Report On Building and Programming a LEGO Mindstorm Robot - Research Paper Example

Report On Building and Programming a LEGO Mindstorm Robot Introduction The LEGO Mindstorm series consists of hardware and software are kits used by people, students and engineers to create and customize programmable robots. This kit includes a programmable brick computer that acts as a control to the system. In addition, it contains a set of modular sensors and motors as well as LEGO parts from the techniques line to create the mechanical systems. The very first Mindstorms Robotic invention Kit comprised of two motors, two touches of sensors and a single light sensor, and yet performed well, although many improvements made on the kit comprises a number of parts. There has been an increase in the uses of these robots in daily lives (Costlow 47). In fact, engineers use these models to build a model of an embedded system with computer controlled electromechanical parts. In reality, various real life systems have borrowed a lot from these robotic models by embedding them in different systems such as elevators and industrial robots. Increasingly, many of these appliances and equipment borrow from this idea. Therefore, schools have taken to teaching engineering practices using these tools. In a group, students undertook to build a robot. Following is the report compiled after they finished exercise. Plan procedure Before starting the process of building and programming a LEGO, planning the procedure is the initial step of the whole process. Before commencing with the process, deciding what the group wanted to build was the first step (“Robotics Design Process”). All the required materials should be available and fully meet the requirements of the specific robot in mind. Although most of the items work for different robots, some require special parts. Methodology used in building and programming the LEGO Robot Research Research in LEGO robot building includes conducting a review of the various robots done by different people and the materials they used. Deciding on the various tasks the robot should do was one of the most important researches made. The research is a process that requires deciding on whether or not the robot can go up objects, have two or four wheels and the kind of tasks the robot can handle. Writing down the requirements helped in planning the entire robot and making sure that nothing failed. Before the assembling process begun, all the materials were availed. By conducting a research on the various robots successfully made, it made it possible to add some features to make it work better. The best source of information was on blogs that have written about these robots, analysis of the performance of the robots and the LEGO website. Division the work Assembling a good robot that works properly and handles its intended tasks is not a simple task. It requires dedicated teams that show readiness and willingness to handle on every single task that assigned to them. The team settled on dividing tasks amongst themselves in order to avoid conflict of roles. For the success of any group work, members need to work as a team and show dedication in their roles. Working as a team gives better output and a more quality work as different people perform different tasks with different capacities and have different capabilities. Assembling The assembling process is one of the most exciting stages of the building process. Putting the different parts to the drawn model according to the directions provided by the user manual makes a worker feel excited and happy (The Engineer 26). They started the process from the base and proceeded upwards to other parts. Experts and instructors insist on building a strong base that can hold the material without falling apart. Therefore, they picked the most talented person in engineering to put the entire base together as we contributed ideas on the design and the look of the robot. It had to be big enough to handle many roles and successfully serve its purpose. Although they applied the concepts in initial draft plan, they made a few adjustments to the robot to make it suit their physical descriptions. Design The design of the robot was unique. Although they tried to keep it as simple as possible, they managed to make it look and appear distinct from other types of robots assembled by other people (“Mindstorms” web). The most exciting thing about making a robot is that there are no particular rules set that people have to adhere to while assembling their robots. Therefore, they creatively assembled a robot with a unique design and beautiful colours. The team however had to decide whether to settle on a metallic design, a cool looking robot design or an interesting design before starting to assemble one. Testing After assembling the robot, the team conducted a feasibility test to determine how successful they were in assembling a functional robot that could handle all the tasks they had earlier settled on. Testing helps in identifying any type of errors present in the model (“Robotics Design Process” web). No engineer is perfect enough to assemble a machine in the first trial that functions as desired. Tests are important in making ensure that a product not only functions properly, but also meets the initial design requirements and specifications. Moreover, it ensures that all products are safe for use, especially those that people intends to use to in performing simple tasks. To make sure those users of the robot were safe and that the builders performed highly in the entire process, they made sure that the tests run focused on all the aspects of the robot, from its functionality, to its safety and meeting our initial design requirements. Error Correction The team had to change a number of things to make our robot look great. The team realized that instead of moving in a straight line, it had a rugged motion and therefore had to make adjustments to make it work better. Nevertheless, the robot could not make a complete curve as they realized, and therefore made several adjustments in the gears of the robots to make it work better. Presenting After the testing stage, they were confident that our robot was good for presenting to the instructor. The selected presenter was a person well equipped with knowledge about the whole process of making and assembling the robot. He was a person who had followed the entire process from the start to the end and understood it completely. Final Report Drafting the final report, as presented in this paper, took place after the entire building process was complete. To avoid making mistakes, the team kept a track of all the steps undertaken in building the robot in order to complete this report. The presented report indicates the entire process followed in constructing and programming their robot. Table of the procedure followed in completing the whole process Robot Project Start Date End Date Duration Tasks Plan procedure May 16th May 19th 3 days Research May 21st May 30th 9 days Division the work May 29th May 29th 1 Day Assembling May 31st June 5th 5 Days Design June 6th June 12th 6 Days Testing June 16th June 16th 1 Day Error Correction June 17th July 24th 37 Days Presenting August 1st August 1st 1 Day Final Report August 1st August 1st 1 Day Conclusion and Recommendations The entire process was interesting especially in building the whole robot. Team members were actively involved in the whole building the robot. The robot successfully handled its tasks successfully, therefore meeting their expectations and plans. As a recommendation, students should try to avoid complicated robots and minimize their features to enable them work properly. Works Cited “Robotics Design Process”, Robotics, n.d. Web. 30 July 2013 http://www.galileo.org/robotics/design.html Costlow, Terry. "Lego My Robot." Design News 61.10 (2006): 47-50. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2013. Mindstorms. How to : Get new ideas for robots. 2007. Web. 30 July 2013 http://us.mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/community/nxtlog/displayproject.aspx?id=a8975068-85cb-4e64-8b64-ea7ad9c39c04 The Engineer. "INSIGHT: New Kid on the Block."  (2006): 26. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2013. Read More