Making progress

After a couple of frustrating weeks we are starting to get to grips with this robot. The trick, for us at least, is to keep it simple. Last week we had some difficulty with the line following programme. The robot could not operate in the ambient light in the room, it was chucking it down outside and the light in the room was very dim. The result of this was that the robot could not 'see' the green line it was looking for and went off on a random course of its own as it circled round to try and find a green line so it could turn onto the transition table. The result was a devastated table and some puzzled programmers. The dim light also meant that the robot picked up a grey line between base and the gardening patch, thought it was green and turned straight into the woodworking table.

All in all it was a bit of a disaster but it resulted in an important decision to only use the light sensors when absolutely necessary. This might seem obvious but the decision has important consequences. Using the cues on the field mat means you reduce the errors in your programming, so we will loose a good way of keeping the robot on track. It is possible to calibrate the light sensors so the robot can adjust to the ambient light conditions however we are having a little trouble learning how to do this consistently. Sam will still be doing some complex line following for the transition table and medicine bottle tasks but otherwise we will stick to positioning and practice.

We now have 3 tasks programmed and two with an almost complete programme that needs a little tweaking. Overall the whole thing feels a lot better.

The project is almost complete. we will be meeting with our design mentor next Wednesday to make a prototype of our product and then the script can be completed and rehearsed. The team need to perform for an audience as part of the process so we need to get cracking with the acting parts and learning the lines. Then it's practice, practice, practice!!!

Time to do things well

Our unexpected extension has had the lovely side effect of being able to do things well. We can take the time to tweak the project and really try to get the robot to work as well as we can.

For the project we asked another mentor, Sophie, to help us with the design of our solution. Sophie is a prop/theatre designer by trade and we asked her to apply her skills in tweaking our product design. We had reached a stage where we had two alternative solutions to our problem and the team were finding it difficult to move forward and choose one. Sophie parachuted in and applied fantastic design principles to our products. She took the team back through the process, the decisions they had made so far and why they had made them. The team then re-checked the products available in the market and considered who might actually buy the products they had come up with.

The team have made a decision about which product they want to go with and the next stage is to make a prototype, this is quite tricky as the chosen material is most likely to be plastic - we shall wait to see what ingenious solutions they came up with to solve that one.

We are making slow but steady progress with the robot game. The robot can now reliably complete two tasks and hopefully these will be joined by a few more over the next few weeks. The first task has shown us the absolute importance of positioning the robot accurately and so this gives us a heads up on the programming. choose EXACTLY where the robot is going to start from and design your programme from there, measuring carefully each time (with a tape measure if necessary) before we set it off.

The downside of the extension is that it feels like a long slog now and some of the team are getting quite tired. I hope today's success and the possibility that we now know how to tackle this thing will keep us all going just a little bit longer.

A reprieve

Following a frantic two weeks of attempting to get the robot to do what we tell it, design the robot so that it does what we think it will do, and panic about the fact that it is not doing any of these, today I received an email putting our competition date back to January. This means we have two whole months extra to get to grips with this thing.

On balance this is marvellous news, the pressure is off for a month at least and I feel like the team have a chance to shine now rather than just scramble to do their best in limited time and with limited knowledge and experience. The drawback of course is we ill now need to find time to meet over the busy Christmas period.

They are doing fantastically well and even as things stood before our reprieve we are at the stage where we can begin the programming of the tasks in earnest. However the set back of the date allows us to take stock a little, refine the design of the robot and discuss things as a team more thoroughly so everyone feels they have had all the input they need and want.

