Today I wanted to demonstrate the combined use of a sensor and a motor. So this morning, before the class, I connected a sound sensor to one of the robots and downloaded a little program. The little program didn't work properly. I put the sensor on a different port with no effect. I replaced the sensor with no effect. I replaced the sensor cable with no effect. Then I replaced the NXT block, and it worked. The visible effect of the problem was that the reading from the sensor was erratic. Using VIEW, the sensor output seemed OK, but when I monitored the sensor output in the monitor window, it was erratic. Hmm. I replaced the batteries, hoping that would solve the problem. No such luck. So, during the class I let one team use the defective NXT block for the first part of the lab and then watch the other teams for the second part of the lab.
Some good questions came from the lab - nobody was asleep for very long, I guess. One student asked how to upload programs from the NXT block. I knew it was possible, but didn't know how to do it.
Next week I will try to borrow another robot from the Encino Park Robo Club.
This is the robot configuration used for this week's class. The sensor on the robot's left side is a sound sensor.
