Robot Excitement!
Jul. 26th, 2007 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
learnteachHappened in class today...students are building and programming robots from LEX kits, and have all built "squarebots". Today, they were sumo wrestling: seeing who could stay in the arena.
The afternoon session of the Advanced Academy has been
working on various robot competitions. Today, they
did the first half of the robot pushout, where the
robots enter the square, and each robot recieves a
point if it is more than 50% in the circle after 3
minutes. (This is a programming/strategy challenge)
Three teams are present: The Stars, MT, and <> (blank,
no name.)
In the first heat, <> moved into the center of the
square and started spinning, while MT rammed Stars and
started pushing it in a big circle. <> was spinning
slowly towards the edge. At the buzzer, MT and Stars
were both out of the square, and <> was in.
Student teams after observing the results
re-programmed the robots.
During the second trial, all three machines advanced
towards the center, spun in place for a moment, then
stopped--then spun again--then stopped. Then spun and
kept spinning--but none of them were moving from their
spots. During this, the "Mission Impossible" Theme
was playing from the computer speakers.
Final meet: All three teams reprogram the bots. We
start. "Mission Impossible" is playing (courtesy of
Keaen). All three robots go in, spin, and stop.
Then, <> starts to go forward and backwards, slowly
turning in a big circle, cutting a chord across it, a
chord away. It goes completely out of the square, but
there's 1:41 left. It keeps going...then, with 31
seconds left, and it's heading out, it STOPS. Timer.
All three get points. <> wins! Cheering, etc.
Upon examination, it is seen the gears jammed because
one of the screws fell out and the axle slipped far
enough that the motors weren't driving the wheels.
VICTORY THROUGH SELECTIVE FAILURE!
Very funny. Very amusing.
The afternoon session of the Advanced Academy has been
working on various robot competitions. Today, they
did the first half of the robot pushout, where the
robots enter the square, and each robot recieves a
point if it is more than 50% in the circle after 3
minutes. (This is a programming/strategy challenge)
Three teams are present: The Stars, MT, and <> (blank,
no name.)
In the first heat, <> moved into the center of the
square and started spinning, while MT rammed Stars and
started pushing it in a big circle. <> was spinning
slowly towards the edge. At the buzzer, MT and Stars
were both out of the square, and <> was in.
Student teams after observing the results
re-programmed the robots.
During the second trial, all three machines advanced
towards the center, spun in place for a moment, then
stopped--then spun again--then stopped. Then spun and
kept spinning--but none of them were moving from their
spots. During this, the "Mission Impossible" Theme
was playing from the computer speakers.
Final meet: All three teams reprogram the bots. We
start. "Mission Impossible" is playing (courtesy of
Keaen). All three robots go in, spin, and stop.
Then, <> starts to go forward and backwards, slowly
turning in a big circle, cutting a chord across it, a
chord away. It goes completely out of the square, but
there's 1:41 left. It keeps going...then, with 31
seconds left, and it's heading out, it STOPS. Timer.
All three get points. <> wins! Cheering, etc.
Upon examination, it is seen the gears jammed because
one of the screws fell out and the axle slipped far
enough that the motors weren't driving the wheels.
VICTORY THROUGH SELECTIVE FAILURE!
Very funny. Very amusing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Yay!
Date: 2007-07-26 11:38 pm (UTC)