Selected Robolab Web Journal Entries for 2004
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josalbob
Monday 12 July; 2004 at 11:51
most sensors and and actions for robot were tested today after it was built; tire bumper did not work because it was overweighted. bumper problem was solved after testing over and over.
alexsam
Monday 12 July; 2004 at 12:06
Made a robot with the motion sensor and finished pilots 1 and 2. We are now making a robot with 3 wheels.
josalbob
Monday 12 July; 2004 at 12:20
We found a problem with the letters next to the motor symbol. We learned that each black square on the robot corresponds with the numbers. Also the same goes for the numbers with the sensor.
gregdan
Tuesday 13 July; 2004 at 8:36
Daniel Salgado andf I are working to employ different strategies to gain «points» in this class. I am trying to utilize my skill of taking tests and interpreting data. Daniel is attempting to build a robot which is sensitive to light as wel as touch. His progress seems to be at a standoff due to the missing of vital peices of lego.
mikemike
Tuesday 13 July; 2004 at 9:11
one problem that i had with it was that the engine hook ups keep falling off and the battery could not tell the wheel to move so the wheel did not turn. so we had to attach the hook to the legos in the different spot.
kevaar
Tuesday 13 July; 2004 at 9:30
today my partner and i made a touch sensor without any directions.we then made our little bot run straight against a wall; stop; make a noise; run against another wall; make another noise and stop completely. i'm suprised that our homemade sensor actually worked.
alexsam
Tuesday 13 July; 2004 at 11:52
almost completed wallflower. going to do inventor 4 because there is somthing we can't figure out and are going to try to learn it. the robot can stop; back up and turn; but it backs up and turns to far.
josalbob
Tuesday 13 July; 2004 at 11:58
Our team has developed an wheel and engine system that seems (So far) to be almost foolproof. except for a couple of minor problems with the gears and we are trying to fix it. We will use this to complete the catapult challange.
gregdan
Wednesday 14 July; 2004 at 8:36
Today is the day Daniel Salgado and I completed a robot that is able to count gear rotations; or rpm. The only problems are we do not kniw how it works or if it even works at all. It is a possibility that we simply know nothing about lego robotics technology. That just might be the case. Abother factor may be that I am tired. The wiring and programming are difficult and somewhat tedious. The reason neither Daniel or I listened to the lego robotics instructions in the British accent.
shanepat
Wednesday 14 July; 2004 at 9:23
this is the Robolab Program! This is where you give the robot demands on what to do. You can make it go forward; backwards; play songs; sense temperature; sense color and light. It is kind of difficult but it is a lot of fun.
stephdun
Wednesday 14 July; 2004 at 9:13
well today we fished are catuplut. well i thought at last we did it . well i was wrong it worked fine but the thing we though keap falling. so we tried to fix it but it was fallen apart. then dun had a new idea and it worked so we got 40 points YAY.........b-bye
josalbob
Wednesday 14 July; 2004 at 12:15
today we pragrammed and finished the catapult robot. one engine using gears to turn 2 tires. next we decided to do the sumo robot and cahallenge other robots. the bot has a large claw in the front to help push away other bots. also using the 2 motors we have to push the bot and make it much stonger.its almost complete but not yet. and its looking good so far. but we came across a few problems designing the sumo bot. we eneded larger wheels for more clearence under the robot. also so way to make sure the bot stays in the ring. tommorow we are doing much more.
alexsam
Wednesday 14 July; 2004 at 12:22
We had tostop the wallflower because we cauldn't figure it out. we started a catapult and we are almost done.
gregdan
Thursday 15 July; 2004 at 8:28
Well; me and Gregory have completely torn apart our robot; and are trying to build aa all new one without any instructions or anything. Why? I have no idea. Actually it was all Gregory's cRaZy idea. He did say; however that he thought our previous robot; which looks TOTALLY AWESOME (unessesary capitalization)was to big; so it would not be able to manuever around walls easily. He just thought it wasn't a practical design. we also both thought that it broke too easily; once it crashes into a wall; it breaks into three different parts. So now we have to start completely from scratch; and it will take us at least 3 more days to complete the new robot. Not to mention the fact that we haven't completed any of the required robot missions at all. We'll be lucky if we accomplish something.On a lighter note; We still have more points than half the class.WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
shanepat
Thursday 15 July; 2004 at 8:58
We made a sumo wrestling robot after struggling with the maze crawler because it was extremely confusing. we hope we are succesful from now on.