 Some of the programmers have been hard at work with some of the field tasks and their efforts are on various You tube videos below.

woodworking challenge:  http://youtu.be/eVsRHdXMHa4

Medicine bottle challenge:  http://youtu.be/A2HrDtyfKLA

A design update from the programmers http://youtu.be/hyQOW2SdzSw

medicine bottle part two with the actual field mat rather than a home made version http://youtu.be/XvzW2SGTcw4

the transition table  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuIYJ5yliqU

The designers have also been hard at work trying to solve some of the problems that we have encountered while trying to solve the tasks. The robot is now three wheeled to allow more manoeuvrability and the NXT block is mounted differently so that the sensor ports can be accessed more easily. At the moment the position of the NXT is slightly loose so that the block can be moved to change the weight distribution on the robot. We have found that when the scoop is lifted the weight needs to be further back to counterbalance BUT when the robot has to go up the transition table the robot falls over if the weight is too far back. The robot now looks a little like this.

The project also continues at a pace. The script is mostly written and will be pulled apart and put back together again on Monday while the programmers are off with Jeremy learning all about NXT programming. We are hoping to do a full read through and get a base line time for how long it lasts. However the goal posts have moved here also as we now have ten minutes rather than five. There is still much to do though, as we have very few props as yet and no one knows their lines.

Onwards and upwards!

The mentors

Part of the FLL process involves talking to people who can mentor us through the different skills we need to get good at. The great part about this is the team have been really engaged and had the chance to talk to some people who really know and love what they do.

Our first Mentor was Sean from Techniquest who spent three hours with us, showing us how to programme the robots to go in a straight line, stop accurately and turn. Despite the long drive to Wrexham the children agreed it was finally good to get our hands on some technology. The trip also gave me an idea of what Mindstorms programming actually looked like and gave me a little reassurance that it was possible for me to be a coach even with out a computer background.

Next came Paul. Paul is a carpenter and helped us cut the pieces straight for our table.

Then there is Julie. Julie is our senior partner in the project side of the challenge. Until she recently retired she was a lecturer at Salford university in sociology. Julie also had responsibility for designing and administering 13 undergraduate and graduate courses one of which was social gerontology. Julie also happens to be Q-Man's grandma. She came to talk to us on Monday about some of the social problems encountered by people as they age things like the invisibility of older people in society, how older people are often patronised by family, younger friends and professionals. Julie also spoke about the problems associated with being lumped together in a group labelled old, it turns out this is a similar experience for the team who are often lumped together in a group marked children or youth. Julie will continue to be involved in the process to the end and we hope to invite her back to show her how the information she provided was used and to take part in our after show party.

And there is Jeremy. Jeremy is dad to S, one of the team members and, along with Tara and Dave, have computer programming backgrounds. Jeremy found a book about programming the NXT and has run a fantastic all day session at his house with the three programmers. They learnt many things including how to get the robot to follow a line using a light sensor, how to make a bumperbot and how to program a sequence of things into the NXT block using chunks so that each time you adjust something in the program you don't have to start again and re program the whole thing. The programmers came back very enthusiastic and are planning a second session at Jeremy's house to build on this.

Tara has recently become my right hand woman in the sessions. We have found recently that it is difficult to stay on track when discussing various aspect of the robot game. There are three main strands to the robot game which all depend on each other and no sooner do we start talking about one and they veer off into the other. Now the children are in groups I cannot be everywhere at once so Tara is now deputy coach.

Sophie, L's mum has run the treasure hunt session for us, Maria, Ginger's mum, is playing host to us twice a week, opening up her home to a bunch of rowdy FLLers, Dave and Suzie B.J.P.'s parents have done fantastic R&D at home with the robot and been a reliable taxi service to Jeremy's and back.

So overall we have involved many people in our FLL journey.

A big thanks to all of you.

Getting along

We are currently getting along in many ways. Getting along with the challenge mainly, working out where our strengths are, how we can best use our time and how we can communicate with one another so that everyone can feel heard but we actually reach a decision.

The scale of the challenge is rapidly becoming clear. it has taken forever to get to a stage where we feel we can begin, but we are getting there, making slow but steady progress.

The field table is finally finished so our robot has somewhere to work. We used the pattern from the Inventioneers which is called a stow-and-go table. The whole thing is made from foam rather than wood so it's light enough to carry, and it folds in half so we can store it. this is really important as we are meeting in someone's home so we need to leave as little mark as possible!!

