Friday 6-29-12
Finalized presentations and loaded necessary material onto presentation computer. Watched other teams' presentation, and then presented our materials. Demonstrated NXT Explorer robots which avoid obstacles using two methods, and discussed what we plan to be working on for the next couple weeks. We hope to be able to modify NXT programs to make an engaging project for the Tech Fests.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Week 3: Day 4
Thursday 6-28-12
Worked on NXT program on presenter computer, and spent the bulk of the day finalizing presentation materials. We also worked some on sorting through literature material and identifying the most relevant sources.
Worked on NXT program on presenter computer, and spent the bulk of the day finalizing presentation materials. We also worked some on sorting through literature material and identifying the most relevant sources.
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| Midterm Presentation Cover Slide |
Week 3: Day 3
Wednesday 6-27-12
We worked on our presentation and were given more specifics for the presentation on Friday. In the afternoon, we found several websites that will aid us in defining our Garcia Robot here at UNT as well as how what we learn here will translate into our classrooms. We also located many relevant sources of information on the Mindstorm robots and flowchart fundamentals.
We worked on our presentation and were given more specifics for the presentation on Friday. In the afternoon, we found several websites that will aid us in defining our Garcia Robot here at UNT as well as how what we learn here will translate into our classrooms. We also located many relevant sources of information on the Mindstorm robots and flowchart fundamentals.
Week 3: Day 2
Tuesday 6-26-12
We spent the morning working on our lesson plan, filling in some details and identifying corresponding TEKS. We also worked on the midterm presentation, and then met at 3PM for a session on lesson planning by Dr. Ruthanne Thompson.
We spent the morning working on our lesson plan, filling in some details and identifying corresponding TEKS. We also worked on the midterm presentation, and then met at 3PM for a session on lesson planning by Dr. Ruthanne Thompson.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Week 3: Day 1
We built two NXT “Explorer” robots. The robots randomly search an area and detect and/or avoid obstacles. It utilizes two different sensors, one ultrasonic and one touch. If the ultrasonic "eyes" detect an object at about 8" or closer, the robot stops, looks left and right for the most open path and turns in that direction to continue. If something is too low to be detected, the robot may run into it and bump its bumper, causing it to make an "oof!" sound, back up, and find a better path.
To test them, we (of course) had a battle between them.. In a confined environment, they will periodically cross paths and have to avoid each other. On less frequent occasions, they bump into each other and then turn to drive in a different direction. Even less frequently, they run into each and get stuck.
Aside from the randomness of the search patterns (which cannot easily be controlled with them at this time), the operation was a great deal of fun!!!
On a side note, we checked out gapminder.org, a cool site to show global trends in an easy-to-understand format. This could be a good site to use when my class looks at how technology will need to handle a rapidly changing world.
To test them, we (of course) had a battle between them.. In a confined environment, they will periodically cross paths and have to avoid each other. On less frequent occasions, they bump into each other and then turn to drive in a different direction. Even less frequently, they run into each and get stuck.
Aside from the randomness of the search patterns (which cannot easily be controlled with them at this time), the operation was a great deal of fun!!!
On a side note, we checked out gapminder.org, a cool site to show global trends in an easy-to-understand format. This could be a good site to use when my class looks at how technology will need to handle a rapidly changing world.
Week 2: Day 4
Thursday 6-21-12
In the morning we learned that Eduardo (our exchange student from Mexico) had gotten object detection working. We watched a demo, and will try to proceed with the Garcia project again. Also in the morning, we had a brief Q&A session about the paper we will write and our midterm presentation next Friday. We should cover a short lit review, methods, and project results to date.
We took previous flowcharts and simplified them to help build the program in simpler steps:
Step 1: drive around in a box (completed)
Step 2: avoid a simple object while driving around the box (we are almost here - there is still a little work to do)
Step 3: Avoid any object while driving around a box.
At 3 pm, we went to a seminar on wireless sensors and networks. Dr. Fu presented some cool work he'd done in monitoring heartbeats via bluetooth on a smartphone, and monitoring wind pressure on a test building at Texas Tech University. Then Dr. Acevedo discussed the use of wireless sensors for environmental research around Denton.
In the morning we learned that Eduardo (our exchange student from Mexico) had gotten object detection working. We watched a demo, and will try to proceed with the Garcia project again. Also in the morning, we had a brief Q&A session about the paper we will write and our midterm presentation next Friday. We should cover a short lit review, methods, and project results to date.
We took previous flowcharts and simplified them to help build the program in simpler steps:
Step 1: drive around in a box (completed)
Step 2: avoid a simple object while driving around the box (we are almost here - there is still a little work to do)
Step 3: Avoid any object while driving around a box.
At 3 pm, we went to a seminar on wireless sensors and networks. Dr. Fu presented some cool work he'd done in monitoring heartbeats via bluetooth on a smartphone, and monitoring wind pressure on a test building at Texas Tech University. Then Dr. Acevedo discussed the use of wireless sensors for environmental research around Denton.
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| Dr. Fu's bluetooth heartbeat |
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