Fun with HiTechnic

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to participate in a local RoboCup Junior (RCJ) training session at Georgia Tech University. One of the competitions of RCJ is 1-vs-1 soccer and 2-vs-2 soccer. Robots detect a ball giving off an infrared signal and try to score points.

I must thank HiTechnic for sending me a prototype of their new IRSeeker to play with and show off at the session. With it, I was able to build a robot that could participate in the 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 soccer challenge, but it was tricky! In the 1-on-1, the robot has specific limitations - it must fit inside an 18cm diameter cylinder (with all arms and moving parts fully extended) and can be no taller than 22 cm.

I started by printing out a gray circle with a diameter of 18cm and began to build. Try it - try keeping your Brick, wheels, and any sensors or other tools inside that circle... very challenging. Well, you're looking at my solution. In the photo, the IRSeeker is on the left and the Compass sensor is on the right. I'm also including a top-view photo, but the circle is difficult to see. Trust me that it does all fit inside that circle!

To give you an idea of how the IRSeeker works, imagine dividing the IRSeeker's surroundings into 30 degree sections. The rear-most sections are not readable (about 90 degrees worth), so numbering the accessible sections from left to right gives the IRSeeker 9 sections to monitor. (This image is taken from HiTechnic documentation.)

I take the value that the IRSeeker obtains (1-9) and (because I lacked time) using a rather unsophisticated string of COMPARE blocks, I have the robot turn the proper number of degrees so it is facing the correct segment where the IRBall is located. Not very fancy, but it'll work in a pinch...

Also provided to me by HiTechnic were some prototype boards (solderless and solderable) that you can use to create your own sensors and such... all able to be connected to the Brick via the standard NXT cable.

All in all, HiTechnic is developing a nice range of add-ons for your NXT. I highly encourage you to visit their website and they love feedback! If you've got something you'd like to see developed (sensor-ish, that is), drop them an email and see what they have to say...

Thanks you, HiTechnic team, for the loans and help in getting the stuff to work.

Jim

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 3

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these Fall and Winter remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Braill3 by Jerry Nicholls Braill3 is an EV3-based LEGO Braille bricks reader. This robot uses its fingertip, made from three touch switches, to read messages written using the LEGO Braille bricks and will speak out what it detected. If it sees a simple maths problem it will attempt to solve it and give the answer as well. To learn more about the process of creating this machine, read Jerry's blog . Braill3 can be viewed here . Set Review: The Braille Bricks set is well thought out. The ratios of the letters is suitable for general use and the addition of some punctuation and arithmetic operators is excellent. There is a card showing what bricks there are and their quantities, but no form of sort

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 2

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these summer and fall remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Remote controlled material handle r by Jozua van Ravenhorst (aka Mr Jo) This remix combines the LEGO Technic Material Handler (42144) with MINDSTORMS EV3 (31313) It uses the power of pneumatic cylinders to move objects around. By using a bluetooth remote control, very precise movements can be made with this model. Touch sensors in the base chassis prevent the turret twisting the cables that go through the turntable to much. The program has several protections to prevent over pressurizing the system for each of the 3 individual pumps and valves that control the 2 booms and claws. The real version of this machine is mostly used in waste material sites to bring the material to machines that sort and

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT

ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Search This Blog