The field kit is also finished but not installed yet. Jadzzy has taken the mat home to put all the sticky pads on that need to be added so the bits of lego don't move and Blood Diamond and Lewis have finished the field kit and it will be added next week.

The programming is a massive challenge, as is getting the programming and robot design to work together. This weeks 'heated debate' and opportunity to learn how to communicate came in the form of wheels v's tracks for the robot. This was (eventually) settled by B.J.P who did some controlled comparisons on speed, manouverability and accuracy. The results are in the two videos below.

http://youtu.be/XlYxhIYhS4o


http://youtu.be/rpV8-0oIfCw

There is a third design possibility we are going to test next week. In the meantime the three programmers have taken home various bits of the field kit and have attempted to programme the robot to complete that particular task. We await the results with bated breath. The three designers are busy coming up with ideas for adaptations to the robot that can be used to solve the tasks in the field.

The project team are also getting along. Q-Man seems to have found some inspiration and is busily script writing and dishing out parts. Our senior partner Julie is coming to talk to us on Monday so we can nail the first two thirds of the presentaiton hopefully by Wednesday. With luck and a bit of hard work the presentation will be finalised in the next couple of weeks so we can practice, practice, practice.

Specialising

One thing that has quickly become clear is that we do not have much time! At the beginning of the process I imagined a lovely gentle home ed scenario where we were super organised and everything just kind of slotted into place. The reality is life gets in the way no matter how committed everybody is, both mine and the rest of the teams. We are not exactly behind, given that the field kit was so late to arrive we really couldn't have got much further with the robot game before now, but we don't have any time to spare either. Which means we are going to have to specialise.

Back in February, I imagined that we would all work wonderfully together towards a common goal, each member of the team taking a role in each stage of the process and learning something about stuff they were not necessarily interested in. While I think we have achieved that to some extent but the nature of the competition means that everyone will have to concentrate on the parts of the challenge they have the most skills to complete and are most willing to give a go to. As a result we have split down into three sub teams.

The project is well underway. We have our Senior partner and have designed a product which we achieved by a process of elimination. Everyone went off to interview someone over 60 about what life was like now and how it was different to say when they were 20 or 40. From this we compiled a list of responses and picked out the common themes. After some discussion, several topics were chosen to take forward for further research which was then reported back to the team and a final decision about the overall subject and shape of the project was made.  LS and Q are taking on the task of more in depth research into the chosen topic and then putting together a presentation that involves the whole team. The first stage will be to do an in depth interview with our Senior partner which we are currently trying to set up.

Meanwhile the rest of the team have been busily constructing. The field kit didn't arrive until the 12th September, which just happens to be a Lego day, which meant that it was nearly a whole week with the kit sat there until the next meeting. we are underway now though and think we will have everything constructed, or very nearly by the end of the next session on Monday. The building instructions are a nuisance as they come on a CD which means only one person can build at once. It would be much easier if they were on paper and then the booklets could be split up and different team members build different things. As it is we had two teams of two and used a split screen on the laptop so we could have two sets of instructions up at once.

On Monday we are going to split down further. LS and Q will carry on with the project. LB, J and JS will begin constructing the robot and BP and JD will finish off the table and hopefully the field kit and then begin the progeramming on wednesday - or maybe next week!

Treasure Hunt Manchester

Six of the ‘Robots @ heart’ team braved the variable Manchester weather a couple of wednesdays ago, to develop their team skills and have FUN. To help build their teamwork I chose to take them on a treasure trail. This activity required them to work together looking for and solving clues, to keep together without losing anyone, and to hopefully crack the code within the two hours allowed.

Within the group there were lots of really positive dynamics, which demonstrates the value of the work they have already put in with their coach. They flagged about halfway round, and some became a bit distracted (If  I say ‘minecraft’ you’ll all know what I mean). But they responded well to me adopting a more proactive style, and pulled together to get the challenge completed in time.

