CS 1020 - Final Project
The final project of the Lego Robot Design Studio will be a creation
of your own design. By this point in the term you should have some
sense of the range of possibilities available to you. We can brainstorm
ideas if you're stuck, but you should come up with something that you're
excited about!
Wednesday, 1/23: Come up with an idea
After joining the members of your new (and final) group, talk
about ideas for a satisfying and challenging final project. Think of
this both in terms of engineering challenges and
programming challenges. We will discuss your ideas before the
end of today's lab.
There are no formal requirements for the final project, but you will be graded
on: creativity, difficulty, robustness and functionality. We will be demoing the
project in the Great Hall, so keep this in mind as you think about ideas. In particular,
things like light following will be challenging and should be avoided.
To stimulate ideas:
- Consider (variations on) the projects mentioned in class.
- Check out the final projects from previous years (but the older
student pages won't exist anymore):
- Browse the Internet. A few places to start are the homepages of similar courses taught at other schools:
- Sift through the Lego kits again and find some other pieces that
you haven't used yet, for example, pumps and pneumatic pistons,
differentials, rack and pinion gears. Try to devise clever ways to
incorporate some of these undiscovered toys into your projects. You
could also consider employing more than one Handy Board in your
project, or perhaps using the NXT Brick instead (the TAs can teach you
how to program these). There are also additional sensors available.
Finally, the Handy Board can be controlled with a remote control.
- Pay attention to your day-to-day world and be on the lookout for
robotic devices that already exist. Think about other tasks that a
robot might be able to do, and then consider whether your group would
be capable of building such a beast.
Friday, 1/25: Demo your first prototype
By Friday, you should build a working subpart of your project. During lab,
the instructors will discuss and grade your progress on your project so far. We will also
be available to help you with any mechanical or programming problems.
We may be able to help you out with extra Lego parts or motors, too.
In lab, we will also take pictures of your creation so far
(or let you do it yourself). The
homework for Monday is to create a web page that describes your goal and your
progress to this point, and to prepare a 5-minute oral presentation to give
to the rest of the class during Monday's lecture. Your web page should contain
some pictures of your Lego device to be projected during your presentation.
The page should also include:
- A clear description of the problem you are trying to solve
- A detailed discussion of your approach and of your Lego structure
(including the number and kind of sensors and motors used)
- A description of the strategy and program you are implementing
- Possibilities for both more advanced and (more importantly) simpler
versions of your project in case you find things are working out better
or worse than expected...
Aside from these guidelines, there is a good deal of freedom as to
what is specifically expected from your web page (as with the project
itself). At minimum, you need to document the purpose and ultimate
level of success of your project. Whatever else you decide to add is
more or less up to you, but our hope is that your page will convey a
sense of your group's personality as well as its journey toward the
final product.
Monday, 1/28: Presentations and work day
We will start class with your presentations. Each group should explain
their project to the rest of the class in about 5 minutes, using your
web pages as visual aids. Depending on your progress, you may also
want to give a very quick demo of your creation! Questions and
comments to help each group along are strongly encouraged from the
audience.
The rest of the class will be spent as a work day. The homework for
Wednesday is to complete your project, and to continue developing your web
page. We will prepare posters to advertise the talent show, which you
can help us distribute all over campus. Be sure to keep your
Handy Board charged!
At some point on Tuesday afternoon you should test your robot under
"talent show conditions", i.e., in the Great Hall downstairs.
Experience from previous years shows that the afternoon sunlight
coming in through the large windows can wreak havoc with any robot
that relies on light sensing.
Wednesday 1/30: TALENT SHOW!
Morning lab time (optional): 10am - noon
Talent Show: 2-5pm
The instructors will be available in the lab from 10-noon to help with last-minute
debugging, fixing, and moral support. We will then take a break for lunch, and reconvene
around 1:30 to pack up and move everything to the Great Hall
downstairs. Be sure to leave enough time to adjust all robots to their new
surroundings (stone / carpet floor, lighting conditions, etc.). Also, be sure to
post your program(s) on your webpage, or bring them on a memory stick
- we will have laptops
available for emergency programming needs. From 2-5pm,
the college and town community will be invited to come and meet your
robots. This will be an open-house kind of event where folks can walk
around and meet each machine on its own terms and chat with you about
your creation. At least one person per group should be around to
demonstrate their robot at all times, but perhaps you can take turns
visiting some of the other groups as well.
After the Talent Show, please transfer all parts (Lego, Handy Boards,
etc.) back to our lab.
The homework for Friday is to complete your webpage and be prepared
as a group to give a 5-minute oral presentation on your project.
There's a lot of talent in this group, and we're looking forward to
seeing what you come up with. Have fun!
Friday 2/1: Presentations and Cleanup
We'll start class at the normal time (9:00am) with short
presentations from each group reporting on your successes and challenges.
After the presentations, we'll complete course evaluations and then
begin the big cleanup. By today at noon you will need to have your creation
completely disassembled, and your Lego kit back to its original pristine
state. Each bin in the kit should contain only the designated pieces
shown on the sheet underneath. If you have borrowed pieces from other
groups, be sure to distribute them back to where they belong.
Leave motors, sensors, and Handy Board
in a neat pile next to your box. Thanks for helping us out (and
remember, cleanup accounts for 5% of your grade :).