Week 2: Day 9

June 21, 2012

I saw Prof Namuduri on my way in.  He provided the 2nd NXT to us.  In the mean time, we continued to research the possibility of designing and a building a RF beacon for our rockets.  The further we go, the more likely it seems that it is implausible.  There are some very cheap “off the shelf” systems already available.  

As we were realizing this, Prof Namuduri came in and told us that Eduardo (our exchange student from Mexico) has gotten object detection working.  In other words - we are back in business!!!

We took previous flowcharts and simplified them to help build baby steps:
    Step 1: drive around in a box (completed)
    Step 2: avoid a simple object while driving around the box (we are almost here - there is still a little work to do)
    Step 3:  Avoid any object while driving around a box.

All three flowcharts were completed and provided to Eduardo.  He is excited about completing this programming challenge!!!  He would like to get started on the most difficult, but we dialed him back.  We will stay on task and complete baby step 2.

At 3 pm, we joined a seminar on wire sensors and networks - this took the remainder of the afternoon!

Week 2: Day 8

June 20, 2012

We received direction this morning to proceed utilizing the Lego Mindstorms only.  We are to try to get them to link together to perform tasks.  We are to try to utilize sensors or optics to determine obstacles size.  Potential issues include the resources for this.  We don’t know if we have any of the necessary materials for this.  

More direction from Prof. Thompson:  Perhaps determine a way to go find a lost rocket - our original idea.  We are conducting research into the feasibility of this compared to working with the NXT’s.  We will have a decision sometime tomorrow.

After lunch, we went to the Discovery Park Engineering Library for another session on using the library resources.  As a group, we also discussed stumbling blocks everyone was facing and the confusion on what our final products are to be.  There is a lot of confusion about the final paper, as far as content and format, and Sharon will get with Dr. Acevedo as soon as possible to clear this up.  

Week 2: Day 7

June 19, 2012

Received NXT robot this morning.  Build minibot to drive around to test our flowchart / plan.  Tried the batteries in the controller.  They are not working.  It appears they need to be charged.  Looked at the programming for the NXT’s.  We will need some time to figure this out.

We went to the Garcia Robot Lab.  The robots can drive fairly successfully in a square.  It seems to have some glitches and we will have to work them out.

We went to a three hour LabView training seminar in the afternoon.

  

Week 2: Day 6

June 18, 2012

We reviewed the flowchart yet again.  We discovered a few small errors.  We updated it.  We have met with Li to find out how programming is coming along.  It’s going slowly.  I started a blog for me in case I need a specific one as well - I don’t want to get behind the power curve on a blog.  

We then began our lesson plans using formats from last year which closely resemble the requirements.  We are focusing on the 5 E Lesson Plans: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate.  We wrote portions of our plan - Engage and Explore.  
We also met with Sharon due to the slow nature of our programming.  She got a meeting set up with our entire team (that was present).  The meeting began at 4 pm with Dr.’s Acevado and Namuduri, Li Li, Jennifer, Sharon, Liz and myself.  We discussed the current state of the project and where to go from here.  It was decided that by noon on Tuesday, the robots could drive around in a square (roughly).  From there by Thursday morning, the robot would be able to avoid one simple object in its path.  We will expand beyond that after Thursday.


In the afternoon, we all attended a short meeting to watch introduction training videos on LabView to prepare us for tomorrow’s 3 hour session.  The videos covered topics such as graphical programming, programming tools, simple debugging, data types, and connecting to hardware.

Week 1: Day 5

Friday 6-15-12
 
We received a sample lesson plan that we should follow as far as the format once we begin making ours, and then Zac showed us how their team is using Google Docs and Blogger to create their team’s journal.  We all thought it was a great way to document, and will set up blogs for all of the teams.

Our supervising professor, Dr. Namuduri, returned to campus today and we met with him briefly to discuss the project status.  We relayed our ideas on the flowcharts and how we could use it in the classroom, and hangups we were having as far as the programming side and camera operation.  

We then discussed a simplification to the flowchart and program with Li.  We decided to eliminate the grid “search and rescue” style pattern and go to a simpler path that would mimic driving in a straight hallway with 90 degree turns in it.  The robot would avoid obstacles and be able to make turns in the hallway.  If this works, then the camera could be added and the robots could be used for surveillance.  Li will create this program to be used in the table arena first, and then we can move on to the hallway.

Week 1: Day 2

Tuesday 6-12-12

Met with Li & Phillip and problem-solved on cameras.  Two were purchased for the project- a Logitech webcam and a CMU CAM4.  The Logitech requires Windows, and the programming will be done in Linux, so for the moment this one is out.  The cam4 requires a cable that is being ordered.
Read articles on obstacle avoidance and discussed options for lesson plan. Discussed flowcharts and how we could use this project to teach students the fundamentals of logic.  Went over last year’s Applications of Computer Vision project, and looked up the current location of Opportunity on the surface of Mars.  We then discussed the Curiosity rover that should be landing August 5th on the red planet and how we could relate the rover missions to this summer’s work, cool stuff!

