Final Project Brainstorming: Part 1-- Inspiration

The RDS (Robotic Design Studio) class room is full of all sorts of supplies. I took photos of some supplies for inspiration. 

PicoCricket

Construction paper

Materials

More materials

Laser cutter

I also photographed some projects from previous years.

Boats made in a past robotics class

Creature made out of Legos in a past robotics class

Personal Fabrication: Learning to Use the Laser

We learned to use the laser cutter. First we created an image using Adobe Illustrator. Red lines instruct the laser cutter to make the laser cut all the way through. Black lines make the laser engrave. Then we transfer it to a different computer and on that computer we use another program to prepare the image to print.

This is the Adobe document. Notice the red lines and the black lines. 

I "heart" RDS

Build Your Own Sensor: Chicken Crossing The Road

Here is a twist on an age-old tale. You've heard why the chicken crossed the road. However, you missed the part about what happened to the chicken while he was crossing the road. My RDS partner and I made a very cute fire truck for our last project so we decided to mix it up... Watch the video to find out what really happened to the chicken.

"Street View"

The driver and her vehicle

Chicken "soul" graphic

Chicken crossing the road graphic

This program was made using Scratch, a programing language developed at MIT. Check it out, or download it for free at http://scratch.mit.edu/

[not so] Indestructible Box

The challenge is to build a box out of Lego's that holds two small weights loosely  in it's middle chamber and does not break when dropped from a height of two meters. I love working with Lego's so I was really excited by this challenge. However, the challenge is much more difficult that it appears. The first three ways I built the box it broke each time-- very sad and frustrating

 

However, I tried this task for a forth time weeks later and was successful. Trying again pays off! 

Single Motor Racing Vehicle: Red's Rescue

The challenge was to make a moving vehicle using a motor and gears that carries a 1 kg weight as fast as possible on a 3 meter course. One has to find the right ratio of gears in order for the vehicle to move swiftly and to carry the weight.

Try 1 moved fast without weight and didn't move at all when carrying the weight.

Try 1 is very fast when the only weight it carries is that of a Lego figurine!

Try 2 runs reasonably fast with and without the required weight AND is very cute!

We named our figurine Red. This is Red and his fire rescue.

Red's Rescue

SciBorg Behaviors: Follow light

Another challenge we tackled was one in which we programed the SciBorg to go towards a light source.

SciBorg Line Follower

Another challenge we were given was to make our robots follow a path created by black tape. We used larger robots called SciBorgs and a version of the PicoBlocks software especially for SciBorgs.