Mini Grand Challenge Contest for Robot

Education

Bob Avanzato

Associate Professor of Engineering

Penn State Abington1600 Woodland RoadAbington PA 19001

RLA5@psu.edu

AAAI 2007Robotics and Education

March 27, 2007

Objectives• Design autonomous outdoor robot contest

“Mini Grand Challenge” (MGC) to promote interest in robotics and AI.

• Partly inspired by DARPA Grand Challenge• Include vision and HRI component. • Contest should be accessible to advanced

high school, lower-division undergrads (Engr, Cmpsci, IST) and beyond.

• Availability of low-cost robot platform and development environment to improve accessibility to MGC contest.

Robot Contests at Abington campus (Phila. PA area)• Over 40 robots participating in each contest• Over 120 students (K-12 to college and beyond)• Over 15 high schools/middle schools represented• Over 50 pizzas consumed!• Both contests offered annually since 1995.• What is next step?

Penn State Abington Robot Contests

Robo-Hoops

Regional Trinity Firefighting

Impact on Curriculum & Outreach

• Robotics supports wide range of educational and outreach goals

RoboticsContests

EDG 100Freshman Design

CSE 271/275Digital ElectronicsSophomore EE/CSE

ENGR 297 RoboticsSpecial TopicsFreshmen/Sophomores

Comp Sci 201CIntro for Fresh/Soph

IST 402 (new!)Emerging Technologies

K -12 Outreach

Undergraduate Research(ACURA)

PSU Abington Robot Platform

Mini Grand Challenge (MGC)• Autonomous, outdoor, electric ground robot

• Follow 8-ft wide (unmarked) paths on college campus

• Reach 6 waypoints (GPS longitude, latitude)

• Avoid human obstacles on path

• Entertain human spectators

• Take off-road detour across field (with obstacles)

• Payload: 1 gallon of water

• Robot Speed: 1.5 - 5mph

• (6) Waypoints disclosed 24 hours prior to contest event.

Campus Paths

Campus Paths

Campus Paths

Campus Paths

Campus Paths

Campus Paths (Field)

Campus Paths

Campus Paths

Sample Path/Waypoint Layout

WP #3

WP #5

WP #6

WP #4

Path width = ~8ftWaypoint (WP) diameter = 20ft

…orange cones

Key Equipment List• PowerWheels™ platform $220• GPS (with serial cable) $120• Speaker/amp (15-30 watt) $60• Inverter (DC to AC) $50• Servo (steering) $50• Speed controller $60• USB camera (240 x 320) $50• Camera stand $30• Sonar and servo $50• USB to serial converter $30• Servo controller $50-$150• Battery $50• TOTAL…… $850 (approx.)

• NOTE: Laptop, MATLAB costs not included in above list

Robot Block Diagram

USBCamera

GPS(Garmin eTrex)

Sonar

Pontech SV203Controller

Speaker(30-watt)

SteeringControl

Drive MotorSpeed/Dir

Control

Laptop ComputerWindows XP OS

MATLAB

PSU Abington Robot

Key Software• MATLAB with Image Processing Toolbox

– Grab image from USB camera– Edge detection– Read GPS text serial output (position, velocity)– Text-to-Speech– Send motor and steering commands to servo

controller– Main control loop written in MATLAB

• Drivers– MS Win32 Speech API (SAPI) (text to speech)– VFM (Video for Windows frame grabber)

• Any Software/Hardware solution Allowed

Pilot Study: Student Solution

• Background: Sophomore-level EE student with no prior experience in vision

• Student developed a heuristic, path-tracking algorithm in MATLAB (Image Processing ToolBox; Canny edge detection) within 4 hours (non-optimal).

• MATLAB environment promotes rapid prototyping and facilitates testing.

Big Design Questions• Can an outdoor robot platform (hardware and

sensors) for MGC be constructed for under $1000?– Answer: Yes (almost)

• Can an operational outdoor, autonomous, robot prototype (hardware & software) be completed (with minimal testing & performance) for MGC in 40 hours?– Answer: Yes (almost)

Results• 2005 Mini Grand Challenge (April 2005)

– 3 participants; no successful robots– Rain limited outdoor event (rescheduled in Dec.)– Robots on display indoors; same day as FF contest– Generated much interest for future events

• 2006 Mini Grand Challenge (April 1, 2006)– 6 participants; one robot manages 50% of course

• 2007 Mini Grand Challenge (March 31, 2007)– 8 robots registered– 1 high school team

Mini Grand Challenge Event(PSU-Abington PA; April 3, 2005)

MGC 2006

MGC 2006 (PSU Abington robot)

MGC 2006

MGC 2006 (PSU University Park robot)

MGC 2006 (Spectator Interaction)

Conclusions• Mini Grand Challenge (MGC) contest successfully

promotes interest in robotics and AI for a wide range of participants (freshman college to professional)

• Low-cost robot platform with MATLAB software allows freshman/sophomore undergrads to participate in sophisticated algorithm development.

• Spectator friendly; educational & outreach benefits

• Outdoor contest has risks (example: rain!)

• Larger robot --> more cumbersome for classroom integration

Future Directions• Expand student involvement in Mini Grand Challenge

(course integration problem).

• Develop web-based resources and tutorials.

• Develop K-12 outreach activities based on MGC

• Assess (survey) student retention and recruitment.

• Expand spectator-robot interaction (SRI)

• ArtBots (in Philly, PA)

• Develop indoor extension to contest to mitigate weather problems. (Example: follow cones in gym)

• Non-engineering student involvement – IST?