Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tuesday, August 4

Gorgeous and sunny again today!

Krista was out sick again today. Brad worked with Fara and Erika to fix the Trash-Collector robot code used to sort the colored cups. He also created more sound files for the Trash-Collector to call out the names of the cups. For the Racing activity, Brad disassembled the race car and verified that the race car model in the LDD is completely accurate. He also improved the commenting for the gyro code and worked on determining which of two different methods should be used to control the robot.

Reza commented the Predator/Prey codes and filled the Teacher and Students folders with the correct codes. Chris continued documentation on the Predator/Prey robots.

Fara and Erika worked on the line-following and sorting codes for the Trash-Collector robot. They changed some of the intensity values for the line follower and determined one of their previous blockers with this code to be due to the differing amount of light in the room at different times. By moving the test track to a more evenly-lit area, they were able to achieve 100% repeatability for the line-following code. They tweaked the sorting code so the robot now places each colored cup in approximately the correct location, and returns to the search area to find another cup. The only blocker they are still experiencing is that the color sensor only recognizes the yellow cup half of the time. This might be due to the grabber, and the fact that it does not grab the cup in precisely the same place each time.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Fara and Erica focused today on the writeups for their robot. They were fixing the code that allowed the robot to follow the line, which is now blue to the black square at the end.

Reza and I(Chris) worked on commenting the code for the predator and prey bot. The intro for each of the sections are now finished, the code now needs to be removed for the students, and the activities need instruction.

Brad came in, in the morning, and worked on more documentation as well

Thursday, July 30, 2009

July 30, It is really sunny outside

Reza continued to test the snake and grass hopper codes which work well so far. He then worked on the Hawk coding. He is still testing and making changes.
Chris updated the documentation of Predator Prey. He implemented the activities with the new codes and new ideas. On Wednesday, he worked on the playstation codes and it is now ready to be test on the snake and grass hopper.
Wednesday, Brad worked on the activity write-up and updating the cheat sheet. Today, he went back to the gyro idea and codes that they previously found. He is trying to decode and understand the algorithm behind the program. He is also thinking on the Board Game but is waiting for Krista.
On Wednesday, Erika worked on the documentation of the Trash Collector activities. She updated the To Do tasks and updated the student and teacher folder.
Yesterday, I proofread the documents of Erica and made a few changes. Then, I went on and tried to work on my blocker which is making the robot stops following the line and starts the sorting. Reza came out with the idea of switching the black for a blue line and the blue sorting color with a black. I gave it a try and it is still not working. Today, I looked at the code again and tried to make a few changes. I am still working on that and tomorrow I am thinking on trying a different line following program.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tuesday, July 28

It's gorgeous and sunny again today!

Krista is out, but Brad worked on fine tuning the Racing Activity write-up and played around with the programs to see if he could make them more efficient and straight-forward.

Reza was working on testing more of the Predator robot code. He spent quite a bit of time helping test the Trash-Collector line following code, as well. Chris continued to work on the movement for the Prey robots and their interaction, and he also helped debug the Trash-Collector robot code.

Fara worked on the sorting code, and combining it with all of the other code modules for the Trash-Collector robot. She hit a blocker trying to figure out how to have the robot stop the line-following program when it reaches the sorting area and start the sorting program, so the group had a brainstorming session to come up with a solution. They ended up tweaking the program so the robot reads the raw values from the light sensor and placing the blue sorting square at the end of the line, so the robot will stop following the line when the light sensor outputs the reflected light value of the blue paper. Erika continued work on the activity write-up for the Trash-Collector, inputting the codes and breaking the activity down into sections.

Monday, July 27, 2009

july 27

Today we were down a few people.

Erica was working on the writeup for the trash collector and was having issues with the odt and doc formats. She also worked on the code cheat sheets and props for the activity.

Fara concentrated most of her work today on the lego designer and a little bit of the code.

I(Chris) worked on the code for the prey and also looking into some integration problems with the movement code. There will need to be some refactoring of the code that connects to the movement code to allow both the ps2 controller and the robot commands to work with the different movement routines.

Brad focused on making sure his writeup was complete.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Thursday, July 23

Brad and Krista started wrapping up the racing activity. Some pretty awesome race car (and horn) sound files have been added to make the races a little more interesting. The teacher and student folders are each almost complete, both including a function cheat sheet. The only major thing left to do is to make a file with an example of a track, with dimensions, so it can be reproduced elsewhere. Krista also started on the formal write-up for the gyro sensor and braille labeled the robots that will be traveling this weekend.

Fara wrote the color sorting program for the recycling bot which works great when it is run on it's own, but has some problems running with the entire program. Reza has helped with a few little blockers and Fara intends on continuing the work tomorrow.

Reza got the tracking functions for the snake predator to completely work but needs to make a slight change to the design to allow the touch sensor to be pushed, without having the bot flipping the prey or itself over. He plans on working on more of the cricket predator tomorrow morning before he leaves for Chicago.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Tuesday, July 21

Gorgeous and sunny all day today!

For the Predator/Prey activity, Reza redesigned the robot so the touch sensor would work better and updated the grasshopper code accordingly. He also worked on the codes for the other Predator bots. Chris continued work to integrate the PS2 controllers into the Prey robot codes.

Brad worked on the racing bot program, trying to set up the code to switch lanes only when it needed to and follow the track otherwise. He hit a few blockers, with the code doing unexpected things, but is working through them.

Krista focused on the Activity Zero robots and tested multiple different designs for attaching the sensors so they would be easier to put on and take off of the robots. She found one design that would allow the sensors to clip on easily, but it requires more parts than are included in one gray NXT kit.

