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=Team Name:= The JA3S4's Oranges =Team Symbol:=

== Obtained Under Creative Commons =I. Team Members Names (First Only)=

Abby- Leader Shantal- Multimedia Expert Jenna- Wiki Editor

=II. Instructions for Challenges=

A. For each challenge you must write a short description of the challenge using complete sentences. Please write in 3rd person, scientific writing. B. This is where you should include your programming code by including screen screen shots. You should place all multimedia on [|photobucket.com] and then incorporate it into the site using the embed code. C. For each challenge you must provide some form of multimedia exhibit. This would be images, a short video, an interview, etc. You should place all multimedia on [|photobucket.com] and then incorporate it into the site using the embed code. D. For each challenge you should provide a written explanation of the difficulties encountered with the challenge. = = = = =III. Challenges (Template)=

Copy this section for each of your challenges:

DATE: 4/21/2009
Challenge 1: Point Turn A. Description (Short Paragraph): ** In this first challenge, the robot had go 25 cm forward, then point turn (sharp turn) to the left 180 degrees, and then back up 10 cm. "Trial and error” was used to determine this. The group had to see how long it would take for the robot to move a certain distance at a specific power level. They also had to figure how to turn a certain degree, and how to turn a certain direction. They also had to find out how to make the robot move backwards; it was the same thing as moving the robot forward, but on the program the “back arrow” had to be pressed to make it go in a reverse direction. This was the process of challenge 1. **

B. Programming Code (Picture and Written Explanation):
 * The first movemont block, is the robots' command to move 25 cm forward (50 % power). Also in this block (and in the rest if the others) there is the amont of power that the robot most exert to complete the action, and how long the robot must move forward. The second movement block is the action to turn around 180 degrees (79 % power). Lastly the third is the action to back up 10 cm (79% power).**

Figure 1: Movement Blocks for Robot Challenge

C. Multimedia: media type="custom" key="3687035" Video 1: The process of Challenge 1

media type="custom" key="3695841" Video 2: Interview for Challenge 1 with Abby

Figure 2: Working on Challenge 1

D. **The difficulties that were encountered during the programming of challenge one, involved the steps of programming the point turn. It was nessecary that the robot rotated 180 degrees so that the back of the robot was faced toward the end of the path. In order for the robot to move 40 cm in a straight line, the use of power and the duration of the movements drastically effected the outcome of the experiment. Several times during the programming the duration and the degrees of rotation needed to be altered in order to complete te challenge**.

DATE: 4/23/2009
Challenge 2: Square A. Description (Short Paragraph): ** In the second challenge, the Point Turn, the robot had to move in a square. Each side of the square was 61 centimeters, so the robot in total, had to travel a distance of 244 centimeters. It had to turn three 90 degree angles to the left. So, the group had to see how long it would take the robot to travel a certain distance (61 cm) at a certain power level. This was overall description of challenge 1. **  B. Programming Code (Picture and Written Explanation):
 * In Figure 2 there are 2 main blocks. The first two movement blocks are the commands to move forward and turn 90 degrees. Then the blocks were just "copied" and pasted, so that now they are just the same thing over and over again. Although some of the rotations and amount of power messed up the turns, and therefore the blocks were fixed.**

Figure 3: Challenge 2 Programming Code C. Multimedia: media type="custom" key="3695855" Video 3: Process of Challenge 2

media type="custom" key="3695983" Video 4: Interview for Challenge 2 with Jenna

D. **In challenge three, there were several dificulties encountered. The robot either did not turn far enough, or did not have enough power to complete the length of the trial. After several attempts, it was finally figured out that the root needed to move forward at 59 percent of speed and go for 3.3 seconds. All of the turns and staight-aways agreed with this formula except for the last straight-away, the robot went to far and left the box it was supposed to stay on. But it was soon fixed when the speed and time was adjusted to go slower.**

DATE: 4/24/2009
Challenge 3: Backing Up

A. Description (Short Paragraph): In Challenge 3, the robot was programed to move forward and than make a right hand turn. After this step was completed the robot need to move forward a little bit more, then back up around 9 cm while making a noise. This challenge was called "Backing Up" because the most complicated part of the challenge was for the robot to back up while making a noise.

