Computer Science 014
LEGO Robot Engineering

Williams College
Winter 2007

Lab 8: Final Design and Implementation Project
Due: 10:00 AM, Thursday, January 25, 2007

As the final exercise for the course, each group is to design and implement a robot that will perform a set of tasks of your own choosing. You may decide to extend the robot you have built to this point to include significant new functionality, or you may wish to start with a new design.

You may use the Handy Boards and other equipment we have used so far, the new Mindstorms NXT kit, or we might be able to acquire other equipment if you give enough lead time to get it here.

Previous projects include a firefighting robot, a rope-climbing robot, and more advanced maze running. An interesting challenge might be to build a walking machine (bonus points if it is also fluent in over six million forms of communication or is a bending unit that goes around hurling insults at nearby humans). Browse the web for ideas from robotics contests. Two or more groups may choose to build robots with the same goals and hold a contest.

We will gather on January 25 for a robotics exposition with classmates, friends, faculty, and a group of local middle schoolers. Each each group will describe the goals of their robot, say a bit about the robot's design, construction, and programming, and demonstrate it in action. Keep your audience in mind as you prepare what you plan to say. Each group must also submit (by January 26) a short (5-10 page) paper describing the design and implementation of their robot. The paper should also describe some extensions that could not be done given time and equipment limitations.