Robotics Lab #0

Introduction to the Robotics Lab

Due: Wednesday, January 21st, 1 PM

Administrivia (all that stuff I shouldn't have to do, but which takes up too much time)

• Please make sure that you are familiar with the syllabus addendum for the RoboLab.  Most of this is common sense stuff, but I put a lot of time and thought into writing it, so, please put some time into reading it.  In particular, please read the information about RoboLab course policies regarding attendance, equipment access, academic misconduct, and a how I suggest/expect that you structure your teams.

• As was noted when you read the syllabus addendum, each student will be issued two keys for access to the RoboLab.  If you were not in class today, you will need to talk to me so that I can get enough information to have these keys issued to you.

• Form up into groups and get an initial assignment of your locker and computer.

Learning about the robot

• Take a little bit of time to familiarize yourself with the basic robotics equipment.  In particular, pull out the parts inventory card stored at the top of the bin. 

Some Basic Information about the NXT robots (some information was obtained from “Maximum LEGO NXT” by Brian Bagnall)

• Running a two processor system, although we really are only concerned about the main processor
• The main processor – the majority of the control of the robot
  • 32 bit ARM processor running at 48 MHz
  • Access to 64 KB of RAM
  • Uses 256 KB of flash memory
• The secondary processor – used with the motors only.  Exists so that we don’t have “threading” issues with control of the robot
  • Atmel 8 bit AVR processor
  • 512 byes of RAM
  • 4 KB of Flash
• Runs on 6 AA batteries or the battery pack (slightly larger in dimensions)
  • Although this theoretically equates to 9 V you are more likely to observe 7.4-8.2 Volts depending on the charge on the battery(ies)
  • If you are doing something where the amount of voltage matters (your own timing of motors for example) then watch the voltage and be careful of deviating from this.
• Contains three motor/servo ports
  • And three motors come with each kit
• Contains four sensor ports
  • Comes with a variety of sensors
    • Touch (2 in each kit)
    • Light
    • Ultrasonic (distance)
    • Sound
  • Can interface with old school sensors (touch and light)
• Communication
  • Comes with Bluetooth onboard
  • Code can be loaded onto the brick using Bluetooth (SLOW) or USB (much faster)
  • Can be programmed to allow for communication between two (or more) NXT bricks while code is executing
  • Can use third party software to communicate between a PC and an NXT brick while code is executing

Your first assignment

• So now it is time for you to do a little bit on your own. 
• Prior to the next time we meet your group needs to construct the basic "RoverBot" (the base robotics "carriage").   The instructions for this can be found on pages 8 through 21 of the "constructopedia" in your robotics kit. 

Deliverables

Your deliverable this week is a completed, "mobile" robot (it will not yet move as you haven't programmed it to do so).