CS 1020 - Homework 3-5 - Cup collector contest

Design, build and program a robot capable of collecting small plastic cups that are distributed randomly in a rectangular arena delineated with black electrical tape. Your robot should find the cups, pick them up, and drop them off on a 1.5" high wooden board. The board will be parallel to one of the sides of the playing field at a distance of 9". There will be a bright light shining from the direction of the board to help guide your robot. 10 cups will be distributed randomly (most of them close to the perimeter). Your robot will be placed in the center of the playing field in a random orientation. The winner is the robot that accumulates the most points during a 2-minute period. Scoring is as follows: No human intervention should happen once the start button is pressed, otherwise your team will incur penalties.

The competition will be held on Wednesday, 1/16. We will provide more detailed information as well as a practice setup as we get closer to this date.

Part I (Homework 3), due: Friday, 1/11

  1. Design and build a device that can pick up and place a cup (we will provide cups). Eventually your device will be mounted on a robot that can drive around, so keep it compact and light-weight. Add some kind of sensor that detects whether a cup is within reach, and write a program that picks up the cup once detected. Mount your device on a small motorized base with wheels that can drive forward and backward. (Use a single motor that drives both wheels - no turning required.) Demonstrate how your device can detect and pick up a cup in front of it, and then deposit it on an 1.5" high object (e.g. a book) a small distance ahead. If you find that the cups are too light, you may add some weights, e.g., drop in a few coins.

    We are being deliberately vague here, because we don't want to restrict your creative potential! Whatever you build, however, you should think about how it would be used in your actual robot. On Friday we will meet with each group to discuss and evaluate their progress and to grade your pick-up mechanism.

  2. Print out your code for lab 3 and submit it at the beginning of class on Friday

Part II (Homework 4), due: Monday, 1/14

  1. Build a car that can carry your device and that can explore the playing field in search for cups. The focus for Monday should be less on the programming and more on the mechanics. Make sure you build a sturdy car that can drive and turn with a good speed. Remember some of the lessons learned during the Sciborg contest: building stable gear boxes, making sure the gear train can move freely, supporting axles in more than 1 place, keeping most of the weight over the main wheels, and using bracing. Perhaps the biggest challenge is to build a stable pick-up device that will survive bumping into the board...

    We have established the official cup weight to be used in the contest: Each cup will have 4 pennies in the bottom, held in place by a bit of Play-Doh. Such cups are now available in the lab. In the hallway is a small playing field including a wooden board that you can use for practice. Remember that the official field will be a bit bigger, and will be in a dark room with a bright light behind the board.

    On Monday we will evaluate your progress. Each team should have a car that can drive around randomly within the black lines, and if it encounters a cup it should pick it up. You don't yet have to worry about driving to the board and depositing the cups, but of course you should build your cars with this longer-term goal in mind.

  2. Read pages 22-38 to review the Handy Logo commands you have learned so far, and to get a preview of others yet to come. Review pages 1-39 in preparation for the quiz on Monday. Be on time!

Part III (Homework 5), due: Wednesday, 1/16

  1. Complete your cup collector and design a program for exploring the playing field without leaving its boundaries, for finding and picking up cups, and for depositing them on the wooden board.

    We have finalized the rules and the scoring of the competition (see the top of the page). A practice playing field is currently set up at the front of the lab. However, we may put down a fresh, slightly larger piece of paper on the morning of the contest. Since many teams are using IR reflex sensors for detecting whether a cup was found, we will use the black light for guiding the robots toward the board. Make sure your program allows changing the values you use in your "follow-light" program, in case the lighting conditions are slightly different at the contest.

  2. Print out your code for lab 4 and submit it at the beginning of class on Wednesday.

The competition will take place promptly at 9 AM on Wednesday. Your robot should be ready to go!