mikemike
Thursday 15 July; 2004 at 9:00
the wall flower is hard to get the prgraming right and have the two prograns going at the same time in the battery.so we are trying to program the two systems into the the sencer so it will work.
kevaar
Thursday 15 July; 2004 at 10:17
we are now trying to make a volcano detector. it is pretty hard. the program will probably take just as long. i hope we could get it done on monday
josalbob
Thursday 15 July; 2004 at 11:59
after tweaking our sumo robot we challebged and practiced with another robot. after a few practices we did it for the actual challenge. it was a stalemate twice. the 3rd time the other bot won. we challenged them again and won giving us 100 pts. now we are working on the police cruiser and should be finished with it next week.
gregdan
Monday 19 July; 2004 at 8:43
Unluckily; both Daniel and I are both tired and sluggish. Not unlike comatose sloths. Our robot is useless; because we have no way to program the touch sensor whatsoever. The idea is that we have to split the function of the same icon in order to make a left/right turn. I realy enjoy the class though.
shanepat
Monday 19 July; 2004 at 9:24
We tried to beat «philzac» in Sumo and we almost beat them but they flipped us over and knocked us out of the ring but we did manage to break there robot with our poke sticks which stabbed the robot and broke the top of the robot from the bottom which meant they lost 5 points for a broken robot. Hopefully we can win a match to get 100 points instead of the 60 points we got for a loss in sumo. Hopefully we can beat one of the groups; or next target is «mikemike» they are going down in sumo! Our record right now is 1 loss and 2 stalemates but the stalemates were in practice so they don't count.
mikemike
Monday 19 July; 2004 at 9:46
this is the robots in a teepee form we were the stongest team for the best group because the robots keep stoping at the edge and the other robot had brakes in the bake part.jpg)
philzac
Monday 19 July; 2004 at 7:44
philzac- Our robot 'Death Blade Custom X2' killed all the robots we somoed. We had a stale mate against mikemike three times; but we beat them three times also. The robot is extremaly strong; but it relys on brutforce to win. It wouldn't do as well against a very smart robot. We crushed a smart robot twice because it didn't move fast enough. Over all our robot was the strongest robot in the class.
gregdan
Monday 19 July; 2004 at 9:33
TODAY AS TOLD BY DANIEL Bleah; right now; I'm not really sure what we're doing with our robot. Actually; I do; but complaining makes it sound like our failures are okay because of the trauma we are experiencing. Anyways; today I tried to build a sumo-bot that would beat Zack and other person's (Sorry other person; I dont know anyone in my class' name except; like; three people) all powerful sumobot. I tried to do this by attaching a giant ramp to the front of our robot thingy; in hopes that the other team's much bigger; heavier; and stronger robot would drive right over it and out of the ring completely. It just pushed our robot out of the way; instead. I decided that it needed tires to make the traction stonger; and just as I was about to adjust it and WIN THE ENTIRE MATCH; Gregory insisted we destroy everything I contributed to the robot so we could work on HIS idea. GAAAAAAAH! Oh well :-c . Anyways; now he's working on the maze crawler thingee. He seems to have made some complex program with the help of our EXCELLENT instructor Mr. Jones (I have a habit of sucking up to people). I hope that whatever Gregory is doing will help us get points. I think he knows what he's doing; though. The problem with us working together is that whenever one of us is doing something; the other one of us wants to do something completely different; which will most likely completely screw up whatever the other one of us is doing. Neither of us have patience and we can't agree on anything. This makes accomplishing stuff so much harder for us. Whatever; .. ) \___ / / (__) THUMBS UP! ; (__)/ (__) __(_) / / (I hope this looks like a «thumbs up» hand when the entry gets posted; because it was really cool and stuff)
shanepat
Monday 19 July; 2004 at 9:56
Today in Sumo we beat Mikemike by using forks on our robot. It has a really strong design with the front wheels and the back wheels are huge. On the back there's a really long bumper that sticks out the back so that when it drives into the opposite robot; it doesn't tip over backwards. It rules. We even broke the top half of Philzac's tank by using the prongs on the front. I used a really simple program to whoop Mikemike- GO FORWARD.shanePAT
josalbob
Monday 19 July; 2004 at 11:59
We made good progress in the police car; line following program and we may finish it today; we used internet help for the program.
