Steps for Starting a WRO Robotics Program

Transcription

1 Steps f Startng a WRO Robotcs Program Congratulatons on your decson to start a WRO robotcs program! Whether you are a teacher, parent, coach, an after-school club leader, you ll fnd lots of suppt as you move through ths process. WRO has compled ths comprehensve, step-by-step plan to help gude you through the process. All steps are relevant to teachers, parents, coaches and club leaders. Teachers wll also need to decde on the educaton-specfc-outcomes they are tryng to acheve, as well as how WRO robotcs algns wth ther school s standards. Step-By-Step Organzer: 1. Choose an age group Decde the age group(s) of WRO competton(s) you wsh to partcpate n: Age Group A Age Group B Age Group C Age Group D Age Group E WeDo (up to 10* years old) Elementary (Up to 12* years old) Mddle School/Jun Hgh School (13-15* years old) Hgh School (16-19* years old) College/Unversty Group (17-25* years old) Age Group F GEN II Football/Soccer (10-19* years old) *Maxmum age of student n the year of the Internatonal Competton 2. Choose a categy Decde on whch categy you are nterested n. Regular Categy Buld and program a robot to solve a challenge. Age Groups: A, B, C, D & E Open Categy Buld and program a robot that represent the Internatonal Competton Theme. Age Groups: A, B, C, & D Football/Soccer Categy Buld and program a robot to play football/soccer. Age Group: F

2 The chart below summarzes Age Groups and Competton Categes: Regular Categy Open Categy Football Soccer Age Group A (up to 10*) X X Age Group B (up to 12*) X X Age Group C (13-15*) X X Age Group D (16-19*) X X Age Group E (17-25*) X Age Group F (10-19*) X (*Maxmum age of student n the year of the Internatonal Competton) 3 Choose Hardware Select the hardware that the student wll use to buld the robot(s) as well as a programmng language that wll be approprate f controllng the robot(s). Be sure to follow the WRO Gudelnes f these choces: WeDo REGULAR COMPETITION (Age Group A) The controllers, mots and senss used to assemble the WeDo robot must be from the LEGO Educaton WeDo 2.0 Ce Set. Any number and combnaton of controllers, mots and senss are allowed. Any LEGO branded nonelectrcal/non-dgtal elements can be used n the constructon of the robot. REGULAR COMPETITION (Age Groups: B, C, and D). The controller, mots and senss used to assemble robots must be from LEGO MINDSTORMS TM sets (NXT EV3) and the HTechnc Col Sens. Other LEGO Branded Elements may be used to construct the remanng parts of the robot. The mots and the senss f the robot must be procured from LEGO and HTechnc.. Control software must be ether ROBOLAB NXT, EV3 software, LabVIEW.* *LabVIEW s ONLY permtted n the Hgh School age group Wld Robotc Olympad

3 WeDo OPEN COMPETITION (Age Group: A) The controllers, mots and senss used to assemble the machnery/robots must be from the LEGO Educaton WeDo 1.0/2.0 Ce Sets. Any number and combnaton of controllers, mots and senss are allowed. Any LEGO branded non-electrcal/non-dgtal elements can be used n the constructon of the machnery/robot and the envronment. The machnery/robot can be controlled by any compatble devce usng the WeDo 1.0/2.0 software wth a remote controller bult from WeDo 1.0/2.0 elements and controlled wth WeDo 1.0/2.0 software. OPEN COMPETITION (Age Groups: B, C, and D) There s no restrcton on the balance between LEGO elements and other materals. All robots must be operated by NXT EV3 controllers and any other materals. COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY REGULAR COMPETITION (Age Group E) The controller used f the robot must be from Natonal Instruments, MyRIO KNR (MyRIO based), the LEGO MINDSTORMS TM NXT EV3 systems. The buldng system must be MATRIX TETRIX. Control software must be LabVIEW from Natonal Instruments any C language (lke C, C++, C#, RobotC NXC). GEN II FOOTBALL/SOCCER COMPETITION (Age Group F) Materals allowed to construct the robots are LEGO MINDSTORMS TM Controllers must be NXT and senss must be from HTechnc. The offcal Infrared Soccer Ball must be from HTechnc. 4 Determne the exact requrements of your competton(s). The best source of nfmaton f each year s competton s the Event Webste F all pertnent rules and procedures, download the General Rules and Standard Operatng Procedures from: 5 Determne composton and number of teams f each competton. Accdng to Wld Robot Olympad TM Standard Operatng Procedures, a team conssts of one (1) coach and two (2) three (3) team members [of approprate ages]. 6 Arrange f each team to have a coach an assstant coach. A B The mnmum age of a coach at an nternatonal WRO fnal s age 20 at the tme of regstraton f the WRO fnal. Regstraton f the nternatonal WRO fnal ends 4 weeks befe the frst day of the WRO competton. Coaches may wk wth me than one team; however, each team needs to be asssted by a responsble adult. Ths person may be an Assstant Coach. Mnmum age f Assstant Coaches s also age 20. Wld Robotc Olympad

