Python<\/a> and run them through a few mini-hackathons\u2014\u201cwill learn these basics, and build a simple but complete system.\u201d<\/p>\nIf I only had a brain<\/h3>\n
Two months after the January hardware assembly, the classroom scene is very different. No parts littering the floor, no sideline soldering. The sounds of assembly have been replaced by the clicks of fingers alighting on keyboards, as seated students begin simple coding.<\/p>\n
Following a brief introduction from Tron as he types code that\u2019s displayed on the class screen, their task is to manipulate an image of BU\u2019s logo on their computer screens, a step towards programming the cameras installed in their robots to recognize faces and objects. That\u2019s a crucial robo-skill for that final project: each robot\u2019s camera will have to take a picture of the floor, segment out the green pixels marking the tape, and follow its course.<\/p>\n
Students are expected to know linear algebra and probability as course prerequisites to help them program their creations for increasingly complex commands. Robotics \u201cbrings together a lot of stuff that engineers already study,\u201d says Tron in explaining the course\u2019s value. \u201cRobotics is sort of like an entry way to say, oh yes, all that I studied in mechanics or probability all can come into a physical system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robotics, he adds, is \u201clike the password you should know to a pure knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The finale<\/h3>\n
The final day of April finds the final mini-hackathon in a windowless fluorescent-lit ENG basement room. On the tile floor, three winding courses, each a few paces long, are traced in green tape\u2014one a straightforward square, the other two approximating a pear and a triangle, respectively.<\/p>\n
Students divide into teams, each with one robot that the team codes for the assignment, which is to use the robot\u2019s built-in camera to guide it along a course, navigating its twists and turns. An image of the green line beams onto students\u2019 laptops so they can monitor their creation\u2019s progress, adjusting speed and other factors if necessary. Amid the whirring of little motors, the atmosphere is informal, with teams clustering along worktables or knee-to-knee in chairs in the middle of the room, typing on laptops to ready their robots for the courses at their own pace.<\/p>\n
The students\u2019 efforts floor their professor\u2014literally: Tron kneels on the tile periodically to closely watch the three-wheelers tackle the tracks. The results are mixed.<\/p>\n
One team puts its robot on a track, only to watch it immediately wander off the tape. \u201cDidn\u2019t quite work,\u201d notes an amused Tron. They remove it, adjust the programming, and try again. This time, it spins in circles.<\/p>\n
Xhori\u2019s team\u2019s robot also spins in place. As she expected, she says, coding \u201cwas the tough part\u201d of the class.<\/p>\n
One trio\u2019s robot, however, successfully weaves around the square track on the first try, with just a few glitches, though \u201cwe\u2019ve been working on it the past week,\u201d confides Ryan Mack (ENG\u201919). The pear-shaped track is tougher; in tight turns, the camera spies not just the tape immediately in front of it, but tape on the other side of the track, confusing the robot and causing it to skip part of the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the big things in this class,\u201d Mack says, \u201cis it teaches you how to combine the code with a mechanical system, figuring out how to put that mechanical model into computer code so that the robot can then do what you want it to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fun factor? \u201cAny hands-on class is fun,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis class has made me more confident in my Python programming skills,\u201d Raymond says. \u201cAlthough I had prior exposure to robotics, taking a class about it really helped facilitate what I learned. Now I can confidently say I understand the use of some functions and why we use them in robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the goal, says her professor, who\u2019s fond of quoting sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke: \u201cAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re an engineer and you take a class into that, it\u2019s not magic anymore,\u201d says Tron, \u201cbecause you know there are all these different pieces that come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Introduction to Robotics will be taught again in spring 2020.<\/em><\/p>\nBill Politis can be reached at bpolitis@bu.edu<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ENG\u2019s Introduction to Robotics teaches future engineers the basics In the video above, students in Roberto Tron’s Introduction to Robotics course test whether the robots they\u2019ve made can navigate a winding course. 05.30.2019 By Rich Barlow. Video by Bill Politis Class by class, lecture by lecture, question asked by question answered, an education is built. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,908],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131289,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85038\/revisions\/131289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Marybelle](\"\/today\/files\/2019\/05\/resize-19-1073-ROBOTS-102.jpg\")
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