How we did it.
Students from last years RoboCup were keen to enter into the 2006 NSW
titles again and thinking that we had heaps of time began working on the
robots and programming about 2 months before the competition.
The robot that we had designed the year before for the Australian titles
(unfortunately it was not ready in time so its début was delayed 12
months) was brought out of mothballs and work began. The robot we used
is modified from Philippe Hurbain's
Barrel Bot. It was
his grabbing mechanism that impressed us and after building the barrel
bot found that it was a capable Yowie grabbing robot. Size was one of
the issues with Philo's original design as was the speed using tracks so
modifications took place and over a number of iterations the final
Premier Rescue bot was developed.
Philo's laser detection system was also
admired for it's simplicity and we attempted to replicate it using laser
pens and Lego sensors, however, the Yowie did not offer enough
reflection. Philo's own device was considered, however, the components
were no longer available.
In 2006 we discovered a rule change in the Rescue that involved the
replacement of the Yowie with a foil covered aluminium can + 40g of
'rice'. We now knew our robot would work using a small torch as the
light source and directing the beam towards the victim. A standard Lego
Light sensor was then used to detect the reflected light and a variation
of 10 was more than enough to detect the victim.
Programming began using NQC.
Year 9 Team
During the process of establishing the Premier rescue team, year 9
were being introduced to Robotics as part of the Information Software
and Technology junior computing course. A number of very keen students
joined the robotics group and a second Premier Rescue team was created.
We scrutinized the rules and found that we would be able to utilize a
similar robot with our second team, so they set about building their own
version of the Premier Rescue bot. This team become Fuzzles and Co.
These students were completely new to robotics programming and began
using RoboLab 2.5.4. Learning as they went they discovered new and
ingenious ways to control their robot getting it to do what was
necessary for competition.
