Today, SA BEST volunteers will tear down the game field and move it to the main auditorium in the Greehey Convocation Center. During the past week, the game field has been installed on one of the basketball courts in the Auxiliary Gym at Greehey. Our intent was that the field would be available for teams to practice with their robots. This afternoon, we will move the field and set up all of the support areas (pit, display, check-in, etc.). The last of the oral presentations will be given this afternoon and evening.
Tomorrow, Game Day, we will perform final checkout of the field and all support, and finish checking in teams at 10 AM. That's the signal for the chaos to begin. If you're coming, you might want to bring some earplugs, because it can get noisy in the gym.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
RFG final meeting
Yesterday, October 21, was the final meeting of this fall's Robotics for Grandparents class at ALIR.
I must apologize for my poor presentation of the material and the lab for Lesson 6. Although I was able to get the robots to communicate at home, they would not link up properly at ALIR, and so the lab was useless.
I did, however, have some video material on space program robotics, and was able to show several short video clips. The clips showed a variety of activities, including one with an astronaut riding on a workstand at the end of the Space Station RMS. Another clip showed the SRMS and SSRMS handing off and berthing the OBSS (alphabet soup!). SRMS is the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System; SSRMS is the Space Station RMS; OBSS is the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, an extension that carries cameras and other instruments for detailed tile inspection.
Toward the end of the class, our invited speaker, Mike Henry, arrived. Mike shared his enthusiasm for youth robotics, as well as a comprehensive coverage of the various programs for youth robotics in San Antonio. His brief talk was very well received, and I think he may have inspired a couple of new volunteers!
Just a reminder: On Saturday, starting about 10 AM, San Antonio BEST Robotics will hold its 2009 competition, entitled "High Octane". The game theme involves robots of the future operating a fuel refinery. The competition is held at St. Mary's University, in the Greehy Convocation Center. It's a free public event, so please come and cheer on your local team: home school, high school, or middle school. There are 29 teams competing this year, some from as far away as Laredo. I'll be there, and I hope you will, too.
Finally: It has been great fun teaching Robotics for Grandparents this year. I plan to return and teach it in Fall 2009. In the meantime, there are rumors that there could be a similar course for seniors taught as a continuing education course in the Spring. I hope that my students enjoyed Robotics for Grandparents as much as I did!
I must apologize for my poor presentation of the material and the lab for Lesson 6. Although I was able to get the robots to communicate at home, they would not link up properly at ALIR, and so the lab was useless.
I did, however, have some video material on space program robotics, and was able to show several short video clips. The clips showed a variety of activities, including one with an astronaut riding on a workstand at the end of the Space Station RMS. Another clip showed the SRMS and SSRMS handing off and berthing the OBSS (alphabet soup!). SRMS is the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System; SSRMS is the Space Station RMS; OBSS is the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, an extension that carries cameras and other instruments for detailed tile inspection.
Toward the end of the class, our invited speaker, Mike Henry, arrived. Mike shared his enthusiasm for youth robotics, as well as a comprehensive coverage of the various programs for youth robotics in San Antonio. His brief talk was very well received, and I think he may have inspired a couple of new volunteers!
Just a reminder: On Saturday, starting about 10 AM, San Antonio BEST Robotics will hold its 2009 competition, entitled "High Octane". The game theme involves robots of the future operating a fuel refinery. The competition is held at St. Mary's University, in the Greehy Convocation Center. It's a free public event, so please come and cheer on your local team: home school, high school, or middle school. There are 29 teams competing this year, some from as far away as Laredo. I'll be there, and I hope you will, too.
Finally: It has been great fun teaching Robotics for Grandparents this year. I plan to return and teach it in Fall 2009. In the meantime, there are rumors that there could be a similar course for seniors taught as a continuing education course in the Spring. I hope that my students enjoyed Robotics for Grandparents as much as I did!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tomorrow is the last class meeting for Robotics for Grandparents 2009
Due to time pressure from other activities (over-volunteering), I have had to reduce the scope of the lab for tomorrow's class.
