Transcript Robotics - Purchase College Faculty Web Server

Robotics
Introductions to course & subject
Homework: Sign up for moodle for
this course.
Introductions
• Jeanine Meyer,
– Full professor, Math/Computer Science & New Media
• Pace University
IBM (research, including robotics
manufacturing staff, education, grants);
• 6 books: Multimedia in the Classroom, Programming games
using Visual Basic, Creating Database Web Applications with
PHP and ASP, Beginning Scripting Through Game Creation,
Essential Guide to HTML5, HTML5 and JavaScript Projects
– Also teaching: Programming Games
– Son: teacher Illinois Institute of Technology, daughter: works for
County Legislator Harckham, involved with other politics and
stage manager for theater group (web sites)
– Hobbies/interests: politics, cooking and eating, reading novels,
knit & crochet, travel, origami, gardening
• Learning Assistants: Kyle Foley, Glenn Reisher
• You?
More Background
• Worked at IBM Research in Automation
Research
– General research
– Tools (hardware and software) for IBM’s own
manufacturing
– [Potential] products
• Box frame robot: 7 degrees of freedom
• Software for outsourced robot: “2 and ½ dof + gripper
– used internally & on Apple’s MAC line
• Manufacturing Systems
– Logistics, planning, design
What is a robot?
Robot
• Term from Karol Capek’s play RUR
(Rossum's Universal Robots), from
Czech/Slavic term robota, forced laborer
• Isaac Asimov, I, Robot series
• Star Wars: R2D2 and CP30
• Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep ( Bladerunner)
Definitions
• programmable machine that does humanlike work in the physical world
– actuators (including motors)
– sensors
• Robot also applies (now) to programs that
search the web (‘bots, spiders)
Academic home
• Computer science
– Artificial Intelligence (Note: mixed blessing)
– Image recognition
– Computability
• Engineering (electrical, mechanical, other)
• Art, New Media: physical computing,
installations
Course
• Lecture and discussion topics
– Robots in manufacturing, space, health care,
surgery, military, ???
– Use of sensors & actuators (e.g. motors) in art
• Lab
– Use Lego Mindstorms NXT to build [small]
autonomous robots
Course components
• Listen & participate in lecture & discussion
• Propose, get approval and do library research &
make presentation on robot topic
• Pay attention to news and make postings & reply
to others on robot topics
• Build the assigned Mindstorm projects: teams
• Plan and complete original Mindstorm project:
teams
• Midterm and Final
Robot programming
• Teleo-operator mode
– Bomb detection, nuclear plants, large-scale
construction
– Humans ‘in the feedback loop’
• Teach/playback (Tape-recorder) mode
– Painting, soldering
• Programming with procedural (or iconic)
programs, making use of sensors
Shoe tying
• (Example used in Programming Games
class to introduce the notion of
programming)
Anthropomorphic
Fallacy
• The best way for a robot/machine to do a
job may not be the way a person or people
do a job!
• Think about sorting, chess, other….
Shoe tying
• The best way for a robot to tie shoes may
be….
• Don’t use laces. Re-structure the problem
to allow for a different type of fastener.
• ???
• This is common occurrence.
Example
• Consider how people once washed
clothes
– River
– Stones
– Crude soaps
• So,… think about building a robot to do
this task…
Painting cars
• Programming done by teach/playback
• Effective because of fumes generated by
painting and (new[er]) standards for what
people can do.
Physical world
• Programming must deal with
– Variability
– Continuous phenomena as opposed to
discrete
– Dangers
– Interactions
– Time
And…
• “We are all grand masters at …putting
things on top of other things,….assembly,
recognizing many patterns, etc.”
• This makes the programming more
difficult, not less.
Lego Mindstorms NXT
• NXT is ‘the brick’ the contains the
computer that operates the robot.
• A program is constructed and downloaded
to the brick
– USB or BlueTooth
• Iconic Language
– Alternatives exist and/or being created.
Example: light reading
MyBlock~macro call
MyBlock definition
Back to course
• Will follow usual practice of
uploading/modifying lectures
• Working with kits restricted to the Natural
Sciences building
– Will try to arrange extra time
• Course/Class is not just Mindstorms.
– See the grade allocation
– Want to have on-line discussion of robot and
related issues.
Course
• investigate computing in the physical world
• problem solving
– your own in the Lego Mindstorm projects
– what others have done in the library research
project
Sources
http://www.legoeducation.com
http://mindstorms.lego.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms
Much, much more
You may make postings on sources!
Questions and comments?
Signup for course in moodle
key is Purchase2012
Introduce yourself using the Introductions…
forum.
Start looking for any news involving robots
and make posting. You should make at
least 1 posting/week. May be a reply on
same article/topic.