Week 3 Day 5 June 28

The RET group will be presenting to the UNT Staff and Montors on the mid-term status of our projects today. The robotics group will be 2nd to present today.

The Stream Team was first to present

Week 3 Day 4 June 27

The Robotics team spent time working on the bluetooth programming of the NXT Robots as well as reading research documents in preparation for starting the research paper. Much success has been made on getting the robots to communicate via bluetooth but some additional tweeking is needed. All around Elizabeth and I are pleased with the progress of the project thus far.

Week 3 Day 3 - June 26

Elizabeth and Jesse spent time working on a combination of items. Namely lesson plans, lesson activities and the mid-term presentation. The entire RET group had a pot luck for lunch that was absolutely delicious with lots of variety. The theme was Mexican cuisine!

Week 3 Day 2 - June 25

Today the robotics team had our last face-to-face meeting with Dr. Namuduri.  Tomorrow he is off to India and we will continue to be in contact via Skype.  In the mean time, Omar will remain our solid foundation of information regarding troubleshooting our NXT programming.

Before we could get too deep into programming the robotics team focused on the completion of our presentation for this Friday.  It is official, it is on Power Point, and it is days away from being shared with the RET group.  For a sneak peak... here it is... https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5th6f2wb5j7x28g/8tlMuBotZx.

I started getting into the actual programming of the Bluetooth portion of the program this afternoon.  Using the YouTube tutorials I attempted to simulate what is shown on the tutorial.  After several attempts at multiple variations of the program I think I am stumped.  Obi Wan's light sensor gives a numerical output of 1-100, then a mathematical functions converts this output into simply 1-5.  Obi Wan's motors are programmed to follow a black line of tape on the floor using the numerical output from the sensor. It would make sense that we could send the number sensed by Obi Wan's light to Luke and Luke could respond accordingly.

Yeah.  That would make sense.

I think the hardest part about troubleshooting involves the lack of confirmation about where the problem lies. We cannot confirm that our send program with Obi Wan is good or bad, nor can we confirm that the problem is our receive program with Luke.

Keep trying.  To be continued...

Week 3 Day 1 - June 24

Field Trip!!!

Our trip to the 380 Greenbelt Corridor was fantastic.  Dr. Franco, Dr. Acevedo, and Mr. Goetz (future Dr.) proved to be a huge wealth of information.  Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I will let them speak for themselves.

Lots of cottonwoods by the river bed! 

Antenna at the weather station.

Our first little friend found near the van.

Moisture sensor for the soil.  Antenna on top, box to protect the circuit, wire sensor extends into the ground.

Just a friendly katydid!

Lessons about flood control and soil quality filled the day as we identified patterns in the tree and plant life present in various areas relative to their location to the Elm Fork of the Trinity River.

I just though the way this vine wrapped itself around the plant was pretty neat

Dr. Acevedo showing the multiple sensors reading the moisture level in the soil at various depths

Look closely at the base of this tree.  The Swamp Privet is capable of laying down roots in the location where its branches come in contact with the ground.  New tree = no seed dispersal necessary.  Cool!

Week 2 Day 5 - June 21

Lesson plans... lesson plans... lesson plans...  Without the use of our computers with the NXT  software we focused on other aspects of the RET experience.  Yesterday was a hard day to follow, and it is a no-brainer that playing with Lego robots is much more exciting than writing lesson plans.

So, we have an algebra class and a physcis class to focus on with our lesson plans.  A lot was accomplished and we survived to tell the tale.

The physics activity so far: coordination of two objects (robots) moving at constant and non-constant acceleration in order to avoid or facilitate a collision.  This activity will highlight the use of kinematic equations and focus on the understanding of velocity, acceleration, and displacement of moving objects in different scenarios. 

The algebra activity so far: 


Later that day!!!  Dr. Namuduri invited us to attend the Perot Museum with him.  He had a table set up and Eddie runing around to display his work with autonomous robotics.  I stuck around for a bit and talked to a few people about my experiences at UNT with robotics and with Dr. Namuduri.  Then we walked around to experience the museum.  I didn't take as many picture as I would have liked, my phone battery didn't last the entire evening.

The plastiki is a 60 ft (18 meter) catamaran built 12,500 plastic soda bottles and other reclaimed plastics materials.  It sailed from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia in 2010.  I took the Plastiki Pledge to help beat waste by switching to a multi-use bottle instead of using plastic water bottles.

Week 2 Day 4 - June 20

Today was 100% dedicated to programming the NXT robots.  Our first step to success is shown in this video.  The robot is programmed to follow the black line using a light sensor mounted to the front.  This was not accomplished without complication, but Omar swooped in and showed us a common problem with loops set to run "forever".  Problem solved and here is the fruit of our efforts!

Step 2... Bluetooth communication.  The rest of the afternoon we researched and began programming the robots' Bluetooth connections.  Obi Wan will send the "do this" and Luke will be programmed to receive this message.  Two more complete programs to go and we are in business.  Good times ahead.

Week 2 Day 3 - June 19

Good day.  We found a series of tutorials online regarding the programming and use of Bluetooth with the Lego Mindstorms NXT blocks.  We are another step closer to our goal of having the robots working together.

This afternoon's seminar in the library reiterated our use of databases and enlightened us to a few more resources as we search for literature to support our research papers.  Ever heard of scholar.google.com?  Good stuff and easy to narrow down the good, bad, and ugly.

