Robocats 3: The Road to State

Technical

Rather than having the robot run all over the table attempting to accomplish the missions, our team used wind-up motors to push various objects into place. Through six wind-ups, we have developed solutions to seven of the missions. These contraptions, together with our robot, make it possible for us to attempt more missions within the allotted time. For missions too complex for a wind-up, we designed specialized attachments for our robot. These designs are unique to our team and are created to efficiently and effectively accomplish a specific mission. Once we had developed an attachment, we would modify it in order to connect it to our robot. Our next step would be to write, through trial and error, a program that incorporated the attachment and allowed it to solve part of the challenge. Overall, this combination of wind-up motors and unique attachments has led to our team's successful accomplishment of many missions. We just need to practice to maintain the consistency of our success.

Research

Our team first collaborated to choose which building to analyze and then learned all we could about the Junior High’s energy efficiency opportunities. We learned that, although the Junior High, being a modern structure, was designed to be efficient, it could benefit from use of an alternative power source. After much research and analysis, we determined that using solar power, in conjunction with other energy saving techniques, would be the best option for the building itself. Through our environmentally-themed Christian Emphasis Week, we plan to ask for student donations to purchase solar panels, as this can be an immense initial expense. We then decided to move beyond our original goal of making just the Junior High more efficient to lessening the environmental impact of the entire Westminster campus. Our team learned that the cafeteria’s waste vegetable oil could be used to run the sports transportation buses. After talking to students, the school has decided to set up a vegetable oil processing facility at the Physical Plant, the campus building dealing with energy use. The planting of deciduous trees around campus is also being considered. Because of our environmental concerns, Robocats 3 decided to expand our research to cover not only the Junior High, but also the entire Westminster campus.

Teamwork

Our team found out early on in the year that two members of our team, Hailey Brown and Lilly Chin, would not be able to attend the qualifier and therefore no longer desired to be a part of the team. Hailey had been instrumental in the original design of the robot and was the only one who knew how to repair it. Lilly was in charge of research and, at the time that her conflict was realized, was the only one who truly understood the entire project. Anna Lee and Blake, whose only expertise at the time was in programming, had to work incredibly hard to learn the design of the robot and the details of the project, and, even though they were initially reluctant to do so, they persevered. Although both were educated in each area, Blake chose to specialize in research while Anna Lee continued to focus on the robot. Both now feel that, despite this obstacle, they are now a stronger and better team due to their increased knowledge of all aspects of the challenge. Thanks to their effort and continuing passion for robotics, Robocats 3, despite early setbacks, managed to beat the odds and make it to State.

Robotics Animation: The Drawing Board

Autodesk (producer and distributor of numerous important software packages including 3ds Max, Maya, and Inventor) is a major sponsor of FIRST. Every year, Autodesk sponsors a design competition which runs simultaneously with the FIRST build season. Teams use the 3ds Max software (used for digital effects and imagery in major motion films and television) provided to construct a 30 second animation. The animation criteria for this year can be found here. This year, the excitement of the first few weeks of our rookie season led us to begin conceptualizing relatively late in the season. However, we are nearing selection of an idea which we will animate.

Initially, we were struck by the difficulty of the problem: we faced the same dilemma real inventors face - how does one conceive of a new invention that society needs? The only real springboards are the problems to be addressed; however, few societal problems carry innate and obvious solutions. In brief, some of our design ideas follow.

- A nanomolecule or nanobot which removes toxins and harmful bacteria from water supplies. Animation would have to depict interactions at the atomic level.
- A compost machine which converts food waste into clean water and nutrient-filled soil. The inspiration for this idea comes from a similar machine which Westminster has been evaluating.
- Large sails for cargo ships. While fitting ocean vessels with sails is hardly a revolutionary idea, recent advances in materials science and computer science now allow for efficient sails which are constantly adjusted for maximum benefit. Some sources estimate such sails could reduce ocean cargo ship fuel use by 35%.
- A plant which utilizes either nanobots or bacteria to decompose plastics. Currently, astounding amounts of plastics are placed in landfills. Being able to cleanly decompose these materials instead of harming the earth would clearly greatly benefit society. Again, animation would depict interactions at a very small scale.
- One or more automated trash collecting robots. The scene imagined depicts robots in a park picking up trash and sorting between trash and recycling.
- A "water city" which unites both present and future technologies such as wind power, wave power, water desalination, hydroponics, etc.