Erika and Fara tested all of their old codes on the new grabber robot and updated those that didn't work. They also finished the search code with help from Brad, using the same concept as the line-follower code. They put all of their codes together into a Grabber_Movement code, which searches, approaches the object, grabs the object, moves toward the path, and follows the path. They are experiencing a few blockers, though, in that the ultrasonic sensor is inconsistent and sometimes "sees" things that aren't there. Thus, the program doesn't have a very high repeatability rate.

Monday July 21, 2009

On Monday, most of us just continued where we had left off last week with our robots. Brad continued to work with the code for the racing bot. He tried to perfect the lane changing code and will continue working with that on Tuesday. Erica and Fara both worked on their robot. They were able to change some things from the grabber robot to made a new robot that worked for their needs. They are now focusing on the coding aspect of the robot. Chris and Reza worked on their predator/prey bots. Reza worked on the grasshopper and snake code, while also doing some IR work to make sure it works correctly. Chris worked with the PS2 controller movements for the prey and has been making some code modifications to get this working correctly.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Thursday July 16

Today moved along very similarly as yesterday.

Fara continued modifying the recycling bot, using ideas for Erika and Andy's grabber. Fara also began the write up for the accelerometer sensor.

Chris continued his work with the PS2 controllers for the prey bot by starting to test some code while Reza continued work on (almost perfected) code for the predator bots.

Brad began writing and testing lane switching code for the racing bot. He and Krista have also made a small sample track that has round corners which seems to work much better. Slight modifications on the bot has also been made.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wednesday July15

Brad was out sick today so Krista worked on the write up for the Racing activity. The outline of the 4 activities is complete along with ideas for each round of racing that should take place. She also added a second lane to the "test track" so when Brad is back they will be able to start working on lane switching.

Fara and Erika worked on changing the model. It has been difficult to find an object that works well for the recycling bot because the claws do close completely on most objects. If the claws are not all the way closed, they wiggle around a lot and the object is often dropped. They've been trying to modify Andy's claw contraption into their robot but it is still a work in progress. Fara also started som preliminary testing on the accelerometer sensor.

Reza continued his work on the tracking and movement functions for the predator bot while Chris researched and created libraries for the PS2 controller. They have now firmly decided that they "prey" bots will be controlled with the PS2's while the predators will rely on their code to track and catch the prey.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tuesday, July 14

It's sunny and gorgeous outside! Finally!

Today, Krista and Brad tested all three of the line-following algorithms for the racing robot on an octagon track. They were having trouble with the line-following on the corners, so they're trying to figure out a way to make a good circular/oval track. They also worked to figure out the best place to locate the light sensor on their robot, and will continue this tomorrow.

Chris and Reza worked on the code for the PS2 controller and worked on setting up the libraries necessary for that. They also made the decision, regarding the Predator/Prey activity, to make all the prey human-controllable via the PS2 controller. Reza also worked on devising predator functions to be used in all of the activity. Today, he worked mainly on predator functions for the grasshopper.

Erika and Fara worked some more on their search, grab, and line-following modules. They're still having problems with the search module, in that the ultrasonic sensor "sees" the trash objects in its peripheral vision and begins moving forwards immediately. By the time it reaches the object, it is up to a few inches away, because it stopped its rotation before the object was directly in front of it. They are playing with ways to have the robot turn a few more degrees after detecting an object to correct this. Erika also worked on determining which types of "trash" objects work best for the robot claws. It was found that an empty cup or other such light object gets tossed around too much by the wobbling arms. The robot can't grab large objects tightly enough to carry them, but the ultrasonic sensor can't detect small objects. A field trip might be necessary to see what types of large, easily-squished balls can be found. Fara also worked on the activity write-up for the Trash-Collector.

Friday, July 10, 2009

07/10/09 TGIF!!!!

Krista did the design in the Lego Designer for a new Race Car Model. She built two buggy model and made a few changes while constructing them. She updated the new version in the designer.

Chris worked on the Predator Prey Challenges and activities. He also fixed the model in the designer.

Reza continued to work with the programming. He tested the communication code and it works perfectly. He also tested the movement code which seems like it was going well from my observation. He also helped Faradjine with debugging.

Fara worked on the sorting by color code and also following the line code. so far it is working well for red, blue and green. She also started the description for the activity.

Have a good Week-End!!!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

07/08/09 !!

Today was a day full of sharing.

Krista and Brad worked on making a (second) new model of the racing bot- the touch sensors were removed in replace of a third motor that will swivel the US sensor in order to search for other racing bots nearby. They started completely from scratch so this took most of the day. after brad left (frustrating with gearing problems) Krista spent the rest of the day figuring out and testing the gearing to allow the swiveling US.

Fara and Erika (along with some help from both Reza and Chris) worked on coding the trash collecting bot. They have had some trouble finding objects to represent "trash" that will work with both the US sensor and the claw mechanism. They also had some difficulties with different parts of the code but have figured out most of the problems.

Reza and Chris worked on more of the predator/prey activity and code. They came up with a good story for the activity (involving an unsuspecting leaf, grasshopper, snake and hawk) that will work very well with the overall theme of the activity. The robot is finished in the digital designer so soon, a second bot will be built to start working on communication/evasion and searching.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

It was finally sunny again today after some morning rain!

Today, Chris worked on finishing the design for the Predator/Prey robot and putting it into the Lego Designer. He also looked into ideas for the Predator/Prey activity and the story to go along with it. Reza finished the communication functions for the Predator/Prey robots. He worked on the activity write-up and, with Chris, discussed the storyline and how to work in into the activity.

Brad and Krista made a test model for their non-gyroscopic racing robot today and tested the robot using the line-follower program. They also worked on creating a broad overview of the racing activity. In the afternoon, Krista worked on improving their vehicle model.

