Today was media day for my IMDL class. My robot wasn't finished to specifications that I proposed at the begining of the semester, but it seemed to be a mild success at the demonstration.
The robot (Ginger -- short for Ginger Bread (wo)Man) was intended to do high-speed obstacle avoidance, ledge avoidance, and turn off when caught or struck. So, it would basically play tag really, really well.
All I got to work was the ledge avoidance and turning off when hit. I guess that means I only failed to get one thing working, but that is still a huge bummer. I really like the way these robots move around and act like they know what's going on around them. It seems so magical.
My robot had a little of that going on with it. I put it on this round table in the rotunda of the New Engineering Building and it darted back and forth around the table. It's wheels were slipping on the slick surface of the table so I could never be sure that it would stay, but it did for several minutes. Finally it found it's one blind spot and toppled over onto it's polycarbonate top... safe and sound.
I am glad I took this class. It was incredibly humbling. I wanted to build the awesomest robot that was still somewhat within my grasp, and I came clsoe to doing so. I still don't really know much about building robots, but on the other hand I know a whole semester's worth of learning from experience and interest more than most people.
I also had some fun along the way. My robot doesn't just drive up to ledges and turn around and drive off to the next ledge. It sprints to the ledge. It looks like it is just going to drive straight off, in fact. Then, when it gets to the ledge my high torque motors twist it's body forward briefly as it first starts to back up. This creates the illusion of the robot faking the jump, and it still manages to fake out even my head TA. He calls it "HeartAttack," and laughs hysterically whenever he sees it, and sometimes just from thinking about it.
I should put some pictures of it up on the site. It looks pretty cool, and purposefully so. I knew that as a business major I didn't stand much of a chance in the admittedly subjective grading system of the class. I decided that I would do what I dubbed "thinking blonde." I would make the robot look as cool and entertaining as possible. If things didn't work out -- I'd say -- at least the robot would look awesome just sitting on the table. That's what "thinking blonde" was all about. I'd say that if it wasn't going to do anything that it should at the very least look great while doing it. (...or not doing it?)
With a transparent polycarbonate (nigh-unbreakable but thin plastic) dome, which is actually a food storage container made by Rubbermaid and marketed under the Stain Shied(TM) product line and a transparent polycarbonate frame Ginger bared her electronic soul. Completely transparent is just cool no matter what anyone says, and being really hard to break is fun too. Now everyone can see all of Ginger's parts so that it can be used as a learning tool or at least to spark intrest in robotics.
Actually, in the executive summary of my final report I have this paragraph that discusses my primary reason for choosing polycarbonate. It is pretty funny when taken out of context and given to someone who is bored and has a bit of an imagination.
'Ginger is made from incredibly light and durable materials (mainly aluminum, polycarbonate, and whatever the different boards are) because she is meant for rough play. If she is roughly jostled or struck, falls from a great height, or has something thrown at her she does not suffer damage and continues to perform as programmed.'
Yeah... 'atta girl! That's what we like to see!
Posted by David at April 20, 2004 06:03 PM