Changes to our robot

This morning we decided that we would use sound sensors only instead of three different ones because that made the relationships between the audience, environment and paint pyramid too confusing. This is what it looks like mounted onto the robot box.

But later on we changed out minds again. This time to using only ultrasonic sensors.

By using only ultrasonic sensors the element of interaction between human and robot is emphasised. Thus, the human can, to an extent, have some control over the paint pyramid's movements.

The picture above is a closeup of our pulley system and below is the entire paint pyramid with robot mounted on top.


In my opinion, this particular project has gone through a number of developments and has extensive research behind it to back it up. I have a good feeling that everyone in my group will do well with their journals. Also, we've started programming the robot today. There are a few issues with the movements and rotations, but I think we can get it through and fix those issues by the end of tomorrow.

I'm hoping that we can get the perspex version of the paint pyramid built and have the programming complete by tomorrow. That would leave Thursday to make the DVD of our project, which would be rather exciting. Also, we can pull together all of our materials to make sure that every member has an acceptable journal. That is the goal of the team; to make sure that everyone in the team has done enough work to pass and to help each other do well.

I've noticed how different it is between projects with extensive research and projects without. In previous projects I've done so far, there never has been extensive research. But this one has quite a bit of it. The difference is that with research the goals are very clear and everybody knows what to do because they have enough information to work on and to sort out their roles in the group. Without research, issues are not likely to be discovered until the last minute and members in the group are more likely to experience confusion since they will need to do a lot of guesswork to actually get work done. Another benefit to research is that it is easier to find out which members are good at what and take advantage of their skills whether it be problem solving, art making, programming, working with wood, or simply recording the progress of the team.