Force+and+Motion+Sandbox

=Force and Motion Sandbox=

Today we will have a robotics sandbox day.

1.) We will divide up into teams. Each member of the team should log into the robotics wiki. 2.) In today’s sandbox, teams will try to complete tasks for points. After completing a task you can move up to a tougher task. A completed task must be documented in the wiki as well as physically finished. You can use the calculators on your computers and will need a stopwatch, tape measure, meter stick, and blocks (instead of tape to show the start and stop, etc.) 3.) All members of the group should participate in building, programming, and documentation. You should conduct an interview via video at least two times this morning to describe the difficulties encountered by your group or how you solved the challenges. Ms. Todd has a DVcam and a camera that shoots video. She will save this video to her computer and you will not include it in your wiki today. 4.) To document each challenge you will use the following template in your robotics wiki. This will be the final entry.

5. DATE: 5/20/2008
Task 1 (10 points): At your work area on the table come up with a strategy to calculate the velocity of your robot at 30% power over 70 cm. Repeat the measurement 3 times and get an average. Think about the equation for velocity. Carry out your plan and determine the velocity.

a. Brief description and image (snip and you can upload to the wiki- give your image an uncommon file name) of the programming you used to solve this challenge. b. Description of what made this task difficult for your group.

For this task the robot was programmed to move forward 70 centimeters and then find the robots average velocity out of three tries. Some difficulties we had was following the directions. We did not fully read the directions and had troubles coming back to the task. The first try was 3.5 m/s, the second was 3.54 m/s, the third was 3.68m/s, and the average was 3.57 m/s.

Task 2 (20 points):: At your work area, come up with a strategy to get your robot to accelerate over a 1 meter distance. Have it come to a stop at 1 meter.

a. Brief description and image (snip and you can upload to the wiki- give your image an uncommon file name) of the programming you used to solve this challenge. b. Description of what made this task difficult for your group.

For task 2 the idea was to make the robot gradually accelerate over 1 meter. Some difficulties in this task was to make the robot slowly and gradually accelerate instead of jerking.

Task 3 (30 points):: Determine the velocity of the rotation of the wheels on your robot. Program your robot at 45% power to rotate 10 times. Calculate the velocity of the rotation of the wheels at this power in cm/sec. (Hint: You need to know the circumference of a wheel and remember it goes around ten times!)

a. Brief description and image (snip and you can upload to the wiki- give your image an uncommon file name) of the programming you used to solve this challenge. b. Description of what made this task difficult for your group.

Task 4 (40 points):: On a graph, plot the velocity that your robot travels 1 meter at 20% power, 40% power, and 70% power. Include an image of your plot in your documentation by snipping it. Make sure it has units and axis labels. Using your graph, determine how fast you think your robot wold be traveling if you programmed it to go at 60% power. Calculate velocity in cm/sec. a. Brief description and image (snip and you can upload to the wiki- give your image an uncommon file name) of the graph. b. Description of what made this task difficult for your group. One difficulty was that the robot had to be accelerated at a constant rate. Also calculating the velocity was tough. But the overall task went pretty well.

Task 5 (50 points):: Create an obstacle course on your lab table with building bocks. It should contain one right point turn and 1 left point turn. The robot should stop at the end where you have built a small tower of blocks. Your robot should not knock the blocks over.

a. Brief description and image (snip and you can upload to the wiki- give your image an uncommon file name) of the programming you used to solve this challenge. b. Description of what made this task difficult for your group.