4 C Coaches may offer students advce and gudance pr to the competton, however durng a WRO competton all wk and preparaton must be perfmed by the student members of the team. 7 Defne roles of team members. Team member roles nclude buldng, programmng, and managng the project. Sometmes students wll naturally determne ther team role and other tmes the coach should provde gudance. Encourage grls to jon the teams! 8 Identfy techncal and logstcal requrements. A B C Robots: There should be one robot f each team of 2-3 students. Also, the teacher should have several backup robots n case of emergency stuatons Computers: There should be one computer f each robot/ team of students. Most of the students actvty wll be ndependent and self-drected as they program / test / debug ther solutons multple tmes durng each sesson. Multple computers wll provde easy access to the programmng language, elmnate traffc jams and nadvertently changng another team s program. Practce Area. Room sze and setup The space should be large enough to accommodate all the student teams, computers, practce tables, and stage area f the robots.. A Competton Table s requred. The table should have bders to prevent robots from fallng off. WRO playng feld specfcatons requre tables that have nner dmensons of 1150 mm x 2370 mm. One table can serve several teams n the same regular competton.. Competton Mat - Each January, WRO publshes the mat desgns feach new regular competton on the WRO event webste. One mat per table per competton wll serve several student teams. v. Parts Stage To keep parts ganzed and accessble f teams, parts ganzers are necessary. There are many optons ptable ganzers, drawer cabnets, boxes, caddes, etc. These are readly avalable onlne and at local hardware and crafts stes. v. Netwk - The software wll need to be loaded on each computer avalable va a netwk f each computer. Programs should be ncluded n the regular system backup the coach should make a backup to a separate dsk memy stck. 9 Prepare a budget and secure fundng A typcal budget f a WRO Competton wll consst of robots, programmng language, competton tables, competton fees, etc. The fnal cost f your WRO robotcs program wll depend on the number teams and the number of dfferent categes you enter. Here are some typcal costs to use when calculatng your budget: A Robots - One robot f every regular/open team (e., f every 2-3 students) LEGO MINDSTORMS Educaton Base Set: $ LEGO MINDSTORMS Educaton EV3 Expanson Set (1 f every 2 EV3): $ LEGO Educaton WeDo 2.0 Ce Set: $ Wld Robotc Olympad

5 B C D E F G H I Programmng Software Classroom Lcense LEGO NXT-G EV 3: Free download ROBOTC f LEGO MINDSTORMS: Free download LabVIEW (an opton f Hgh School Regular Competton, only) Currculum Classroom Lcense (only f students wth no experence). F LEGO NXT-G (Optonal) Robotcs Engneerng Vol. I: $225 f a classroom lcense Robotcs Engneerng Vol. II: $225 f a classroom lcense. F ROBOTC (Hgh School and College only) Teachng ROBOTC f LEGO: $225 f a classroom lcense Stage bn/cabnets Ths s a must have f any teacher mplementng a WRO robotcs program. Your costs wll be dependent upon the selecton of the cabnet and bn combnaton that you choose. The proper stage compartments as well as stage procedures wll make teachng robotcs much easer. Practce Table: up to $150 each dependng on cost of materals and lab Playng Feld Mat: up to $80 dependng on local cost and prntng fees Other: competton regstraton fees, team shrts, supples, end-of-season party and awards, etc up to $500 (dependng on coaches preferences. Potental Source of Fundng. Local school dstrct. Local busnesses. Local non-proft ganzatons (Be sure to acknowledge your sponss at every opptunty, eg. prnt ther names on your team shrts, etc.) Connect wth the robotcs educats communty locally and vrtually. Fnd another WRO robotcs team n your area and ask to attend ther practce sessons. Ths s very helpful f frst-tme coaches.. Robotcs Educats Conference Recap of the maj steps to mplement a WRO robotcs program: 1. Purchase robot kts. 2. Purchase robotcs currculum (only f students wth no robotcs experence). 3. Load software (and currculum, f needed) on your computer and school netwk. 4. Buld a practce table and/ prnt a playng-feld mat f each dfferent competton categy to be entered. 5. Schedule tranng ths can be self-paced by enrollng n the free onlne tranng. 6. Practce buldng and programmng f the competton(s). 7. Recrut older students as ments/assstants. Recrut parents as assstant coaches. Wld Robotc Olympad

6 Actvtes f each sesson are determned by student abltes. If students are new to robotcs and programmng, ntroducty actvtes should be conducted from avalable currculum sources (see Part 9C above). Once students have the bascs of buldng and programmng the robots, specfc actvtes related to ther categy of competton should be mplemented. The followng addresses the latter stuaton. F each sesson: 1. Coach/Assstant Coach Preparaton A. Have the student teams choose a sequence of robotcs actvtes approprate f ther competton. Dscuss the sequence of actvtes wth each team. If students have no robotcs experence, choose an approprate actvty from the purchased currculum to help buld ther skll sets. B. Antcpate the student steps f each competton actvty. Make sure that each outcome of the currculum project can be recognzed when completed by the students and that approprate help can be provded f the students become stumped. 2. Sesson A. Select an approprate actvty f each competton categy. Select an approprate actvty from the purchased currculum. B. Drect students to the approprate startng pont at the begnnng of the actvty and let them begn. 3. End of Actvty A. Observe the progress and/ completon of the actvty by each team. B. Hold a dscusson wth each team to comment, dscuss progress, and answer any student questons. C. Move on to next actvty approprate f the competton currculum. 4. End of Sesson A. Put the robots somewhere safe f next tme the teams wll meet. Or, f equpment s scare and s shared between teams, dsassemble robots entrely f the next group to use. B. Clean up loose LEGO parts (use the stng trays and bns). C. SAVE ALL PROGRAMS! 5. Repeat Steps 1-4 as necessary dependng on sklls level of students and whether they are startng from scratch wth a currculum wkng on an actual competton robot. 6. End of Project - Fnal Competton Preparaton Gve student teams adequate tme to prepare f the local regonal compettons. There wll be a lot of program tweakng and robot fxes befe each team s set f the competton. Be sure to supply as much patence and encouragement as possble and realze ths may be a stressful tme f each team. Wld Robotc Olympad