Proposed Design Built and Coding Has Begun

The physical prototype discussed in the design proposal has been built based on the quick prototype created in Week 2. One aspect of the design that was added on was the double touch sensor with block wall, pictured in Figure 2, that allows the robot to detect contact from the back. Another aspect was the light sensor, pictured in Figure 3, that provides the ability to detect when the robot reaches the edge of the arena. In addition, the ultrasonic sensor mounting has been modified, shown if Figure 4, so that it is not looking down on an angle as it was originally.

Figure 2. Double touch sensor with block wall.
Touch sensors located behind red pieces.

Figure 3. Light sensor shown underneath robot and
during robot modification.

Figure 4. Front of robot with new
ultrasonic sensor mount.

As well as building the prototype, progress has been made in terms of coding. Using the knowledge gained from the NXC tutorial [2], practice blocks of code containing aspects that will be crucial to the algorithm have been written and executed to see how they affect the robot. 
Building off of these blocks of code, an alogrithm will be created during the next week that can be used in testing the current design of the robot.

Feel free to leave any comments.

Hands-On With the NXT

During the past week, there had been a lot of hands-on time with the Lego NXT kit to get a better understanding of what pieces are available, how many there are and how they fit together. The result of the hands-on time is the quick prototype shown in Figure 1. 

Figure 1. Front of robot prototype

In addition to working with the mechanical aspects of the design, the programmers started to work through a tutorial that describes the NXC programming language that will be used to program the robot [2]. Using the hands-on knowledge and information acquired from sources mentioned on the References page, a design proposal had been created which covers all aspects of the project from design constraints to a weekly schedule. To view the proposal, visit the Overview page. Looking forward to the next week, the plan is to complete the design of the robot by thinking of what pieces can be used to build the proposed design.

As always feel free to leave any comments.

Welcome to Our Website!

Over the course of the next few months, we will be updating this website with information dealing with our current project, creating a NXT robot that can autonomously participate in Robot Sumo. In addition, we will be posting weekly progress updates through blog posts.  Currently the website is under major construction, but within a week you will be able to learn more about exactly what our project will consist of by visiting the ‘Overview’ page and references we use by visiting the ‘References’ page. If you are interested in learning more about the people working on this project, please visit the ‘Team Members’ page.

Feel free to leave any comments; we look forward to your feedback!