Erika and Fara continued to work on the trash collector program today. They made small modules of code to search for objects and to grab objects, and they tested these on the robot. However, they had trouble getting the robot to stop turning immediately when it sees an object during the search, so when it drives forward it always ends up a few centimeters away from the object. They also noticed that the front portion of the robot, which contains the grabbing claws and all three sensors, is too heavy for its minimal attachment to the body of the robot and it bounces around a lot during movement. At the end of the day, they started working on improving the robot's design so it will be more stable when moving and turning.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Monday July 6, 2009

Today, we had quite sporadic weather as usual.

Aside from that, Krista continued to work with Brad on the Segway bot. Brad worked with the gyroscope code to try to make his own, however, with all of the constants necessary for it to work correctly, Krista and Brad decided to use cars instead. They did put the segway in the designer, so if anybody has time and wants to mess with that, they can. They
Chris began to put the predator/prey bot into the Lego Designer. He is doing some model tweaking as he goes to make it better and easier.

Reza spoke with Chris at the beginning of the day to get information on what he was doing and what he had done this past week so he can get caught up. With that info, Reza began working on some code for the predator/prey bots. Today, he specifically worked on the communication code.

Erika and Fara had been working on the code with the grabber robot. They found that some of the original code did not work well, or work as well as they had hoped, so they decided to write some of their own. They will be working on this through tomorrow.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Thursday (Faux-Friday!), July 2nd

Today, everything to do with the forklifts have been packed away to be sent to San Diego (excluding one forklift that is currently charging). This includes all robots, pallets, chargers, usb cables as well as a kit full of extra parts and cables for "just in case". Reza has gone over the activity document for the last time, this will need tobe reviewed by someone else on Monday.

Chris worked on some code for the predator/prey activity. He also made some pretty big changes on the robot, removing the tank treads in favor of wheels which offer more even maneuverability for the infrared sensors. He plans on finalizing and building the model in the digital designer next week.

After much difficulty, and a little help from Krista, Fara finished building the trash collecting robot in the digital designer. She then began working on code for this activity, which will continue progress next week.

Brad tested out some new code (including some that used the PS2 controllers!) with two slightly different models of the segway bot. The newest version of this bot, which Krista built, has a much tighter center of gravity and preforms much better than the original version. Changing code around deamed pretty tricky and a fair amount of experimentation ensued. More testing will continue at the beginning of next week; after this, we will decide if the segway/gyro bots would be suitable for a racing activity. If the gyro bot does not seem approptriate, a different "race car" model will be developed next week.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

First Day Of The Month, July 1ST

As the day started, Erika and Fara tested the activity 0 robots, they tested for each sensor and made sure they worked properly. Afterward, Erika packed the robots and also some of the forklift's model pieces. In the meantime, Fara was working on the model, trying to adjust it so it can fit in the Lego Designer, she started the design and so far it is working well. Erika finished her day by completing her writing draft for the trash collector.

On the other side, while Reza was working on finalizing the Forklift model by changing the codes and designs, Chris on his side, was finalizing the robot model for the Predator Prey Challenge. Both completed their task successfully. They will probably start working on the testing and ideas tomorrow.

Finally, Krista and Brad were working on their final design for the racing/segway model. Krista was testing the gyroscope with a sample program made by Brad, she tested all of them. Meanwhile, Brad was working on the code he found online, trying to understand each part and testing it.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

june 30th

Reza continued work on his fleet of forklift bots, while completing the peripherals that accompany the activities.

Chris worked on the predator/prey bot that will use the IR ball detection and ultrasonic to find the prey.

The trash collector continued progress with Erika and Fera.

Brad worked on the board game/balance bot.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Spring 2 (June 29-July 17)

Sprint Goals:
  1. Revise any last issues with Forklift Challenge for the San Diego Workshop (Project Goal 1)
  2. Assemble and label (with Braille) the forklifts to be used for the San Diego workshop. (Project Goal 1)
  3. Have a detailed understanding of the following sensors: Gyroscope, PS2 controller, Accelerometer. Understanding is based on experimentation with quantitative and qualitative data gathering using various lighting, materials, etc. as relevant to the sensors being studied. (Project Goal 2)
  4. From brainstormed list, complete 3-4 challenges, including code, materials, robot model and the proofreading and testing there of. (Project Goal 1)
Note on Tasks and Assignments:
Each Sprint Goal has a set of associated tasks, sprint items, that are assigned to one or more people for the current sprint. Other tasks may need to be added or people re-assigned as issues arise and collaboration is encouraged. The name listed with the task is the person who is the lead for completing that task.


Assignments (Sprint Items):

  • SG1: Revise any last issues with Forklift Challenge for the San Diego Workshop - Reza
  • SG2: Assemble and label (with Braille) the forklifts to be used for the San Diego workshop. - All will build; Erika, Krista will label the robots with the provided Braille labeler
  • SG3: Sensor Analysis: Gyroscopic (Brad, Krista), Accelerometer (Erika, Fara), PS2 controller (Chris, Reza)
For each of the following sensors: gyroscopic, accelerometer, PS2 contoller,
  1. Inventory the sensors and note any that do not function properly (be specific in how they do not work and attach the note to the sensor in its box)
  2. Devise appropriate tests for each sensor using a variety of materials/distances/etc as relevant to the sensor; log what the tests are and how carried out in order to replicate them later - the tests will require some proof-of-concept programing and building an appropriate lego model to hold the sensor.
  3. Maintain a data set of your quantitative and qualitative results in Excel/Word
  4. Summarize your findings and provide a set of best practices and caveats for the use of each sensor in activities (to be used in this project and to disseminated to others)
  • SG4: From brainstormed list, complete 3-4 challenges, including code, materials, robot model and the proofreading and testing there of.
Challenges
  • Trash Collector then Color Sorter extension: Erika, Faradjine
  • Predator/Prey then Sumo: Reza, Chris
  • Racing then Board Game: Brad, Krista