mikemike
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 8:25
we are working on the playground and it is hard to program it to get all the cans out of the cicrle and the cans can be any were on the bord and you have to hit ever one to get the full credit their are 6 levels which add up to be 110.
philzac
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 8:33
philzac We are now working on the obstcle coarse and it seems pretty easy. Yesterday we kicked the other teams beeeep. Jklol. It was easy . See-ya:);-(
shanepat
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 8:39
Hi-dee-ho. Tis is shanePAT; not SHANEpat. I just read some of Mikemike's entries and older mike's spelling isn't the best I've ever seen. Now I'm gonna submit this before he kills me. He seems to be looking at me funny.Uh oh; gotta goshanePAT
shanepat
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 8:39
Hi-dee-ho. This is shanePAT; not SHANEpat. I just read some of Mikemike's entries and older mike's spelling isn't the best I've ever seen. Now I'm gonna submit this before he kills me. He seems to be looking at me funny.Uh oh; gotta goshanePAT
josalbob
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 11:51
We figured out how to make our robot follow a black line. Our group was having diffuculties with the cop challenge. We overcame this obstacle by applying light sensor forks; jumps; task splits; music; and power levels.
alexsam
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 12:12
We just need to make it so the touch senser works well.
john
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 12:17
Today I finished the greatest creation of mankind. This god of all reptiles is the strongest there has ever been. His jaws of titanium fused with his body made from a durable alloy created from tungsten and copper have proved indestructible. His tail can create a maelstrom comparable to that of Poseidon god of earth and sea. The highly advanced machinery imputed for this project will now set the standard for all robots in the near and far future. He is a mad man whose wrath cannot be contained within this web entry alone; but pictures of this leviathan shall be displayed anyways. ¼æ¹δÕ¼
john
Tuesday 20 July; 2004 at 12:20
An a back side veiw
shanepat
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 8:11
Well today Mikemike tried to put their robot back together but we were working on our obstacle course. It was kind of funny watching mike put his robot together and we are now going to try to make a new formula that will successfully work for the obstacle course and i am going to take the new programmer tests! :) Bye
shanepat
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 8:15
Today I came in and I'm still trying to fix the can challenge playground thingy. I can't quite get my robot to program right. Philzac and I decided to switch technology so that we can each do the challenges better... I will give them the mazecrawler and they'll give me the can one.shanePAT
philzac
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 6:23
philzac- Yesterday we completed the first level of the obstacle challenge. It was very easy for our robot. The robot moved around the entire circle in order to puch all of the cans out of the ring. We put a prong thingy in front of the robot so it could fit around the cans topush the cans out easier.
philzac
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 7:49
philzac- This is the program we used to finish the level 2 obstacle cource.
kevaar
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 9:47
we finally completed the program for our volcano detector.we got 120 points for the program and the bot. we are probably doing the police cruiser next.
kevaar
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 9:58
we finally completed the program for our volcano detector.we got 120 points for the program and the bot. we are probably doing the police cruiser next.
curtis
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 11:37
I made a line follower bot today. I have some advice for anyone who want's to try to do it. Try to measure the line before you make the program. To measure the line; have a light sensor on the bot; turn it on and press view. The robot will then tell you the line info. This was good for me and I hope it is good for you.
stedunza
Wednesday 21 July; 2004 at 9:58
well we tried to to make a program that makes it follow a line so im not showing you yet but.........IM THE FIRST KID TO KNOW HOW 2 MAIL so heres a program of it...
mikemike
Thursday 22 July; 2004 at 8:05
we only got three cans out of the circle because the one can that did not go out was on the black line and he did not consider that as it was out
shanepat
Thursday 22 July; 2004 at 8:09
i just said hi because i wanted to beat Pat at entering a journal. This is my last day because I have to go to Football camp so i am going to try to get as many points as possible today. I had fun in this class this year!
shanepat
Thursday 22 July; 2004 at 9:02
his is our can-pusher 1 program. It works just dandy
josalbob
Thursday 22 July; 2004 at 11:40
again;still not completing our obsitcle robot but we almost have it. the ramp broke once and we had to rebuild it. but now its to the point where its all in the programming and we must finish it soon. we can earn many points on this challenge and hope to complete it soon to bring us back in first for both classes.
