stem fair project can lego mindstorm robots detect and react to objects within a certain range?
TRANSCRIPT
Stem fair project
Can LEGO MINDSTORM robots detect and react to objects within a certain range?
BY KAYSA ENGDAHL
What is the challenge and What are the constraints?The challenge was to build a robot
that guarded something, possibly a room or an object.
The constraints were to use parts from an NXT LEGO Mindstorm set to build a semi-intelligent robot.
Ideas for designs Some possible ideas were:
1. Build a robot that moved around, patrolling the area with an ultrasonic sensor that would allow the robot to see. If it saw an object within a certain distance, it would first give a warning, then attack with its robot teeth by snapping its jaws.
Ideas for designs 2. Build a robot that was stationary, and
had an ultrasonic sensor, enabling the robot to see. It would flash a warning blue light out of the color lamp installed on it, then give a verbal warning, and if the object did not move, the robot would shoot plastic balls out of a chute and continue to do so until the object moved. When the object moved, the robot would say, “ Lost object”.
Sketches of ideas
Which idea should I choose? I decided to make Robot2 instead of Robot1,
because I imagined a situation where, if I had chosen Robot1, the robot would be guarding a room. If the room happened to be in a hallway, Robot1 might patrol the area and then sense the wall, in which case it would attack the wall.
I thought also shooting balls might be more useful than having a robot attack with biting, because then the robot would protect a larger area.
Needed materialsThese are the main parts I will use for my robot. These are the names of the parts, from top left going clockwise:Ultrasonic sensor, Color sensor/ color lamp, ball shooter with balls, and the NXT computer.
I will also need many other small parts for this robot, including axels, connectors, and a few straight or elbow pieces, along with some wires to connect the NXT computer to the sensors and motors.
Needed materials I will also need 3 motors , two for the
traction wheels, which are mostly decorative, and one for poking the balls out of the ball shooter.
3
Building the robot Here are some pictures of me building
Robot2.
What changes to robot2 can I make? The changes I made to robot2 were: I made it so that the color lamp
changed different colors then originally programmed.
I attached the ball shooter in a more convenient spot.
I made the ultrasonic sensor sense objects within 40cm instead of 30cm.
Robot2
Did my robot complete the challenge? I think that Robot2 completed the
challenge, because1) It can detect objects, and when I tested
it out it detected the object.2) It reacted to the object, by shooting
balls out of the ball shooter 3) There was a certain range in which the
objects had to be in for them to be sensed.
SUCCESS!!!