Pairs will work on specified challenge, where each challenge consists of:
  1. Robot model is developed and finalized and is determined to be constructable from 1 'kit'.
  2. Robot model is documented in Lego Designer and the instructions have been tested
  3. Challenge write-up has been written and proofread.
  4. Challenge write-up has been inspected by a peer, and has been revised as needed.
  5. Challenge write-up has been checked in under a folder named for that challenge (where all challenge materials will be stored)
  6. Challenge solution code has been completed, tested, commented, and checked. It's file name contains the work solution in it.
  7. The Challenge has been broken down into a set of tutorial write-ups (will be handouts) that break down the challenge's main concepts into small chunks where the students work with small programs and concepts in order to be ready to solve the overall challenge.
  8. The Challenge tutorial code is completed, tested, and commented. Name the files according to the challenge, the concept being taught and the number that indicates the order that the tutorial should be done in e.g. Maze_Repeat_2.nxc
  9. Any helper libraries are completed, tested, and commented. They are also clearly labels that they are a helper library and checked in with the challenge.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Friday, June 26

Today, there wasn't a great variety of work done besides a lot of forklift building. After an initial hickup with the Lego Designer(what else is new?), Krista, Fara, Chris and Reza were able to complete a forklift each in about three hours. I noticed there were a few small problems with the design, but all of those have been fixed. There still remains three pieces that are not properly placed in the design model for the program will not allow the pieces to fit properly.
After lunch, we got back to the forklifts, and we finished the last two models in about another three hours. After this, we tested each model by running the forklift code on the short course. Some of the color sensors vary very slightly on the color of certain objects, so there will need to be a color range for each colored square. Also, some light sensors appear more sensitive than others, so the intensity values might have to be tweaked a little so all work properly. We will make these final changes on Monday, and also try to be prepared to have our proposals completed by Monday afternoon.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

June 24!!!!

Today, everybody pretty much work on their robot, researching and taking notes on their ideas and discoveries.
Yesterday, Reza was unsecured about the possibility of coming up with a Predator and preys activity that would work with out any flaws. His main issue was how to make the preys recognize each other from the Predator with only one ultrasonic place in the front or back. however, today during the group sharing session(every one talked about the ideas they have so far), we gave our inputs and ideas on how he should go with it. One of them was to place the ultrasonic on a moving support that could rotate it in circle. Reza is currently working on that prospective.

Brad has great ideas on the Line follower/ Racing Robots, he came up with an activity for each day. He also implemented the race with different ideas that will make it more fun and challenging. He will continued to work on the proposal and probably focus on the programming and building.

Erika has the idea of combining the can collector with the trash collector/ dump and collect. She is making progress on her research and writing her proposal. She has no current difficulties. She found simple codes in the NXT book that will definitely be useful.

Krista came up with a few board game and therefore is still indecisive on her final choice. One of the game is a race to your current home. It uses a color dealer that tells you on which color you should head on. the main other is to make a race and have a winner. It is a little like monopoly but with colors and no purchasing. She made some sample of all the ideas she has and continued to make research.

Fara is following the same idea of the color sorter found on Google but she implemented by making each containers a color. She also makes the robot moves instead of staying steady. The main idea is for the robot to move toward each containers and find the match with the colored brick. Once it is matched, the robot will placed the brick to its box.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

New Challenge Proposals

Challenges


Multi-Bot

1. Predator Prey (Tag) (Reza, Krista)

2. Racing - Olympic events (Brad)

Puzzle / Games

3. Sort bricks by color (implemented) (Fara. Reza)

4. Vending (OPEN, Reza-1)

5. Board Game (TBD) (Krista, Brad)



Sensor / Movement

6. Segway (gyro) (OPEN)

7. Dancing Bot - Bot reacts to sound (OPEN, Brad-1)

8. Trash collector - dump and collect / Table bot (rover) (Erika, Fara)



Designs

9. Insect/Animal bots - apperance

10. Wall-e model

All Brainstorming Items to Date

predator prey

* color following

* avoidance

* detection

battle tanks
connect 4
line following
sorter

* change

* color blocks

rubrik's cube solver
light follower
table bot

SlugBot(find and retrieve slugs for fuel)
mobot
roomba
the turk(chess playing)
ballroom dancing bot
vending machine bot
r2d2
robot that reacts to sound depending on frequency played
nurse bot
rover bots

# Predator Prey(color following, avoidance, detection)
# Battle Tanks
# Connect 4 Player
# Line Following 4 ways
# Sorter(change Colored Blocks)

Obstacle course
Color sensor
Light
US
Whisker bots
cars (sensors to avoid each other)
printer bots
firefighter bot
racing bots
UNO bot(cards)
Insect/Animal bots
beetle
cat
t-rex
spider
Trash collector
SumoBot x3
hand robot
Wall-e

Balancing Bot
- With gyroscope sensor + platform for a cup of water, it would keep the platform level while going up ramps to keep the water from spilling

Racing with bots that do not have wheels (biped, quadruped etc)

Stair climber

Drag Race - No wheels allowed
Stair climber

Monday, June 22, 2009

June 22, 2009- It's sunny!

The majority of today was used to complete the last of the tasks from Sprint 1.

Reza:
The Forklift Challenge is ready for review; the documents have been peer reviewed, the tutorials are finished and the model is in the designer (although there is a bug with the designing software, like the catapult).

Fara + Brad:
All sensors are inventoried and tested; a write up for each type of sensor has been completed and peer reviewed. These sensors include: Light, Ultrasonic, Color, Infrared and Compass.

Chris and Krista:
The Catapult Challenge has already gone through a formal review and is totally complete.