B. Programming Code (Picture and Written Explanation): Figure 4: Programming Figure 4: Code for Challenge 3

This programming code represents the robot's navigation in Challenge 3. The 1st block makes the robot move forward for 2.85 seconds at 59% power. The second block makes it do 0.14 rotations to the right at a 79% power speed. The 3rd block makes it move forward for 0.8 seconds at 59% power. The 4th block makes it do 0.325 rotations to the right at 79% power. The 5th block makes it move forward for 0.52 seconds at 75% power. The 6th block makes it to 0.2 rotations to the right at 75% power. The 7th block makes it move forward for 0.8 seconds at 59% power. The 8th block makes the robot make an applauding noise, and the last block makes the robot move backwards at the same time for 2.4 seconds. This is what was behind the action of the robot.

C. Multimedia: Figure 5: Programming the Robot for Challenge 3

Figure 6: The Robot Striving for Success!

media type="custom" key="3706409" Video 5: The Process of Challenge 3

media type="custom" key="3706485" Video 6: Interview for Challenge 3 with Shantal

D. Dificulties Encountered and How you solved them

Some of the difficulties of this challenge were to make the robot move the exact distance forward. Another difficulty was to make the robot turn 90 degrees, go forward, and then back up. The robot would often go to far forward or just do a "half turn", and then go at a diagonal instead of straight. Also when the robot had to back up and make the noise it would stop, make the noise, and then back up. The code had to be changed so that the robot would back up and make the noise at the same time. "Trial and error" was the most common method to fix the problems with the robot.

**DATE: 4/24/2009**
Challenge 4: Obstacle Course

A. Description (Short Paragraph): Basically this challenge was to create an obstacle course with blue tape. Then program the MINDSTORMS robot to follow that tape, but the robot had to start and stop using different sensors. For example the robot had to start using the sound sensor to detect a clap or voice command. Then the robot had to stop by detecting a dark line using the light sensor.

B. Programming Code (Picture and Written Explanation):

Figure Figure 7: Part 1 of the Code for Challenge 4. Figure 8: Part of the code for Challenge 4.

In figure 1 there is a orangle block with a microphone on it. This is the command use the sound sensor to detect a sound. The next blocks are the movement blocks that tell the robot to move along the track (as shown in figure 3). At the bottom of each movement block there are three pictures. The first one is a arrow that indicates in which direction the robot is traveling (frontwards or backwards). The second picture depicts how much power the robot is using to complete that action. The last picture is a symbol whether you are using seconds, rotations, or degrees to make the robot turn or move. Then the CB at the top of each movement block tells which wheels on the robot are which.

C. Multimedia:



Figure 9: Handrawn Picture of the Obstacle Track

Figure 10: The Original Obstacle Course with Supposed Ramp Figure 11: A Modified, More "Sensible" Robot (with Sensors) media type="custom" key="3765725" Video 7: Interview with Abby for Challenge 4

media type="custom" key="3765751" Video 8: An Effortfull Attempt to Challenge 4

D. Dificulties Encountered and How you solved them

There were several difficulties encountered with the obstacle course. One of difficulties was that the robot had to have certain sensors working. The light sensor was complicated to program because the light had to detect a dark line. Also the light sensor was unreliable to work with, so it was replaced with the ultrasonic sensor. The main problem was uncovered at the end. The batteries of the robot were running low, so the time measurements on the movement blocks had to be increased. When the batteries were replaced the robot had more energy, and was going much faster. Therefore the increased time measurements were all thrown off due to the fact that robot had more power. One could definetely say that this challenge //was// a challenge!