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ParcMeeting20100725

Page history last edited by Mark Fussell 13 years, 7 months ago

 

Previous Meeting: ParcMeeting20100711

Next Meeting: ParcMeeting20100808

 

Schedule 

July 25th, 2010 -- 3PM to 5PM

 

Prerequisites 

For anyone that wants to, create a good mobile base (chassis) -- a robot that can move around, and ideally also has a light sensor facing down.  

 

Agenda 

The primary agenda will be...  "Line Runners".  Robots will face off on opposite sides of a symmetric course, and the first to get to the center [while staying on the lines], wins.  The lines will be blue masking tape.  People will have a practice line to teach their robots how to move around.  There will be a couple variations of the course that make it a bit harder.

 

Details -- Line Runners 

  • Break into pairs or triplets
    • Take an existing robot or new base robot
    • Name it with an awesome racing name
    • Augment your robot to be able to run a line
    • Augment your robot to be able to beat other robots

 

Resources

  • [Check] Meeting Location -- Mark's house [location by email]
  • Kids -- How many to attend [Maya, ...]
  • Computers -- How many that are NXT-G setup [Mark = 2, ...]
  • NXT Robots -- How many [Mark = 2]
  • Cameras [Mark = 1+, ...] 
  • [Check] Floor space for running courses
  • [Check] Projector
  • Food, Drinks, Utensils -- 

 

Line Runners

  • SwampTiger (ST) -- Driver: Mark , Driver2: Zach & William -- Based on the Antipodes TOR robot 
  • SmileyBot (SB) -- Driver: Raffi & Waves
  • TankBot (TB) -- Driver: Kiron
  • FastBot (FB) -- Driver: Daniel
  • Claws -- Driver: Maya & Susie 

 

The Course

Algorithms

Each robot had a different proposed algorithm, some included:

  * Zig-zag across the line (say white1-blue1-white2-blue2 where 1 & 2 are opposite sides)

  * Go left-ish until line and then backup and turn a bit right

 

Results

Only TankBot and SwampTiger successfully ran the course.  SmileyBot had good programs, but had issues with the location of the light sensor being beneath the robot, so turns of the robot had no or little impact on the sensor reading.  Actually SwampTiger had a similar problem, but the sensor is slightly in front of the wheels.  Claws program never distilled down to the core algorithm, but was working that way.  FastBot had mechanical issues of being geared too fast to actually respond in reasonable time.  STDriver2's algorithm neve

 

Programs

The following are various programs within the meeting.  Note that all these programs are very sensitive to the speed of the robot... if you have it move too fast or not turn hard enough, it just completely 'ignores' the line.

 

TankBot

Turn right until blue, turn left until white.  

 

Source: linebladop.rbt

 

SmileyBot_Right1

 

Source:right1.rbt

 

SwampTiger SimpleLineFollow 

SwampTiger simple line follow.  Basically the version from:

  * http://www.nxtprograms.com/NXT2/line_follower/steps.html

except I swapped the line-side it was working on (left vs. right).

 

 

The more sophisticated SwampTiger line following is at: 

   * StLineRunner

but that is a bit over-the-top for an introduction to line following.

 

Sequential Alternative

Variation of the TankBot algorithm (using waits instead of loops).

 

Source: TankBot1.rbt

 

 

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