Three generations of Mars rovers:
Pictured left to right are siblings of Spirit/Opportunity, Sojourner, & Curiosity
.....with a couple of space geeks thrown in for scale!
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20120117a/PIA15279_3rovers-stand_D2011_1215_D521_br.jpg

Week 1: Day 1

Monday 6/11/12

We spent the morning in an orientation to the RET program, where we were also assigned our teams and projects and got lots of great info about the UNT Engineering Department.  After a tour of Discovery Park, we met in the robot lab with the EE students that will be assisting with the robotics project, Li and Phillip.  They gave us a demo on how the robots work, and discussed possibilities for research and a lesson plan. Because of the nature of the robots, outdoor activities were ruled out.

We came up with the following goals:

• Make one of the two cameras work, either via a live feed or recording still images.
• Program robots to avoid obstacles in a landscape.
• Have the robots drive around while avoiding obstacles and recording video/images simultaneously.
• If time allows, use a program that can run pictures through image detection software to look for images with a certain marker in them.  These markers could be placed on an object that needed to be located and/or retrieved, such as a rocket that had been launched.

Possible applications for students:
In UNT lab, set up a landscape with a few large rocks and model trees. The robot can drive around doing a “search & rescue” for a small-scale rocket, cataloguing pics and location data as it drives.  Another possibility would be to send a live feed back to a monitoring station so that you could see what the robot is seeing.  In the future, this could be scaled up to be used at the SystemsGo large scale rocket launches.

Acroname Garcia robots

Week 1: Day 3

Wednesday 6-13-12

Wonder how many of our students would get this one??

Continued to discuss lesson plan concepts.  Finalized concept of an autonomous rocket search robot.  This will be relevant to our students as several rockets locations are unknown after the Fredericksburg rocket launch event.  The reality could be that the this system is mounted on an “off-road” Segway or similar platform.  The system would require optics and image recognition that would recognize markings on a rocket and report its location to a base computer.  

In our classrooms we will introduce a logic flowchart with basic collision avoidance while traversing a regular shape.  The extension will include extending the flowchart to a “search grid” that will allow an entire area to be searched for a lost rocket.  Further extensions could include faults such as being stuck or low battery issues.

In order to effect this lesson, we began developing the flowchart for our University faculty partners..  We discussed the benefits/disadvantages of Elizabeth and I learning the specific coding and decided it was not a good use of our time.  The flowchart includes a search grid and obstacle avoidance at this time.

In the afternoon, we went to the Engineering Library here at Discovery Park for a library resource intro session.  A member of the staff walked us through how to utilize library resources such as online journals and ebooks, and how to request books from the main campus library.

Week 1: Day 4

Thursday 6-14-12
 
In the morning, all of the RET participants went on a field trip to the Water Research Field Station near the Rafes Urban Astronomy Center.  A student led us on a tour of the facilities, including 30 stream flow tanks that the RET Aquatics team will be working with this summer.  They will try to design and set up water monitoring stations for the tanks that could be monitored remotely over a wireless connection.  We also walked to a nearby stream bed and learned how the landscape changes rapidly with the rise and fall of the stream.  As it is currently dry except for a few shallow pools, we observed the recently dried algae, and the student explained how he would don a Ghostbusters’ style backpack that could be used to deliver a mild shock to the water.  He would then collect data on the stunned fish that floated to the surface.

Stream flow tanks currently being worked on

Afterwards, we worked on flowchart development and met with Li to learn how to set up the Garcia robots, link them to wifi, and run two simple programs to control them manually:

“aGarciaKey.exe” Controls robot using arrow keys (frequently locks up)
“aGarciaTool.exe” Controls robot using left and right wheels independently (works slightly better, but cannot drive the robot in a straight line)

These programs have issues, and in the 5-6 times we’ve run them, they stop functioning within the first few minutes of use, but it is a starting point!

Meet the Robotics Team

Meet the Robotics Team

Karl graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Civil Engineering.  He currently teaches at the Math, Engineering, Science and Technology Academy (METSA) attached to RL Turner HS in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD.  METSA is a 21st Century Skills, PBL based learning environment.  This year, he will be teaching five classes: Principles of Engineering, IGNITE I, IGNITE II, CAPSTONE and a class yet to be determined (hopefully AP Physics C). 

Elizabeth graduated from Texas A&M with a B.S in Aerospace Engineering, and is entering her fifth year of teaching.  She currently teaches Engineering III and Chemistry for the STEM Academy of Northwest ISD, located at Northwest High School.  This is her second year in the UNT RET program.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Hello all!  The goal of this blog is to share the progress of the Robotics Team at the University of North Texas Research Experiences for Teachers 2012.  We're excited about the work we're doing, and look forward to this summer's activities!

 UNT RET Program Summer 2012        NSF Grant # 1132585
Advisor : Dr. Kamesh Namuduri