mikepat
Monday 26 July; 2004 at 9:56
Today I'm really mad beacuse I had to kill and take apart my robot beacuse the Jonesmiester told me to and I had to team up with Michael (that's not so bad) but I'm so sad and I think I'm gonna DIE and so now I think I'm going as insane as Phil (Who had too much sugar) and today I wrote Linus and Lucy but I had to switch computers and I thinkI'm gonna DIE and I WANT MY ROBOT BACK!mikePAT
gregdan
Monday 26 July; 2004 at 9:37
I really dont feel like writing right now; but we can use as many points as we possibly can. We officially confirmed that the problem was not in our greg's programming; It is in our robot! THE ROBOT! The robot is the cause of all our problems. Technology has been against humans since the beginning of time.In the stoneage; wheels went around crushing people's feet.In early times; horse drawn carriages were always crashing into innocent bystanders.In The Terminator; well; there's the terminator.And in The Matrix; the machines are always trying to eat everybody. Or something like that.I am pretty sure all that info is; in fact; historically accurate. I mean; you can challenge me if you want. Anyways; our robot; in the present; is trying to frustrate and/or kill us; by RANDOMLY changing the same program each time we try it. One time it maight only go foward. the next time it might stop abruptly. The next time it might crash into a wall. The next time it may explode. We dont know.Greg spent the whole time trying to fix that. I walk around; pretended to work; wrote this entry; and annoyed some other people in my class. I actually would try to do something constructive; but I dont get any of this. At all. Not even one bit. One bit. I dont get the program; the... Oh yeah; I just don't get the programming; which is; like; half the class. Its like trying to find work in Timbuktu. Where is Timbuktu anyways? Is that even how you spell it?The bottom line is; I have no idea what our problem is; or how to solve it. IN FACT; I AM COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS TO WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND ME. I HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT IS APPROPRIATE OR NOT.
josalbob
Monday 26 July; 2004 at 11:45
we completed obstacle challenges 3 and 4 today and i recreated my gear motor
mikepat
Tuesday 27 July; 2004 at 8:30
Today is Tuesday; and it's almost over. (the class) I wish it went for 5 weeks! Although; then I wouldn't be able to go camping this weekend.Michael and I are working oon the canpusher 4 challenge; I think? we have to make the robot turn around; enter the arena; then make a sound whenever it hits a can and pushes it out. VoilamikePAT
djones
Tuesday 27 July; 2004 at 8:59
Better focus on task today. Not many found need to learn to use containers or the rotation sensor. Most are adept at light and touch forks; jumps & lands; wait fors and task splits. Kit #3 is not defective after all.Chellenges never done: parking garages (I never finished the structures); slalom; woots and snarks.The music feature was a serious distraction sometimes.
gregdan
Tuesday 27 July; 2004 at 9:56
I still don't know what's wrong with our robot. First it's the wheel. Then it's the program. Again it's the wheels. Later it's the structure of our robot. Finally it's wheels again. I've given up on our robot. Completely. I've even given up on incoperating dry and stupid humor in my entries. Bleah. Im tired. I want to throw our robot out a window.
djones
Tuesday 27 July; 2004 at 11:41
HEY!! Learned today that; when using music; it won't execute the next command until the music is done playing.If you want music to play in the background; then you need to set a task split before the music. Don't forget the additional stop sign needed for task splits.
josalbob
Tuesday 27 July; 2004 at 11:55
still workinjg on the line touch free form. malmost done but a few things wrong. The robot almost falls off the table each time. the robot wll be done soon but not yet. I have to lower the turning times to aobut 20 so its not to turn as much.
djones
Wednesday 28 July; 2004 at 8:09
Ideas for next time:1) One robot per student?2) Larger playground for robocop; sumo; etc. and several of each them3) challenge idea: race course like robocop but like demolition derby4) challenge idea: snow plough5) challenge idea: something using mail system6) add adaptations using containers to count things7) idea: combo sumo and catapult
kevaar
Wednesday 28 July; 2004 at 8:57
we finaly finished the first obstacles challange. if anyone needs help they can see our program
mikepat
Wednesday 28 July; 2004 at 9:11
weeee are winning!YAY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i want bigger typing. the catipult is hard. this is a picture of it. his name «is gear dude.» (Cool; huh?)