A little bit of everyone:
The initial activity, Project Zero, has been peer reviewed. The tutorials have been tested and revised as needed and the bots that are to be used for this exercise are complete in the designer. The only thing left to do with this activity is to finish the "Challenge" activity at the end of the document; Brad started working with the color sensor today, he downloaded sound files that will eventually read colors for the students and started on the code. Once the code is smoothed out, the activity will be written up and ready for formal review.

Grabber:
We tested out the grabber robot for a bit today, both in the carpeted lab and in the smooth floors of the Innovation Center. We've come to the conclusion that there is a small flaw in the design of the grabber: the US sensor tends to pick up a reading when there is nothing in front of it. We believe that this is because the US sensor is so low to the ground, moving the sensor to the side of the bot and raising it a few centimeters off the ground level will hopefully fix this problem. If the change in model is made however, the code and tutorials will have to be revised; tomorrow morning we should discuss how much time must be devoted to making the grabber function smoothly and if we have enough time to do it.

Friday, June 19, 2009

June 19

Today, Fara read over Reza's Forklift writeup and made a few changes to that. Krista continued to work on activity 0 and finished up a lot of that, while Reza proofread and made finalizations to the forklift write-up. Chris was sick and was unable to make it in today. We will discuss future project ideas this coming week and hopefully finish up the grabber robot by next monday.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Thursday, June 19: An Overview

On this gloomy, rainy Thursday, Reza finished up the activity and tutorials for the Forklift challenge making the whole exercise complete. Tomorrow morning he's planning on reading through again and fine tuning a few things before the activity goes up for peer review.

Chris and Krista have worked their ideas together for the Activity Zero document; Chris worked on developing the short tutorial exercises and the code needed for them while Krista built the bot in the Lego designer (one file for each of the sensors that can be atatched). The model of the TriBot was also built in the designer at this time (TriBot is modeled with the touch sensor in frnt while TriBot_V2 has the touch sensor in back with a light sensor in the front).

Brad and Fara finished up the experimenting and write-up for the compas sensor. Working with the sensor in the marble-floored Inovation Center actually worked out much better than here in the lab with icky carpets. The documents for this sensor will be peer reviewed tomorrow morning.

Up for grabs tomorrow:
  • Looking over the Grabber challenge and determining what needs to be changed
  • Working on/Finishing Activity Zero
  • Peer reviewing Sensor documents and the Forklift challenge

something i found while browsing the other day

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/zhenwei-you-b-touchphone

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

june 17

The Overview of everybody's day.

Krista went over the Robot made by Chris yesterday. Since, the design of the robot was not quite working in the Lego designer and due to the fact she could not make any changes to it, she made a new robot. Afterwards, she went ahead and did the design. She worked on the activities for the motors and created a list of definition of different technical terms.

Reza continued with the write-up of his project. He finished the student activities section and the tutorial code. He said he is left only to edit the write up for the teacher activities and minor other activities.

Brad and Faradjine continued working on the programming for the Line Following Test with a Compass Sensor. While we were successful with the north direction, we decided to generalize the code for any other other target meaning south, west, east. After different testing and still not quite a right answer, Faradjine went ahead and did the design for the model while Brad continued on the code. Afterwards, Faradjine started a draft of the Formal write-up for the sensor.

Chris is sick and therefore could not come to work today.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Challenge Brainstorm

Balancing Bot
- With gyroscope sensor + platform for a cup of water, it would keep the platform level while going up ramps to keep the water from spilling

Racing with bots that do not have wheels (biped, quadruped etc)

Stair climber

Monday, June 15, 2009

June 15

Here is the breakdown of work while I was there:

Krista and Chris both began reviewing the write-ups that have been completed for the sensors.

Reza worked on the write-up for the forklift activity he's been working on.

Faradjine and I worked on testing the compass sensor for the first part, creating a testing mechanism and working based on a priori knowledge of the layout of the building.

All group members, excluding Chris and Krista, should have gone over the Catapult materials for the formal review tomorrow.

From what I gathered and what is planned, tomorrow will focus on:

The group working on reviewing the Catapult activity.

Krista and Chris working on polishing or fixing anything needed for the Catapult activity, following the review, as well as finishing reviewing any of the sensor write ups that have not been gone over.

Reza finishing up his work on the forklift activity.

Faradjine and I working on finishing testing with the compass sensor, followed by distributing the work for the write up and model designs needed for doing the tests.

Challenge Brainstorm

Changed to:

Drag Race - No wheels allowed
Stair climber

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Friday, june 12

After the discussion with Tom. I worked on the Ultrasonic write-up, finalizing the document and updated the testing model.
Then I started researching about The Compass Sensor and how we could test it.

Friday, June 12, 2009

June 12 (by Reza)

Today was a relatively light day. Krista finished up with the kits, and all that remains is an official checkout system for the kits. The kits with missing pieces have been labeled, so there should be no problems in determining what kits should be used.
Chris finished up the last of the catapult stuff, so we are just about ready to read through the write up and tutorial to ensure that it is ready for the workshop.
Brad proofread over what Faradjine wrote yesterday in the write up for one of the sensors and tested several more of the additional sensors given to us by Dr. Ludi, while Faradjine completely finished up the write up for the ultrasonic sensor. All that remains for them is the work for compass sensor now.
I continuted working on the write-up for the forklift while also making slight modifications to the code. I just need to break everything up into activities for the workshop, and decide which of the functions the students should be given or which they should write. I should be finished with this in the next couple of days.
Review materials

Final document
Catapault\Catapault design Challenge-Final.doc

Code for students
Catapault\ForStudents

Other code samples are in the
Catapult\

Catapult Review Session - Tuesday, 6/16

At Friday's Scrum we agreed on holding the review session for the Catapult Challenge on Tuesday morning (6/16) from 10:00-12:00 in the SE conference room. Chris will identify the respository artifacts to review. Please review these artifacts in preparation for Tuesday's meeting.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

June 11 (FARA)

Today, while Brad was working on testing the remaining IR sensors, I was testing the Ultrasound Sensor. I previously had some data for a sensor but I had to start all over because I discover that the table surface I was using to test the objects, was giving weird and non-accurate data. Brad and I brainstorm it a little, trying to figure out how we could test it and which area to use. Finally, we decided to use the Hallway. Brad started testing some objects and I finished the rest. I took us 4hrs to finish.
After, I started the write-up for the Ultrasonic.
Tomorrow, I will finish with the writing and I will start working with Brad on the Compass Sensor.