Just as we approached Albert square with the final 3 clues to find, the heaven’s opened, to drop yet more of the torrential rain experienced so often this summer on us poor folk below. Undeterred and to the sound of thunderclaps, the team split up and found the answers they were looking for. Well done…has anyone else cracked the unsolved anagram yet?

 

 

Let the games begin !

The 2012 First Lego League challenge has been issued! We are officially under way. After 6 months of fund raising, getting to know one another and learning to work as a team, we finally know what we have to achieve.

The full challenge document is available by following this link...

http://firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Challenge/SeniorSolutions/FLL2012SENIORSOLUTIONSChallengeAnchors.pdf

In brief, there are three parts to the challenge

PART 1 - THE PROJECT

In brief we have to "Find a senior partner". This means finding someone over the age of 60 whom we can ask lots of questions of in order to identify a potential problem that he/she has experienced through ageing.

Next we have to learn as much about this problem as we can by doing lots of research about it and finding out what solutions are currently being developed.

We then either develop these solutions further or come up with a completely new solution which we then present to a group of people for feedback.

This whole process is then presented to the FLL judges on competition day. There are some good examples on the first Lego league channel on you tube http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=first+lego+league+2011+food+factor&oq=first+lego&gs_l=youtube.1.2.35i39j0l9.3673.7902.0.16399.10.10.0.0.0.0.106.906.8j2.10.0...0.0...1ac.N6Nw95O5vn4

PART 2 - THE ROBOT GAME

The teams are provided with a field kit which consists of a mat and several exclusive Lego models which the robot has to operate. The models are all based around the years challenge. The robot has to be built from Lego Mindstorm technology and be programmed. No remote control allowed. The robot then has to complete the challenges posed by the models. As many as it can in in 2 and half minutes, scoring as highly as we can. Examples can be seen at the link above.

PART 3 - THE CORE VALUES

Both of the above parts have to be completed according to the core values of FLL which can be found at First Lego League. To comply with this we have already done loads of team building things and fundraising but we kick off our season tomorrow with a 'treasure hunt' round Manchester city centre.

Let the games begin !

First attempts

Our first attempts at robot programming (and videoing and putting things on you tube) are below. However blogging skills do not stretch to having a little picture to click on so link below will have to do


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ktIv-HBbs&feature=youtu.be

Several of us have now babysat the robot for a week or two with varying degrees of success, but all of us feel a bit more familiar.

Starting to get a bit apprehensive now. The challenge is released tomorrow. Have we bitten off more than we can handle? Probably! But maybe that is the fastest way to learn...

Problem solving, teamwork and design

The last couple of Lego sessions we have focused on trying to pull together as a team. now that we know how the robot works we have a better idea of what skills we will need to complete the challenge. We have completed a number of tasks which will hopefully come in handy in the long run.

Team building games

Blanket toss: Children split into two teams and each team was given a blanket the idea was to toss a ball from one blanket to another. Not as easy as it sounds.
Pipe and ball is a good team work one but it does all get a bit frantic so no pictures of this one. basically they are split into two teams and each team is given a set of gutering of differing lengths and a ball. The teams have to get the ball from one side of the room to the other, without touching it, and get the ball into a pot. This really brought out the competetive edge. Our winning time was 14 seconds. In a later session we adapted this so the task was completed in teams of two who then had to better their time and then make the course the ball had to take more complex. great for learning to communicate with each other.

There have been many other games including wrapping children together in cling film and asking them to negotiate their way round the room, blindfold obstacle courses, where one person has to lead another, balloon races and chocolate eating games.

Problem solving and design

We have pretended to be shipwrecked and had to decide, as a team, what would be useful in the life boat. We have designed personal alarms for the elderly and devices that allow people who use crutches or wheechairs to carry their personal belongings around. We are keeping our designs under wraps for now - just in case.