My original intent was to write software for three robots that would establish one as the dance leader and the others as followers. That's not going to happen - not right now, anyway.
The lab for this time will be to connect the three robots together with very simple programs. One bot will wait for a button press, then send a message to the other two bots. The other bots will wait for the message to arrive over Bluetooth, and will take some action (making a sound, moving, or other).
The NXT line dancers will have to wait for another day.
My original intent was to write software for three robots that would establish one as the dance leader and the others as followers. That's not going to happen - not right now, anyway.
The lab for this time will be to connect the three robots together with very simple programs. One bot will wait for a button press, then send a message to the other two bots. The other bots will wait for the message to arrive over Bluetooth, and will take some action (making a sound, moving, or other).
The NXT line dancers will have to wait for another day.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Demonstration Day at SA BEST
Sunday was the Demonstration Day for the teams in the SA BEST competition for 2009. Each team had to bring something that looked like a robot, even though incomplete, and an "Engineering Notebook" that described their concept and their work so far, as well as their methods. I'm going over the notebooks now, as one of the judges. They vary in quality, as would be expected. I have to have my review complete by noon today, so I can pass them back to the "Head Judge", Tom Deeter.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Encino Park Robo Club
At today's meeting of the Encino Park Robotics Club, I presented the kids with the same material I used for Wednesday's Robotics for Grandparents.
I had a small group - about a third of the club - and they picked up very quickly on the line-following technique and the details of the light sensor. I heard some interesting questions, and we answered many of the questions by trying experiments with the robot. We didn't get through all of the kids, so one of the teachers or another volunteer will use my Powerpoint slides and the line-following robot at next Friday's meeting. I invited the kids to come to the SA BEST competition on Saturday, October 24th.
I had a small group - about a third of the club - and they picked up very quickly on the line-following technique and the details of the light sensor. I heard some interesting questions, and we answered many of the questions by trying experiments with the robot. We didn't get through all of the kids, so one of the teachers or another volunteer will use my Powerpoint slides and the line-following robot at next Friday's meeting. I invited the kids to come to the SA BEST competition on Saturday, October 24th.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
RFG Week 6 (The Final Episode!)
Next week's lesson will cover Bluetooth communication among a set of NXT robots with almost identical programming. One robot will command the others to move in sync (sorry, no music), and will do the same motions itself.
As a bonus, we will have a guest speaker, Mr. Mike Henry, who will discuss the several youth robotics programs that can be found in the San Antonio area.
Note to interested parties: San Antonio BEST Robotics is in the middle of a robotics competition. The "Demo Day" will be held Sunday, October 18, in the Convocation Center at St. Mary's University on Culebra Road. Game Day will be held in the same location on Saturday, October 24. Details are available at the SA BEST web site, http://www.sabest.org/.
As a bonus, we will have a guest speaker, Mr. Mike Henry, who will discuss the several youth robotics programs that can be found in the San Antonio area.
Note to interested parties: San Antonio BEST Robotics is in the middle of a robotics competition. The "Demo Day" will be held Sunday, October 18, in the Convocation Center at St. Mary's University on Culebra Road. Game Day will be held in the same location on Saturday, October 24. Details are available at the SA BEST web site, http://www.sabest.org/.
Week 5 of Robotics for Grandparents
Today the class tried calibrating a light sensor and following a black line on the test track. The results were good, and there was some interesting discussion about how line-following programs and devices work (and sometimes don't). A simple line-follower such as we were using can easily get lost and can't easily recover (its search for the edge is very simple).
On Friday, I'll show the line-following technique to the Encino Park Robotics Club. It should be fun to compare the 5th-graders' reaction to that of the grandparents!
On Friday, I'll show the line-following technique to the Encino Park Robotics Club. It should be fun to compare the 5th-graders' reaction to that of the grandparents!
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