The Living Robot Assignment
For this assignment, your task is to design and build a robot that duplicates the functionality of our
Living Robot simulation.
Here is the desired behavior of this robot:
The robot goes steadily forward. While moving, if it is bumped on the right side, it will turn to the left and turn on the tail lamp during the turn. Similarly, if bumped on the left, it will turn to the right with the lamp indicating this. The robot continues moving until a light is shined on it, when it halts.
There are four parts to the assignment:
BUILD
Working with your
partner, design and build a NXT robot that can implement this behavior. You can use the general schematic of the simulation: 2 touch sensors, a light sensor, 2 motors, and a lamp.
PROGRAM
Working individually, design and write a program that implements the behavior. You can use Robolab, Mindstorms, or any other programming tool you like. Debug your program and test it until it works according to the specification. Include documentation within the program itself to explain its algorithms.
Submit the actual program (.vi or .rbt file) on the
course E-submit site for Assignment 1. [See note below about file formats]
DOCUMENT
Write a one- or two-page summary document explaining how the robot works. It should contain an overview of the robot, desribe its configuration, and include a an explanation of what it does. But mostly it should describe how the program works. Include a photo or two of the actual robot. Describe how successful your program was, evaluating what worked well and what could use improvement.
As a guide, your document should have the following sections:
- Overview (one paragraph description)
- Configuration (list of ports, sensors, devices)
- Description (narrative explanation of program)
- Photos (of the NXT robot)
- Summary (analysis of success and problems)
Submit a PDF file of this document on the
course E-submit site for Assignment 1. [See note below about file formats]
PRESENT
Prepare a 5 minute demo and presentation of the results. Bring the robot and demonstrate it in action. Bring a large (tabloid size, 11 x 17) color print of the program and a copy of the explanatory document with you. Use the outline above for the document as a guide to your presentation. Explain the basic scheme you used in the program logic (e.g, one task with many fork tests, multiple simultaneously looping tasks), and illustrate the logic. Analyze the results you observed with your robot.
NOTE: Unfortunately, E-submit is a bit inflexible, so you have to put both files that you are submitting together in a compressed archive (.zip) file.
As we have people of many different backgrounds in the group, be sure you communicate all of this in plain language understandable by all.