Today's Overview (by Krista)

Fifteen totally complete kits (absolutely no missing pieces) are completed and labeled with bright tabs of paper. Reza is currently working with Kit#7 while Chris is working with Kit#11. I will start putting together the final 2 kits tomorrow, however there are going to be many missing pieces in at least one while the Grabber is still together.

Chris has completed the Catapult project; student tutorials and code for the teachers are sorted and complete, the write up has been proofread twice and the new design is up to date in the modeler (along with edited pictures to show where the modeler refused pieces). Tomorrow we will work together to design a method for testing the challenges.

Fara and Brad have finished everything to do with the light, color, IR sensors. The data collection for the US is completed and the write-up is in the midst of completion. Tomorrow they will work on the compass sensors.

Reza has completed most of what is needed for the forklift. The challenge is about halfway to being finished; most of tomorrow will be designated to finishing the challenges and working on the tutorials.

challenge brainstorm ideas

SlugBot(find and retrieve slugs for fuel)
mobot
roomba
the turk(chess playing)
ballroom dancing bot
vending machine bot
r2d2
robot that reacts to sound depending on frequency played
nurse bot
rover bots

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Brad Work Log

Today I worked on inventorying sensors, proofreading the Light Sensor and Color Sensor writeups, and working on the IR Sensor Writeup.

For approximately 0.5 hours, I worked on taking inventory of the sensors, counting the sensors and noting which ones had defects, which ones had not been tested yet, and inventorying the materials used with the sensors specifically or similar devices (the PS2 controllers, the IR Balls, etc).

For around 0.5 to 1.0 hours, I worked on proofreading the Light Sensor and Color Sensor writeups, expanding them with some ideas, and making any changes necessary in the measurements spreadsheets, such as any charts or other required tables or images that were needed.

For approximately 2.5 hours, I worked on the IR Sensor writeup. This included bouncing ideas around with Faradjine and creating tables and images for the qualitative and quantitative values to be displayed in the report. The writeup needs to be extended with some ideas for sensor use and Faradjine plans on proofreading it, making it almost ready for further review.

For around 1.0 hours otherwise, I talked and collaborated with Faradjine on the other writeups, the model for the other test harness we used for the sensors, and we talked a little on the splitting up of the work. We agreed on the next steps for the ultrasonic sensor and planned on testing at least two to three more of the ultrasonic sensors to verify the results we received with the first, followed by doing an inventory sweep to make sure they were all functioning.

As such, tomorrow I plan to work with Faradjine on gathering the required test data needed for flushing out the information we have on the ultrasonic sensor. We will then start working on the test cases for the compass sensor, while working aside to clarify issues found with some of the code examples and functions found for working with some of the previous sensors. Following, we will probably divide up the work between the ultrasonic sensor writeup, the defect testing for the ultrasonic and infrared sensors that have not been tested, and the clarifying and correcting of code examples in the previous writeups.

Faradjine- June 10

After the scrum, I started on testing the additional sensor color, labeling them and putting aside the defected ones.

After the testing, I created a model for the Infrared Sensor using the design Software.

I proofread Brad formal write up for the IR Sensor, made changes in the format especially with illustration and a few ideas that I thought work better that way. I added pictures to some sections.

Tomorrow I will mostly be working on the Ultrasonic write-up and test the rest of the IR sensors, make sure they work perfectly.

Challenge Brainstorm June 10

  1. Predator Prey(color following, avoidance, detection)
  2. Battle Tanks
  3. Connect 4 Player
  4. Line Following 4 ways
  5. Sorter(change Colored Blocks)

Chris-June 10

Today was mostly going through the code for the catapult and then making small changes here and there. I also finished allotting which of the code samples the students will get and seperating them into a different folder.

Then i went on to try to come up with more ideas for the challenge brainstorm.

Tomorrow i will be looking for more ideas for the brainstorm and building the catapult bot one last time to take pictures of the final two steps that are needed to finish the bot after the instructions

Krista's Day! (June 10)

I started out the morning by finishing up sorting through Karl's kit, which incidentally was a great idea because there were a ton of extra pieces in it. I then dismantled my catapult along with a buggy that was hiding in a corner. I sorted through my kit and then added it to the completed pile. There are now 12 totally complete pairs (one is missing a brick, which I think is currently on the Grabber).

There are 5 boxes left of mixed pieces (three blue, two white) which have been cleaned up for easy access of parts; the extra cords, motors and sensors are sorted into clear bins.