Week 2 Day 2 June 18

The group spent time working on individual projects in the morning. Elizabeth and I continued to research NXT robot programming and bluetooth connectivity. In the afternoon we attended a session over at the EESAT building. The topic was TechFest. Dr. Thompson wanted to know if there was any equipment or other items needed for potential TechFest activities.

Week 2 Day 1 - June -17

This morning we discovered STEMcentric.  These tutorial videos are great!!!  We walked through the basics of Mindstorms programming and acquired a better idea of what we have to work with.

I'm getting excited about the possibilities for our lesson, our mission, and good times at TechFest!

After lunch - it's all about sensors and sensor networks.  Thank you Dr. Shengli Fu for your presentation and information!

So, we have sensors, sensor systems, and sensor networks.  Be sure to know the difference! 

(pop quiz below... What do you see?)

Yep, this is a sensor system: it can receive and communicate information... 

and there is just one of them.

A couple of interesting thoughts to take away from Dr. Fu's presentation:

-- minimum size of any processor and/or sensor is limited by the size of the required power supply.

-- The hummingbird drone shown in his video: it flies, it hovers, it videos.  But only for 5 minutes!?!?  Amazing potential with very tricky limitations.

And then we learn of Ecoplex - funded by the EPA - designed for the collection environmental data in urban areas, like Dallas.  Except for weather, we are relatively unaware of the status of our environment.  Things that make you go hmmm....

Dr. Acevedo begins discussing our field trip on Thursday to the 380 Greenbelt Corridor.  Amid a few good stories and application of sensors and wireless sensor networks we learn about Texas Evapotranspiration Network.  An "ugly word" evapotranspiration, Dr. Acevedo's describes as our atmosphere's demand for water. 

Sensor Networks Seminar

Dr. Shengli Fu

Dr. Miguel Acevedo

Week 1 Day 5 - June 14

This morning Dr. Thompson talked to us about lesson plan development.  We heard from the returning participants about their lessons they created last year.

Lesson Plan Rules
     1) don't create a lesson that you do not plan to do.
     2) don't create a lesson plan that you do not plan to follow.

Okay... we get it...

After lunch, Beth in the library showed use the ins and outs of the resources she has available.  We learned about searching and the different databases that may be useful to us as we begin our literature search.  The robotics team now has a few papers in our arsenal of resources after a little bit of searching.  For future reference Engineering Village and IEEE Explore are two good databases to turn to for our search.  Lots of documentation on the IEEE conference to find.

Week 1 Day 4 - June 13

The robotics team had a SUPER productive meeting this morning!  We were able to lay out and identify several of the variables we will face as this project continues forward.

It was established that two robots will communicate via Bluetooth.  While one robot is programmed to follow a specific path based using a light sensor to detect color, the second robot will be programmed to follow our first robot.  Our "follow" program is the main challenge for us.  First step is to break down the details regarding the use of Bluetooth in conjunction with the NXT.

Truly, our first challenge is to get the appropriate software loaded onto a computer so we can get started!

We found the Lego Mindstorms website to be helpful with information regarding Bluetooth and downloadable information.

Hopefully by Monday we will be able to begin programming and learning more about how these little guys work!

Week 1 Day 3 - June 12

This morning Nick introduced us to the Arduino.  A funny name for a nifty little gadget!  We explored a little bit about the programing and its capabilities. as well as the massive potential for applications in the classroom. Good times!

This (sideways) car above was programmed using the Arduino and will move forward until it approaches another object.  At 8" (or so) it will turn left, so as not to collide with anything.  Think this is how the Roomba works?

In the afternoon we had the opportunity for some hands on action.  We utilized programming first to get two LED lights to turn on based on the position of a switch.

The next example we worked with used a key pad and a speaker.  When wired properly, any touch of the keypad would make a beep.  When specific key strokes were made in the correct sequence, our beep would become a 5 second noise of torture.  Awesome!

Mind...officially...blown...

Week 1 Day 2 - June 11

This morning we began at the Environmental Sciences building on the main campus. Each group discussed their projects and highlighted master plans and potential road blocks as they get started.  It was a productive discussion with a lot of great ideas thrown out for all of the groups.

We continued our morning with a tour of the EESAT building.  Under the guidance of Christina and Shane, we saw work areas for the aquiponics and stream teams, as well as different areas of building.  Out in the parking lot they talked about the alternative energy provided to the adjoining greenhouse via solar and wind energy.

We were left in the capable hands of Brian after returning to the lobby area where he discussed interesting "green" aspects of the EESAT building.  Among other things to view in the area, environmental foot prints, watersheds of Texas, and an amazing fulgurite kept our attention for the rest of the morning.

After lunch Dr. Yan Wan guided us through the particulars about Systems Control Engineering.  We played with computer simulations of open and closed loop systems using the example of cruise control and position control. 

Zac finished our day with a crash course in blogging.  So, here we are, blogging away.

Thank you to everyone who made this day possible.

Week 1 Day 1 - June 10

The day began with Dr. Acevedo providing an overview of the 2013 RET calendar and welcoming all of the 2013-2014 participants. Breakfast and lunch was provided and the group ate together and mingled in the Department of Electrical Engineering conference room. Jennifer gave a tour of the Discovery Park site. Ellen Haskell and Stephanie McCane presented on the payroll process that the RET program will be using. Elizabeth and I met with Dr. Namuduri and Omar regarding project scope. We also did some rudimentary programming on the NXT robots before ending the day.