First Robot Workshop Total Success

Last Saturday ACM sponsored a robot workshop with the Parallax Boe-Bot.

Six of us attended, which was perfect for the one robot. We familiarized ourselves with how the movement works. Two motors drive one wheel each, and one tail wheel follows with no motor. Programming its movement in PBASIC 2.5 was a bit of a trial-and-error experience, but we worked together and figured it out.

After we had a good grasp of basic movement, we built a photoresistor circuit so that we can use two sensors to detect changes in light. The tests went well, but we'll have to meet again to develop some real navigation decisions based on the light levels. (Remind me to bring a flashlight next time!)

We talked a bit about robot kits we've seen or used before, and a bit about robotics itself--even the differenct between a pure robot and a remote controlled machine.

Next time we'll probably go back to movement and light sensing, but we'll also get started on navigation with infrared detection. Our bot has two infrared transmitters and two receivers, so we can do some pretty sophisticated stuff. I can't wait!