Chris and I are basically done with the entire Catapult project so tomorrow I'll float around and help whoever needs it, or develop some brainstorm ideas for sprint 2.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Reza's Workday 6/9/09

Today, I originally planned to do work with the Lego Designer program, but before I decided to continue in the modification of the forklift. I had been planning to add a color sensor to it to add for more complex activities. It took me about an hour to find out how to write the color sensor into the code. After talking to Faradjine and Brad, they told me that it reads similar to an ultrasonic sensor, so I implemented it as one, and it worked as online sources suggested.
Next, I had to add the sensor to the robot, but I didn't have a lot of space to work with. I was told by Faradjine that the color sensor does not work too well when it is placed too far from an object, so I tried to replace the light sensor with the color sensor. This required me to change the code I was using to follow a black line, but this was a simple fix. I then ran a few tests, but it appeared that the color sensor does not read quickly enough to pick up the thin black line as the bot is turning too quickly. It only worked after signficantly slowing down the bot, but this also proved to be troublesome when making sharp turns. After working on this for about two hours, I decided to scratch the idea and go back to the light sensor. I would have to make modifications to the bot to add the color sensor without getting in the way and becoming unstable. I spent 2 hours trying to change the design to find little success.
Tomorrow, I think I will add an extenstion piece coming off of the side to place the sensor on, or I will try exchanging positions with the light sensor and attempt to get the ligh sensor to work from the new position.

Faradjine- June 9

I proofread the light sensor formal write up started by Brad and yesterday and added a few sections to the documents. I think it is officially done just need to be read and given and posted.

I started the Color Sensor formal write up. It is almost done just 2 sections missing and Brad needs to proofread and added up his own ideas if he wants too.

Tomorrow I will test the color sensors I received today and work on the formal write up for the Ultrasonic sensor.

Krista's Day! (June 9)

This morning, I consolidated the last of the "mixed" kits to allow more empty bins while also picking up a few empty (and not so empty) bins from Step's office. Because the catapult, forklift and a few buggies were disassembled yesterday, parts that were missing in the completed kits became available. I fixed as many holes in the completed kits as was possible (which ended up being almost every one of them) while also completing 4 new boxes from scratch to make an even pairing between blue and white bins; there are now 10 pairs.

Once all of this was finished and cleaned up, which was not until after lunch, I started going through Karl's kit to make sure it was complete. This ended up being more tedious than building kits from scratch. I have finished his blue bin and plan to do the white one tomorrow morning.

Workday-june 9

Finished up the building of the catapult bot in the morning and all design changes that were needed. The bot is able to be built using the one kit.

I then moved onto looking into the code for the catapult and moved the files that will be given to the students into a separate folder from the answers that the teachers will be receiving. I have also been looking over the lesson plans and making sure all of the mentions of the files exist and make sense.

Going at current speed, we could probably have most of the catapult ready to look at soon.

Challenge brainstorm - tues

Obstacle course
Color sensor
Light
US
Whisker bots
cars (sensors to avoid each other)
printer bots
firefighter bot
racing bots
UNO bot(cards)
Insect/Animal bots
beetle
cat
t-rex
spider
Trash collector
SumoBot x3
hand robot
Wall-e

Monday, June 8, 2009

Reza's Work Day 6/8/09

Today, I spent the first two or three hours building a forklift with Faradjine following the directions given in the Lego Model Designer. Other than a few missing pieces in the model, this went very well. I then downloaded my forklift programs to the brick and executed them on my forklift to make sure all was functioning correctly. Everything worked as it did on Franklin's forklift, so this is completely done.

Next, I had to add the few pieces that were missing in the design model so there will be no confusion when somebody else tries to build the forklift. This was very frustrating as some pieces were not connecting properly. I struggled with this for at least two hours, but decided to give up on it for the day to pick up it back up tomorrow.

Finally, I disassembled Franklin's forklift model and sorted his pieces into the bins so we can complete the remaining kits. This took about an hour and I am completely done with that.

End of Day Work Report

Today I worked on doing formalized write-ups for the sensors, with my focus on doing the Light Sensor.

To do this task, I first devised a document template for Sensor write-ups, which took around .75 hours to complete based on the different data required. I found this necessary and useful, as it would help to formalize the structure of such write-ups for the future. It can be updated as necessary to fit with the requirements of writing up about the caveats, qualitative and quantitative data acquired during tests, and other nuances including best practices and ideas for using the sensor. Aside, I also created the basic directory structure for the sensor write-ups, committing these and the current versions of documents to the repository.

Afterward, I began working on the Light Sensor write-up document. I worked on this for the remainder of the day (not counting the morning meeting, the other 4.25 hours of my work day). I worked specifically on writing up the testing results and placing the data, exported from a Google doc, into an Excel spreadsheet. I also worked on finding and referencing the resources we used for determining support for the sensor and finding the different expected ranges and values available.

Lastly, during my period of working on the document, I worked with Faradjine on the model for the testing harness we used for testing the sensors using LEGO Digital Designer.

We will probably follow a similar process for the rest of the sensor information.

As for my plans tomorrow, I plan on finishing the Light Sensor write-up and working with Faradjine to look over and proofread it before submitting it for review. Providing I finish this before the end of work (more than likely), we will split up who will work on the next document, while the other will more than likely work on inventory and tracking the defected vs. correctly working sensors, placing these into a separate inventory spreadsheet.

Brainstorming List Items

No new items today (while I was there).

Friday, June 5, 2009

Spring 1 (June 8 - June 26, 2009)

Sprint Goals:
  1. Finish Karl's Catapult Challenge to include all materials, code, design, write-up, etc. (Project Goal 1)
  2. Extend and finish Franklin's Forklift Challenge to include all materials noted above (Project Goal 1)
  3. Assemble and label all kits, and include a list of any parts that are missing in each (Project Goal 1)
  4. Have a detailed understanding of the following sensors: Color, Light, Ultrasonic, Compass, IR. Understanding is based on experimentation with quantitative and qualitative data gathering using various lighting, materials, etc. as relevant to the sensors being studied. (Project Goal 2)
  5. Brainstorm a list of challenges that are good for a weekend in duration and that would be fun. (Project Goal 1)
  6. Finish Andy's Can Collector Challenge. (Project Goal 1)
Note on Tasks and Assignments:
Each Sprint Goal has a set of associated tasks, sprint items, that are assigned to one or more people for the current sprint. Other tasks may need to be added or people re-assigned as issues arise and collaboration is encouraged. The name listed with the task is the person who is the lead for completing that task.