Additionally, we must decide whether we want to include some sort of story or humor within our short or if we'd prefer to create an animation which focuses more on the invention itself, visual stimulation, etc. Briefly, the advantage of a joke or story is that they can make the animation more memorable and unique. The disadvantage is that an emphasis on character or humor deemphasizes the invention itself and due to time constraints will likely reduce visual quality.

Finally, a visual style must also be chosen. The theme chosen will greatly impact the visual styles we choose; in three weeks it's not possible to create an almost photorealistic "water city," but a park would be more doable. Other artistic styles can be created in shorter time periods.

Robotics goes Aquatic!

RoboCats: There is a teacher workshop for building underwater ROV's (Remotely Operated Vehicles) at the Georgia Aquarium , but I thought y'all might be interested in extending this to some off-season practice for the high school team in a cool new venue.

There are some ROV competitions offered by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center.

With mounted cameras and probes, you need not restrict yourself to ocean exploration. What about venturing into the Chattahoochee River or any of the lakes around us. ROVs are also useful to explore areas where human beings cannot or should not venture for reasons of safety, size, access, etc. It would be cool to explore scalability issues with ROVs. What other engineering possibilities are there?

So, it looks like the GA Aquarium is offering this for teachers, but I see absolutely no reason why high school students couldn't be involved with something like this immediately. What do you think about building some ROVs to drive around our pool or to do some cool science in our local waterways (once they recover from the drought!)?

FIRST Robotics Challenge 2008

Saturday, January 5, 2008 marked the kickoff event at GA Tech for our robotics team in its rookie season in the FIRST Robotics Challenge.

This year's challenge involves a roughly 3.5' diameter ball being repeatedly knocked off, under, and over a 6.5' tall barrier while racing the robot around an oval race track. At the end of the round, there are bonus points for returning the ball to the top of the as shown in the first photo below. Here is the FIRST video describing the challenge .
















Right now, we're exploring possibilities of using extendable arms, suction, and pneumatics to pick up and maneuver the ball.

We'll post our thoughts & progress on the challenge soon.

Rookie Team Qualifies for State FLL Competition!!!

In our first year in the FIRST Lego League competitions, one of our junior high school teams (Robocats 3) qualified at the Clayton State University Tournament (January 12, 2008) for the Georgia state tournament to be held at GA Tech February 9, 2008.


They began the year as an all-girls team of four (three 8th graders and one 7th) and added two boys early in the fall semester 2007. Despite scheduling conflicts, declining participation, and other difficulties, two of the girls persevered, discovering that even when everything else fell apart around them, they were strong and determined enough to see it through on their commitments.

Over their four months of robot design and development, they evolved a technically complicated NXT robot with some quite sophisticated approaches to solving the many missions in the 2007 FLL Power Puzzle Challenge. While they had many operational difficulties with the performance of their robot in Saturday's tournament, the students hit home runs in the Robot Design and Teamwork categories and they won the Project Award, proving that performance on all fronts is necessary for true team success.

Concerning their only weak spot from the tournament, they know their robot could and should have performed much better. They are re-energized and more determined than ever to refine their NXT robot to fix their shortcomings before the January 9th tournament.

This has been one of the most spectacular experiences in my 18-year teaching career. I am more convinced than ever that we must put our students in open-ended situations where they use what they know to find creative, original solutions to problems and they solve them on their own with appropriate minimal assistance and guidance from those around them. These two girls found a way to conquer a litany of obstacles stacked against them and they emerged confident, energized and determined. Look out world!