gregdan
Wednesday 28 July; 2004 at 10:02
This is INCREDIBLE! I have at long last created a robot that can make it's way through a maze! This is a miraculous day for science and I. I probably; no definitely won't have time for another challenge by the end of tomorrow but the joy of over coming the maze is overwhelming and has boosted my morale a hundredfold. I don't think Daniel was therie when I completed my challenge though..jpg)
gregdan
Wednesday 28 July; 2004 at 9:58
Since this is the last day we'll actually be able to get points for a web journal entry; I guess I'll make it count.We finally got our robot to go through a maze. Though it hasn't been perfected; it still works well enough. Greg has finally suceeded.I think that although I have had nearly 24 hours of expeirience in this class; I have barely even touched the surface of; not only the whole concept of robotics with legos; but our robot itself. Literally. Many things have changed over the course of the course of this class. One such thing was the ownership of the robot. Because some how it magically changed from ours to gregory.Ok; I'm all done defaming Gregory; despite the fact he's my friend. I mean; theres nothing that makes two people despise each more than teamwork. :-(Overall; I did enjoy this class; though. I really did learn alot. I had fun building; and I have always liked legos. The instructor was extremely patient with the whole class; and the rest of the kids in this class had a good sense of humor.I do have some suggestions though. 1. One robot per person; even if it means less people in the classes2.More pieces ( Its impossible though; I know)3.An assistant instructor (I feel bad for Dave; we all drove him crazy)4.Bigger courses (a.k.a. mazes fields etc.) for the robots.5. More timeAlrighty then!
josalbob
Wednesday 28 July; 2004 at 12:08
Well its great to be back! I was camping for awhile but now its back to the sweat shop. Aparently my team quit on the obstacle challange..... But we are still ahead in points MUAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA. we actually got less work done without bobby. I guess its because we were motivated not to end up like bobby.
djones
Wednesday 28 July; 2004 at 4:35
To Do List:- have web journal read reverse array so newest appear first- ability to view & save vi'sneed second sumo board; maybe larger-increase self-destruct or damage penalty- no points without good web journal entry!- delete ability to handle robot in obstacles- add rule: if 2 robots then 1/2 points
djones
Thursday 29 July; 2004 at 9:32
When using light sensor; put it in a loop or it will only check once then the program ends and it seems as though it doesn't work.Jumps can go inside a fork if the condition should require continuation of the loop.IDEA - add height limitation requirement to sumo!!
mikepat
Thursday 29 July; 2004 at 9:49
Goodbye; Robolab. I think that I am the last person making a web journal entry; but I don't know. Anyhow; I had a lot of fun; and I hope that the class is good next year; and as maybe better. Au revoir.mikePAT
stedunza
Thursday 29 July; 2004 at 9:08
OK first to mail is to empty mailbox. Then Begain Remote program.Then mail 1 or any number.Then tell it what ya want it to do . then tell it to download program .THE END
djones
Thursday 29 July; 2004 at 11:34
More ideas for next time:- Load firmware in the robots before the class- Have an extra motor for each kit
djones
Thursday 29 July; 2004 at 11:43
10:30 class gets the award for highest level of programming. They found mail and how to embed music. I think there are more older kids in this class than the morning class.Last day entry: Students working on foiling the morning class' sumoBot using mail. They plan to implant a virus-like program using the mail function. Stephen pioneered mail. Josh is working on an anti-mail program; a sort of anti-virus that works by monitoring the mailbox and keeping it filled (256 bits). In future; advanced challenges should include mail program and mandatory use of containers.Jon created a variety of insect creatures that would make good challenges someday as well. Wish I had my camera today for the one he made with wings.These kids get more clever all the time. The younger ones get distracted playing with the legos and perhaps are not always ready for this. Much of the play and experimenting today resulted in interesting designs.
josalbob
Thursday 29 July; 2004 at 11:53
ideas for next year (Challanges): Spy Bot: you have to tell a robot to go into a dark empty box move around until a light sensor detects a black dot then turn the light on and take a picture Hack Bot: same as line touch freeform except you try to make another robot do it Crawler: make a robot that can walk and also flip Pet Walking: make multiple chassis (typo i know) that consist of one motor each have the rcx fallow them and maybe for an extra challange add obstaclesBy: Josh