Daily Scrum:
Each day at 9am, we will have a scrum that will last no more than 10 minutes, where each person briefly notes what they learned, what they are going to work on on the current day, and if there are any impediments that are holding up progress. Tom and/or Steph will be checking in with you during the day as well and you can always come see us too, if needed.

End of Each Work Day:
The assigned person needs to post the current (new) entries in the brainstorming list onto the blog. Name the post and tag it as Brainstorming List Items. Each person needs to post to the blog what tasks they worked on (as some of you may have helped someone else or may have taken on another, unlisted task that was needed), how long you spent working on it, and if you are done with the task or not.

Assignments (Sprint Items):

  • SG1: Finish Karl's Catapult (Chris, Krista): To Be Ready for peer inspection by end of week 2 of the sprint
  1. Robot model is finalized and is determined to be constructable from 1 'kit' - Chris
  2. Robot model is documented in Lego Designer and the instructions have been tested - Krista but walk Chris through it
  3. Challenge write-up has been written and proofread. - Krista
  4. Challenge write-up has been inspected by a peer, and has been revised as needed. - Chris
  5. Challenge write-up has been checked in under a folder named for that challenge (where all challenge materials will be stored) - Chris
  6. Challenge solution code has been completed, tested, commented, and checked. It's file name contains the work solution in it. - Chris
  7. The Challenge has been broken down into a set of tutorial write-ups (will be handouts) that break down the challenge's main concepts into small chunks where the students work with small programs and concepts in order to be ready to solve the overall challenge. - Krista finish
  8. The Challenge tutorial code is completed, tested, and commented. Name the files according to the challenge, the concept being taught and the number that indicates the order that the tutorial should be done in e.g. Maze_Repeat_2.nxc - Krista
  9. Any helper libraries are completed, tested, and commented. They are also clearly labels that they are a helper library and checked in with the challenge. - Chris
  • SG2: Extend and Finish Franklin's Forklift (Reza): To Be Ready for peer inspection by end of week 2 of the sprint
  1. Robot model is finalized and is determined to be constructable from 1 'kit' - Reza but work wth Faradjine if possible
  2. Robot model is documented in Lego Designer and the instructions have been tested - Reza finalize and test with Faradjine
  3. Challenge write-up has been written and proofread. - Reza
  4. Challenge write-up has been inspected by a peer, and has been revised as needed. -- peer is Faradjine
  5. Challenge write-up has been checked in under a folder named for that challenge (where all challenge materials will be stored) - Reza
  6. Challenge solution code has been completed, tested, commented, and checked. It's file name contains the work solution in it. - Reza
  7. The Challenge has been broken down into a set of tutorial write-ups (will be handouts) that break down the challenge's main concepts into small chunks where the students work with small programs and concepts in order to be ready to solve the overall challenge. - Reza but work with Faradjine or Brad (whoever is available at the time)
  8. The Challenge tutorial code is completed, tested, and commented. Name the files according to the challenge, the concept being taught and the number that indicates the order that the tutorial should be done in e.g. Maze_Repeat_2.nxc - Reza
  9. Any helper libraries are completed, tested, and commented. They are also clearly labels that they are a helper library and checked in with the challenge. - Reza but work with Faradjine or Brad (whoever is available at the time)

  • SG3: Sensor Analysis (Brad, Faradjine): Week 1: Color, Lght, IR; Week 2 Ultrasonic, Week 3 Compass - Estimated
For each of the following sensors: color, light, ultrasonic, IR (with ball), compass,
  1. Inventory the sensors and note any that do not function properly (be specific in how they do not work and attach the note to the sensor in its box) - Faradjine
  2. Devise appropriate tests for each sensor using a variety of materials/distances/etc as relevant to the sensor; log what the tests are and how carried out in order to replicate them later - the tests will require some proof-of-concept programing and building an appropriate lego model to hold the sensor. - Brad
  3. Maintain a data set of your quantitative and qualitative results in Excel/Word - Faradjine
  4. Summarize your findings and provide a set of best practices and caveats for the use of each sensor in activities (to be used in this project and to disseminated to others) - Brad and Faradjine must split this up, suggest alternate

  • SG4: Finish assembling and inventorying the kits (Krista, Chris): To Be Ready by end of week 1 of sprint
  1. Reassemble and organize all lego kits into their respective containers.
  2. Have a list of missing parts and tape it to its respective kit.
  3. Create a check out list so that we know who is working with which complete kit on a project (use of blog and whiteboard).

  • SG5: Brainstorming (All and it will be ongoing through the Sprint): To Be Ready by end of Sprint

  • SG6: Finish Andy's Can Collector Challenge (TBD)
  1. During the sprint, each team member is responsible to contributing ideas to a running list (on the whiteboard) for potential challenges to be considered for the next sprint. At the end of each day, the designated person will enter any items noted on that day onto the blog. Brad (Mon), Chris (Tues), Faradjine (Wed), Krista (Thurs), Reza (Fri).

Project ACE Summer 2009 Kick-off

Project ACE (Accessible Computing Education) has kicked off its summer work. Scrum will be used to manage the project this summer, where there will be 3 3-week long sprints - where the first spring starts in Week 2 of the project. Students tasks are noted here and daily student progress is to be documented on the blog.

Overall summer goals are:
  1. To have 5-6 full sets of challenges, some of which are new and some are to complete ones started in the Spring.
  2. To have a deeper understanding of the Lego Mindstorms sensors and other relevant technology
  3. To expand/redesign the project website so that it is accessible, easily maintainable and modifiable, usable (and supports various media) and is secure.