Welcome to the Pembroke Lego Robot Workshop ! In the next few weeks through this course you will gain some insight into engineering design, experience the challenges of programming, and you will get a taster of project planning and coordinated teamwork.
At the core of the workshop is the Lego EV3 programmable brick (below). It is a small computer running Linux on an ARM processor. You will use python, a general purpose programming language, to program the EV3 brick and through that the motors and sensors connected to the brick.
You will work in teams of 2 throughout the course. You will start by working through tutorials to gain familiarity with the Lego EV3 environment and python, and to learn and practice engineering concepts and techniques. Then you will continue with the core part of the course: the project. You will have the chance to come up with your own project or to choose one from a list of suggested projects, and work through the design, programming, and planning challenges over the course of a few weeks, with support and guidance from us. Finally, the course will culminate in a "demo" (the last timetabled session) where each group will show off their project.
We have created a mailing list dedicated to this group. The primary purpose is that you can ask questions and discuss problems and ideas here. Additionally, the instructors are also members of the list and we will contribute to the discussion when it is helpful. The link to join the group is on the opening page.
Don't forget to set your email preferences so that you get immediate notifications for every post.
The best preparation you can do, even before the course begins, is to look at some robots that others have built. Browse YouTube for interesting applications: search for EV3, or for the previous Mindstorms version, NXT. If you search for "Pembroke" and "lego", you will even find some unofficial recordings of previous "demo" sessions of this course!
If you already know how to program in python, you can jump straight into learning about the LEGO brick and how to control it. If you have not programmed before, do not fear! Playing with a LEGO robot is an excellent and fun way to learn to program. You may not end up with the most complex robot program at the end of two weeks, but it is likely that you will learn the most from this course (and programming is a highly transferable skill!).
There are a few deliverables throughout the course that you should submit to the instructors. They are detailed in the relevant sections, but we collected them into a reference list here for your convenience:
- Project idea and milestones -- at the end of the first week, at the latest
- Final report (see :doc:`project`) -- the day after the "demo", by the end of day
- Inventories (see :doc:`inventory`) -- the day after the "demo", by the end of day
The scheduling of this class is unique. Although the official Pembroke Summer Programme timetable allocates slots to us, meeting only at those timetabled slots would not work because there are a lot of you, and we like to talk to each group individually, and more often than those slots would allow. So the way we run this course is that you have 24 hour access to the classroom, spend as much time here as you wish. We will be on hand every weekday between 9-10am to answer questions, give advice, engage you in conversation about your robots. We will often stop by towards the end of the workday as well to see if anyone is around and needs something. We know that you have other classes too that will clash with the morning slots sometimes, and this is fine, you will not miss anything that can't be covered the next day.
- Introduction
- python tutorial
- Lessons: low-pass filters, PID control
- Exercises
- Choosing a group project
- Project planning
- Project work
- Project work
- Presentation preparation
- Inventory preparation
- Final presentations