ortop nxt robotics techniques workshop 2009 “opening doors to the worlds of science and technology...

ORTOP

NXT Robotics Techniques Workshop 2009

“Opening doors to the worlds of science and technology for

Oregon’s youth”

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Goals Audience: Rookie coaches/mentors,

experienced coaches & mentors Provide material that is immediately usable

with your team Gain experience with 3 motor robot &

missions More experience programming Mindstorms

NXT You should have already attended NXT

workshops I & II and/or coached a team in a 2008 tournament

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Instructor Contacts

Ken Cone kcone@hevanet.com 503-415-1465

Dale Jordan Dale_A_Jordan@msn.com

Leroy Nuckles Leroy.a.nuckles@intel.com 503-264-2088

Jim Ryan james.r.ryan@intel.c

om 971-215-6087

Roger Swanson swanson@hevanet.c

om 503-297-1824

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ORTOP Project Administrator

Cathy Swidercathy_swider@ous.edu

503-725-2920(after August 1, 2009)

FLL Operational Partner for Oregon

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Agenda Introductions (5 min) Slide Review (20 min) Review mission video(s) NXT Techniques lab exercises (90 min)

Distance sensor Loops, Variables, My Blocks Mission exercise

Review & questions

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Our Mission FLL is not just about building robots and

competing in tournaments Develop team member skills

technical team building research & presentation

Technical problem solving can be fun The youngsters do the work Introduce possibility of a technical career

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CanDo Challenge Simple project, but good learning tool What did you learn?

Unexpected things happen – cans get caught under the wheel, it goes the “wrong” direction

Take it in smaller steps – “Let’s see what happens before it hits a can”

Mechanical problems may do you in Clarify the “rules” – know the requirements Experiment – “Just go try it. We can rework it.” Keep it simple

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Engineering Design Process

Redesign

Communicate

Test and Evaluate

Create a Prototype

Choose the Best Solution

Develop Possible Solutions

Define theProblem

Research the

Problem

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Building Strong Structures

Note how NXT parts are all pinned together using Technic parts

Here are three cross bracing examples Ref: Minnesota HighTekKids.org “Robot

Building” http://www.hightechkids.org/coach-library

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Gears Gears

Spur Gear (show example) instructor holds beam class person turns axles and feels torque on other axle tactile feedback = learning about gears and torque

Gear Ratio and Speed turn the large gear one complete turn How may revolutions does the small gear turn? Is gear ratio the same as the ratio of gear teeth?

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Gears Gears & Pulleys

Worm Gears (show example) one way transfer of power

Crown & Bevel Gears turn 90 degrees

Spur Gears change direction & change torque

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MotorsOne Move block in the program controls both motors

The robot moves straight - motors will adjust speed as the robot moves

Try programming tests for straight and curved movements, adjusting the turn slider for each test

What happens at the extreme ends of the turn slider? There are Move blocks and Motor blocks – Motor

blocks allow ramp up and ramp down of speed(speed vs. time)

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Base Robot Chassis

3 motor base Level, square Screen location Attachments Nxtprograms.com

TriBot design, built in Educational Kit Class comments on various designs

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Program Memory

Firmware & programs stored in flash (like photos on a digital camera)

Maximum available memory is ~125KB Firmware refresh and all files deleted

Each program is ~0.1KB overhead E.g. Move block ~5.1KB, two ~5.8KB E.g. Move + Wait for light sensor ~7.7KB Use My Blocks for subroutines for better memory usage Click NXT Window then Memory to view memory usage

Instructor show this command Refer to NXTmemory.doc for more details

Instructor, show this file

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Writing Efficient NXT-G Programs Maximize free space by deleting default files

that are downloaded with firmware Maximize code reuse

Use only Move or only Motor blocks Loops and My Blocks Combine multiple programs – can combine 2

programs into 1 and select which of the two sequences to run programmatically (using a touch sensor, for example)

Minimize Sound and Display blocks Use Mini-Blocks

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NXT SoftwareV1.1, 2.0

New version V1.1 released summer/fall 2007 2008 kits will have v1.1 2007 kits may or may not. Check and see

As of Jan 2009, kits shipped with 2.0, $80 single license

Main advantage is performance enhancements Downloading to NXT is faster Size of blocks on the NXT is smaller

Mini-Blocks can be downloaded:mindstorms.lego.com/support/updates

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Lab Exercises Lab Sections

Lab 1 - The Distance Sensor Lab 2 – Loops, Variables & My Blocks

This exercise shows 2 different techniques to program the robot to go in a square

Introduces different programming techniques

Shows memory usage of different techniques Mission programming using 3 motor

design

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Lab Exercises Show video: examples of robots with

fixtures for each mission Introduce yourself to other team members Begin with Lab1&2 exercises Add attachments to 3 motor base to run

1-2 missions 90 min to complete the labs Ask questions, chances are someone else

has the same question Have fun!

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Lab Conclusions LAB Conclusions

Each team briefly explain a section of what you learned in this workshop

What advice would you have for a team starting out with NXT?

Teaching for understanding “creates challenging situations in which students test their knowledge by solving problems, building products, and giving performances or writing reports that synthesize thorough analysis of a topic, a concept, or an idea.” *

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Next Steps Register your team with FLL Share with your team

NXT Robotics Techniques slides NXT Techniques labs Mindstorms NXT tutorial (show tutorial) Build and test 2-3 robot designs, then have

your team select a hybrid of best features Challenge the kids!

Make up your own exercises – stress basics & reliability

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Resources Tutorial, Dale Yocum

Download from http://cgsinfo.catlin.edu/msrobotics/html/downloads.html

takes time, go through in sections NXT Tutorial is also available online:

http://www.ortop.org/NXT_Tutorial/ Requires Adobe Macromedia Shockwave

Player and high speed download connection

Inscite www.hightechkids.org www.nxtprograms.com

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Parting Thoughts From “All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I

Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten* Tips from 12 year olds on being creative:

Start simple Work on things that you like If you have no clue what to do, fiddle around Don’t be afraid to experiment Find a friend to work with, share ideas! It’s OK to copy stuff (to give you an idea) Keep your ideas in a sketch book Build, take apart, rebuild Lots of things can go wrong, stick with it

*MIT Media Lab

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Review & Questions

Please give us your input Let ORTOP know how we can improve

the program Thanks for volunteering! Your effort

make learning possible. Disassemble robots (keep caster assy

together) and put pieces back into kits http://www.ortop.org/fll