TCEA Robotics: Exploring Patterns [Activity #2]
SETUP:
For this activity, you will need to setup a play board (an arena) with three (3) to five (5) spam cans placed a little behind the line (dead zone).
The arena surface is a 4′ x 4′ white Melamine (Mel-am-in-ae) board which can be purchased at your local hardware store. It typically comes in a 4′ x 8′ sheet, which the hardware store may cut in half for you. The black dead zone is made with ‘Avery 4Year Vinyl’ and can be ordered from Sign Warehouse in Sherman, TX (http://www.signwarehouse.com ** A direct link to the black vinyl is: http://www.signwarehouse.com/VAVA4O2410-p-VA4-2410-090-O.html). You can also use two strips of electrical tape to mark the 8″ dead zone, or get full sheet label paper and print an 8″ path with a laser printer.
ACTIVITY OVERVIEW:
Once you have setup your sample arena and placed the debris as shown, program your robot to push all of the spam cans across the line. Do not worry about pushing the spam cans over to your opponents side, just push them so that they are all the way across your line.
ACTIVITY::PATTERN FOCUS:
How do patterns help you program your robotics? Many times, you will want to develop a pattern that you can loop over-and-over so that you only create a small piece of programming that you repeat. This is easier to program, and thinking in patterns can make your robot’s performance more effective. So, where do you start?
- Physically take your robot (or any model of a robot will work) and move it with your hand in the pattern that you want it to do on the play board. Talk through the steps as you move your robot (forward, back, right, forward, left, forward, back, right, forward…). These movements must be programmable in RoboLab (or whatever you are using to program).
- Write down the pattern (represent the movements/actions with letters).
- Block out the piece that is repeated.
- Look at how you can loop that pattern in your programming.
What pattern would THIS program below make your robot perform?
ACTIVITY::PATTERN REVISION
Once you develop a pattern, the next step is to watch your robot perform the pattern and look for ways to improve it. Watch this student (
) look at his robot’s pattern.
- How is he looking at making changes in his pattern?
- What needs improvement in his robot’s pattern?
- What changes would you make to the pattern his robot is performing?
Now, watch the changes he made () to his robot’s pattern to improve how it performed.
JOURNALING:
Journaling is the most important part of what you do with your team! Use these prompts to add to your team journal:
- What is more important? Rescuing survivors or clearing debris? Which one should our team focus on first? Why? Should our team try to do one or both? What we think other teams will do? How can we best prepare for what other teams will be doing?
- What patterns does our robot need to do in order to clear debris?
- What patterns does our robot need to do in order to rescue survivors?
- What new programming concepts did I learn?
- How can we build our robot or change its construction to make it more efficient?
NEXT STEPS:
- Make your robot faster at clearing debris - how can you program differently to do this and how can you build it differently to do this?
- Develop a second pattern that is different from your first one - test each one five (5) times. Which one is better? Which one is faster? Which one is more accurate?