We are asking members to complete the 4H Project Book and make a poster for display at the fair prior to the competition registration deadline in February. For most of the members using the NXT kits, the project book is available online, and we have also mirrored it on our site. TheEV3 book is not currently available online. Please note that we will be providing copies of both the NXT and EV3 books to members (the club is covering the costs of the books.)
When doing the activities in the books, most, if not all, of them are things that we will be doing regularly in club meetings (programming various sensors, for example.) As such, it should be fairly easy for the members to write responses in the necessary lines. Keep in mind that this is a 4H project, and therefore contains elements beyond just robotics. An outline of the sections of the book and what is expected are below (we are mostly looking for information in the "Talking it Over" sections.)
- Step 1: Project Activities. This is a checklist of when items were completed throughout the book.
- Step 2: Learning Experiences. The members should try to do at least 2 learning experiences. This can include visiting an engineering or robotics facility, giving a demonstration, talking to a professional engineer, etc. If they would like to "check out" a robot for a demonstration at school or another 4H club, please talk to us to arrange for this. They may also arrange to give a demonstration at one of our club meetings, if necessary.
- Step 3: Leadership/Citizenship Activities. Members should complete at least 2 activities, which can include planning a club field trip or a visit by a guest speaker to a club meeting, teaching someone (e.g. a sibling) how to program the robot, etc. It is possible for there to be overlap with step 2, above.
- Step 4: Project Overview. We are just looking for the members to write a summary of what new skills they have learned, how their project was designed, etc.
- Activity 1: What is a robot. The information for the questions in this section can be found in the book (members may already know the answers.)
- Activity 2: Introduction to LEGO NXT. Involves questions about LEGO parts.
- Activity 3: The Intelligent Brick. Introduction to programming the NXT.
- Activity 4: Start With Something Simple. Activity uses a "driving base," which for our purposes is the basic tri-bot configuration. Many of the robots were already pre-built when the members were assigned them, but they should still be able to answer the questions.
- Activity 5: Giving Your Robot a Brain. Activity involves creating a simple program to move the robot forward, and running it on the robot.
- Activity 6: One Step at a Time. Involves adding more commands to the previous program.
- Activity 7: Seeing, Feeling, and Hearing. Covers using the various sensors. Since most members will be using the ultrasonic and light sensors, they answers can be based on those.
- Activity 8: Avoiding Obstacles. How to use sensors to move around objects (or move toward them, as the case might be with the mini-sumo.)
- Activity 9: Sounds Like a Plan. Uses the sound sensor to activate the robot. This activity is optional, as we are not using the sound sensor for any of the events at the competition.
- Activity 10: Seeing is Believing. Uses the light sensor to detect a line (most of the sumo contestants should be doing this already!)
- Activity 11: Ultra Robotics. Uses the ultrasonic sensor to detect object (almost everyone is using this!)
- Activity 12: Small Tasks, Big Accomplishments. This activity is essentially taking what was completed in the previous tasks, and applying them to specific challenges. Some may not be applicable to what we are doing in the club events, so members should complete to the best of their abilities.
Most of these activities are things the members should already know, or have done in the club by the time registration is due. If there are any questions, feel free to contact us!
NXT Videos
The NXT project book mentions videos on the Ohio 4H website to follow along with before doing activities. It appears these videos are no longer available, as the NXT project is being abandoned in favor of the newer EV3 systems. However, we will still be using the NXT bots in the club, and the NXT project book for those members using the bots. For the most part, the videos were provided to help kids who were new the LEGO Robotics, and didn't have someone to help or show them how to do the programming. Most of what they covered are also covered in the introductory robotics course that we require of members before they can join the club, and club members will already be familiar with most of the concepts. However, I have put together a list of sections in the book that reference videos, and attempted to find relevant videos to cover the same concept.
Activity 3
The purpose of this activity is to write a simple program and run it on the robots Smart Brick. In this case, the book asks you to write a program to play a simple sound (the NXT has some default sounds in its library, or you can add some of your own.) This site covers this task (as well as a couple other basics) and provides some valuable information: http://stefans-robots.net/en/simple-hello-world-nxt-robot.php. There is also a video associated, but I feel it is worth reading through their steps as well.
Activity 5
While Activity 3 was about programming your first, simple program on just the Smart Brick, Activity 5 is about programming something attached to the brick - in this case, the motors. It turns out the resource I linked for Activity 3 also covers programming the motors, so I'll just link to that again: http://stefans-robots.net/en/simple-hello-world-nxt-robot.php
Activity 6
This activity is about programming a simple route program where the robot moves a preset distance, turns, moves some more, etc. Some of our members who do the Maze competition have done this when the don't use any of the sensors. This video seems to do a good job of covering that task: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqckNR75-7A
Activity 8
This activity is about using the touch sensor added in Activity 7 to avoid obstacles. While we really don't use the touch sensor in the club activities, you could just as easily use the ultrasonic or light sensor instead (you don't need to use the touch sensor.) Here is a pretty good video demonstrating how to use the touch sensor along with move blocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZo9rWQWpKQ
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