands (any size and amount) 1 – 8.5”x11” file folder 1 – Empty tissue box (any size) 2 – Wooden pencils 1 – Paper towel tube String (any amount) Tape (but no duct tape) Paper glue Aluminum foil (any amount) Drinking straws (any amount)

March 30, 2004 21

Engineering Notebook

Optional Best one will receive “Young Engineers Award” No more than 10 pages

Cover page with school, team name, and teacher name Typed, double spaced, Times or Arial fonts, 1” margins Bound

Describe how team used the engineering process Pictures and diagrams are strongly encouraged Judging criteria

Brainstorming approaches used by team Originality/creativity of design Use of engineering process Use of analytical tools (Excel, for example) Overall quality of notebook

Due April 24 by the end of practice day

March 30, 2004 22

Awards

Game 1st, 2nd and 3rd place overall

Other awards by judges Blockbuster Award – This award is given to a team with the highest

round score during the seeding competition. Best Themed – This award is given to the team who best reflects

the theme of the contest. GEAR Head Award – This award is given to a team whose robot

exhibits creative use of available materials to design and implement an unusual offensive and/or defensive machine capability.

Judge’s Award – This award is given to a team who is worthy of recognition but it does not fit in a specific award category.

Most Elegant Robot – This ward is given to a team whose robot makes the judges say, “WOW!”

Radioactive Award – This award is given to a team whose robot has the best ability to score the bonus blocks.

Young Engineers Award – This award is given to the team with the best process notebook.

March 30, 2004 23

Schedule

Tues, March 30, 7-8:30 p.m. – Kickoff

Tues, April 6, 7-8:30 p.m. – Regular meeting

Tues, April 13, 7-8:30 p.m. – Regular meeting

Tues, April 20, 7-8:30 p.m. – Regular meeting

Sat, April 24, 12-4 p.m. – Practice @ Richland

Week of April 26: TAKS week

Thurs, April 29: 7-8:30 p.m. – Special meeting

Friday, April 30: Final work session if required

Sat, May 1, (time TBD) - Competition

March 30, 2004 24

Homework

Collect items from materials list Think about what task will be most important

Gathering yellow blocks? Touching valve? Gathering orange blocks? Avoiding penalties

Think about what will help most important task Sophisticated program? Fast robot? Strong robot? Sneaky design? Smart player techniques in end zone? Special offensive or defensive strategies?

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Thanks for coming!See you next week!

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

7:00 – 8:30 p.m.