We have used lego to make marble runs. These present a number of design challenges as the run has to stand up without the supporting pillars falling over, slope downwards but not too steeply. The surface the marble rolls down needs to be wide enough to allow the marble to pass through, but also have sides so it doesn't roll off. The marble needs to run round corners and not shoot out of the end of the run so that you can't find it!!


 We have made marble runs a couple of times, the first  time, each group made their own, but the second time we just made one marble run with each sucessive group buildng onto the first one. It worked quite well and certainly revealed who is good at adding Lego parts without destroying what has already been built! This is going to be an important skill in the actual competition as we will need to adapt our robot as we go to meet the challenges ofthe robot game. This method of cooperative design and problem solving will probably be how we come up with the best robot in the end.


We have also braistormed possible problems the elderly may have so we can solve them for the research part of the project. LT has spoken to a few people and done some seriously professional research whihc we will need to utilise once the challenge is revealed.

One more session before we are doing this for real. Off to read the coaches handbook!!

The Lego Theme park

When we started the process of applying to be a First Lego league competition we really had no idea of what skills we would need to field a team. Also because we have had to fundraise to buy the kit, we have not been able to get our hands on the robot either. The only thing we knew for definite was that we would need to work as a team to produce a robot.

To try to simulate this idea of everyone contributing to a larger whole, we built a Lego theme park. The team either paired up or worked alone to produce 'rides' made out of lego. All teh rides had names and descriptions andthe ones I can remember are below.

The Pirate ship

Built by Q and B it is a working swining Pirate ship. Unfortunatly due to restrictions in the lego avaliable they had to resort to wool to make it swing.

Lord of the Skies

A flight simulator built by LS.

Fortune telling booth by S

Log flume by JD and JS



Merry-go-round by J and E



The Climbing Wall by LT

A moving climbing wall where the top of the wall leans forwards as you climb to make it more difficult.

L's theme park ride



There were many more exciting and interesting 'rides' invented and we did put them all together to make a full theme park. Unfortunately the photo isn't very good because I rushed it and the light was bad, but its below to give an idea of the work that went in.



The story so far...

Back in January a small group of home educators from the Manchester area decided to have a go at becoming a First Lego League team.

A bit of background.

The First lego Leage (FLL) is an international competition, this year run by the IET, which aims to give children between the ages of 9 and 16 a chance to design, build and programme a robot, using Lego Mindstorm technology. This robot then competes against other teams to win the competition.

The team has been meeting since February and there have been a number of challenges for us as a team even before the event officially starts on the 1st of September. Initially we had 18 members when the maximum allowed on a team is 10, however time has sorted this one out for us as gradually people have realised this challenge is not for them.

Perhaps our biggest challenge to date has been fund raising. As we are not a school or club based group we had no funds, so the team has raised all the money to buy the Lego Mindstorms kit and save up for the entry fee to the competition. This we have done through a combination of sponsored events, selling things we have made and doing jobs for people. This was the sponsored bike ride down the Monsal trail in Derbyshire.

When we were not fund raising we were working on the skills we thought we might need for the competition. Team building, design, computer programming, working with Lego and different materials to solve problems. This part is best shown in pictures and though the record is not complete it gives some idea of what we have been up to.

We made vehicles  to solve the problem of getting Fred across the desert, but each time they solved the problem it changed so the vehicle had to be adapted to meet the new needs of the challenge.

 

 

and then we presented our vehicles and their adaptations to each other

We made towers from newspapers to hold potatoes...

Towers from triangles of garden canes...

Structural sculptures at the Whitworth art gallery...

and a theme park from Lego (will post about this session shortly)

 

We have also done loads of team building games and visited Techniquest in Wrexham for some help in working the mindstorm robots.

And now we are a registered team, and the robot is bought and on its way, and the challenge is soon to be issued. We are hoping this blog will give parents some idea of what we are doing, give the children a chance to show off their designing skills and to let other home educators in Manchester know what we are up to.