Robotics and autonomous systemsProjectYou will most likely spend most of the time in the course working on the project. It gives you a chance to work together in a team and solve a task. The tournament at the end adds a little extra spice to it by letting you compare different solutions to the same problem.If you have any questions about the project work please contact the lab assistant (see contact info) who is in charge of the lab and workshop and knows the hardware and software you will be working with well. Please remember that the lab assistant is not on 24 hour call to assist you. This is part of the game, you need to plan ahead. That said, he will try to help you as soon as he can. Contact him and set up an appointment. Something that is very important to note and remember when you work on the project is that there are no replacements available for some of the components (motors and eyebot) that you have been given. Repairing an eyebot controller card can take more than a month. Be careful! No over clocking of eyebots for example. Working in a project requires planning, otherwise you very often end up in trouble at the end of the project when everything has to be finished. To add some incentive for the planning we have defined some milestones along the way. The reward for completing these milestones in time are extra credits on the exam (the second part of the exam). The deadline for each milestone can be see at list of important dates. The lab assistant will typically be in the lab the last 2 hours before the deadline for each milestone to let you show your progress. If you want to show him at another time you need to make an appointment. Milestone 0 (+2 on exam)You should build a robot that is able to drive straight or turn on the spot and switch between these as a result of some external stimuli. The idea is to show that you can control the motors of the robot and that you can react to some event and use this event to change the behavior of the robot. It is not ok to have one program that drives straight for a while and then turns based on time for example. It should change based on some stimuli from for example a whisker, camera or even the keypad. There are no requirements on the mechanics of the robot.Milestone 1 (+2 on exam)The robot should be able to detect a bal and drive towards it. The control can be very primitive bt it has to be clear that the robot steers towards the ball even when the ball is not straight infront of the robot. The robot does not need to stop when it gets in contact with the ball. The idea with this milestone is that you should show that you can process the image data and use it to control the robot. The milestone corresponds to the minimum requirement for passing the project part of the course.Milestone 2 (+2 on exam)The robot should be able to score a goal unopposed with several initial ball positions.
Project examinationAt the end of the project there will be a competition where the robots will compete against each other. This event will be open for the public. The rules for the competition can be viewed here . The competition starts with each robot trying to make as many goals as possible unopposed. The results of this will give the robots the seeding into the tournament.Each team should prepare a poster (A4 sized is OK but bigger makes it easier to read) for a poster display in connection with the competition. The idea with this is that the poster should provide some information about what makes your robot special so that the people attending the competition can get some more information. It is not a beaty contest and it does not have to be fancy so you do not have to overdo it. All posters must contain the number (rasX), the name of your robot and a photo of the robot, but besides that you are free to design it as you see fit. Project reportAfter the competition the team should put together a report about the project. This project will serve as the documentation for the project and as such be read by students in coming years of the course. Please think of them when you write the report and how useful it was for you to read well written reports from other teams. Also remember that the project repor is a good means for explaining the extra stuff that you have implemented on your robot which was not shown during the tournament. To earn a higher grade on the project based on the report, the report should be a well written and composed technical report and it has to be handed in on time. The reports should be mailed in pdf format to the lecturer.Old robotsJust like in the real world it is good to look at what has been done before so that you do not re-invent the wheel too many time. Your are therefore encouraged to look at the reports, videos and robots from previous years. You find this information if the you the "Previous years" option
in the navigation bar. Links to the reports and robots from the last
three years can be seen here
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