LEGO Mindstorms
Pre-Day Questionnaire
Your Age? Please select your age from the options below: a) 11 b) 12 c) 13 d) 14 e) 15 or Older 0 0 0 0 0 11 12 13 14 15&or&Older
Good at Problem Solving? Do you think that you are good at problem solving? a) Yes b) No 0 0 Yes No
What is Your Favorite Subject? Please select the subject which is your favorite from below: a) Mathematics b) ICT c) Computing d) Business Studies e) Art f) PE g) Other Mathematics* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ICT Computing Business*Studies Art PE Other
What subjects are you taking? Please select the subjects you are taking from below: a) Mathematics b) ICT c) Computing d) Physics e) Other(s) 0 0 0 0 0 Mathematics* ICT Computing Physics Other(s)
Mathematics is Computer Science? Do you think there is a strong link between Mathematics and Computer Science? a) Yes b) No 0 0 Yes No
How do you feel about Mathematics? Select the option which you feel best described how you feel about Mathematics a) Easy b) Boring c) Fun d) Interesting 0 0 0 0 Easy Boring Fun Interesting
LEGO Mindstorms
What body parts do I need to complete the following tasks? Follow%a%line%on% the%floor% Walk%Forward% Find%the% nearest%wall% Walk%to%the% wall%and%then% stop% %before% hi6ng%it!%
Walk Forward What body part(s) do I need to be able to walk forward? You can select more than one answer. a) Arm b) Legs c) Eyes d) Hands 0 0 0 0 Arm Legs Eyes Hands
Follow a Line on the Floor What body part(s) do I need to be able to follow a line on the floor? You can select more than one answer. a) Arm b) Legs c) Eyes d) Hands 0 0 0 0 Arm Legs Eyes Hands
The Mindstorms Robot The Lego Mindstorms NXT robot is a programmable kit which can be used to create many different robots. The three main parts of the Mindstorms robot are: The NXT You can this of this as the brain of the robot. Servo Motors The motors give your robot the ability to move. Sensors There is a range of sensors which the robot can use to learn about the world around the robot.
The NXT Being the brain of the robot, the NXT comes with several ports to connect the other components to. The ports labeled with A, B and C are used to connect the servo motors. The ports labeled with 1, 2, 3 and 4 are used to connect the sensors. There is also a micro-usb port to connect the NXT to a computer.
Servo Motors The servo motors can be attached to a variety of different parts of the Mindstorms kit to create wheels (to move the robot), arms (to grab objects), etc. Servo motors can also provide feedback to the NXT (similar to sensors) of how many rotations they have made. We will come back to the various sensors available later
Building Your First Mindstorms Robot! We are going to begin by creating a simple robot which will allow us to add additional motors or sensors to complete certain tasks The base design consists of two servo motors attached to wheels to allow movement and a rotating back wheel which is used to help the robot turn.
Stage 1 4
Stage 5 8
Stage 9 12
If I was a robot, how would you instruct me to Follow%a%line%on% the%floor% Walk%Forward% Find%the% nearest%wall% Walk%to%the% wall%and%then% stop% %before% hi6ng%it!%
Cargo-Bot Cargo-Bot is an ipad application where you program a robotic arm to move around boxes from an initial set-up to a given final set-up. We are going to go through the tutorials on the board and then you are going to complete these tutorials, along with the first task.
NXT Programming
Mindstorms NXT Programming The LEGO Mindstorms NXT programming software is an all in one tool which allows you to write programs to control the LEGO Mindstorms robot. On opening the program, you should see a screen similar to the one on this slide.
Making Your Robot Move
Task 1 Program your robot to move to the end of the table and stop at the edge!
Task 2 Program your robot to navigate its way through the maze.
Using Sensors
Sensor Testing Program When using sensors, we need to work out which value we are going to use to decide whether to do something. To do this we will create a program which displays the value on the screen of the NXT. Read Sensor Value Convert Sensor Value to Text Display Value on Screen Wait Half a Second Repeat
Task 1.5 Program your robot to move to the end of the table and stop at the edge! (Using a Light Sensor)
Task 2.5 Program your robot to navigate its way through the maze. (Using a Light Sensor)
Dismantling your Robot Now this is the tricky part Please can you dismantle your LEGO Mindstorms robot and put them back into the boxes as you found them.
Post-Day Questionnaire