Nandan Nair

Quincy Public Schools Robotics Challenge – 2016

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This weekend, I participated in the 2016 Quincy Public School Robotics Challenge. My team name was Lego Masterminds and we did well with our highest points being 135. Our team was very consistent, getting more than 100 points in each one of the four rounds. The main theme of the challenge was Senior Solutions – challenges that senior citizens face in their daily life. The competition had three parts: Robotic Missions, Research Project, and Core Values.

ROBOTIC MISSIONS

Our robot, named TEAM EV3, completed many missions in the challenge as described below:

Chair

In this mission, a chair is broken into two parts. One part is near a table, and the other is inside the base. The robot has to bring the piece of the chair that’s near the table back to base, connect it with the other piece, and put it back with the table.

Blue Quilt

In the blue quilt mission, two of four quilts are placed in the form of a rectangle. The other two are in our base. The robot has to place the two quilts with the other two within the black triangle and form a big quilt.

Orange Quilt

In the orange quilt mission, just like in the blue quilt mission, two quilts are placed together. However, the two points are touching and making an “8” shape instead of a rectangle. The robot has to join the quilt pieces.

TV

In the TV mission, a TV set has a lever. The “Start” end of it is up and the other end is down. The robot has to “Turn on the TV”, by pushing the Start end down.

RESEARCH PROJECT

The research project was a challenge to make some tool that could help senior citizens. We created an app and a website. The app helps senior citizens to learn to use technology. It has a Doodle Pad, Calculator, and Camera. The website allows them to find solutions to their everyday problems, and they can even write their own solutions for others to see. Our team created the app using MIT App Inventor 2. Our team also created the website using http://www.weebly.com/. We have to present this to the judges.

CORE VALUES

Core Values tests our team’s communication skills. The judges give you a random challenge and a certain amount of time to finish it (Usually 5 minutes). Sometimes, you are not allowed to talk during this challenge. They’ll then ask you some questions about the challenge and robotics in general.

For this year’s challenge, we worked for almost 6 months. During this time, we learnt many things. One important lesson was to effectively communicate with each other to build the right things needed for the mission. Everyone makes mistakes! But you have to learn to not repeat them. Some things I probably would do differently next time

  1. Figuring out the amount of points each mission gets, before going on a program frenzy.
  2. Try to measure the distance, speed, time and angle of turns of the robot required for a mission.
  3. Plan the order of taking on missions.
  4. Use sensors to our advantage, as it would be easier to complete the missions.
  5. The strengths and weaknesses of all our team members so that we can work better.

I would like to thank my school and staff for providing the facilities to work on robotics. My team was great and we did very well against the odds. You can see the photos on my Flickr Album. Do visit my website again to see what I posting next.

This weekend, I participated in the 2016 Quincy Public School Robotics Challenge. My team name was Lego Masterminds and we did well with our highest points being 135. Our team was very consistent, getting more than 100 points in each one of the four rounds. The main theme of the challenge was Senior Solutions – challenges that senior citizens face […]

So, what do you think ?