Matthew takes control of robot research project

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/matthew-takes-control-of-robot-research-project/

A sixth-form student has spent the summer at the University of Northampton investigating the possibility of controlling DIY robots with a computer half the size of a credit card.

Matthew Hole, who attends Wrenn Academy in Wellingborough, has been awarded a Nuffield Research Placement – a scheme which offers sixth formers the chance to work on university research projects during the summer.

During his time at the University, Matthew used a BBC micro:bit computer  to control a junkbot – a robot made from junk, such as a drinks can, powered by a kit.

Junkbots have previously been controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer, but the University’s Associate Professor in Computing and Immersive Technologies, Dr Scott Turner, saw the potential to harness the micro:bit.

“The micro:bit has been given away free to every Year 7 pupil in the UK, so it made sense to investigate how well it could control a junkbot.

“Matthew worked incredibly hard on the research project, overcoming several problems, and was successful in harnessing the micro:bit to control a junkbot.

“He used his experience to produce an action pack, which will be available for schools to refer to so that pupils can learn how to control a junkbot with the micro:bit – so Matthew’s research has the potential to benefit thousands of young people across the UK and beyond.”

Matthew said: “The project has definitely helped me to develop my problem solving skills: I’ve learnt how to break projects down into small pieces and work on them methodically, which has been really useful,” said Matthew, who has received a bursary to carry out his work.

“To be able to work on an action pack that will be available for schools to use is also a fantastic thing to have on my CV.”

To learn more about the junkbots project contact: scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk


If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with

junkbots continues

The funding may have unfortunately stopped but the activities continue. On 30th March the Junkbots activities return to Brooke Weston School.

It was never the intention that all the tasks were achieved in the time, but the student's tried out their own groups ideas with little input from the tutors.

Some very innovative results were produced.

Thank you to Mr Nigel Barratt for inviting me back and supporting the activities.

Teacher Mr Barrett said: ‘The students just got on with it and devised the models themselves. They experimented all the way through. It was three and a half lessons of having a go, coming across problems and then solving them themselves. If they got stuck we gave them a little push in the right direction. They have all learned a great deal and they were all fully engaged with the project, giving it their maximum effort.’ (Freeman, 2011)

For more details and comments made from the school follow this link.

Details can be found at the project site including some example exercises.

For further details please contact: Scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk or +44 1604 893028

Freeman C (2011) "Junkbots Project 2011" [online] URL: http://www.brookeweston.org/News/NewsItem.aspx?Id=809 accessed on: 7th April 2011.

Greenfoot and Junkbots

One of the criticism of the robot programming part of the Junkbots project is not everyone necessarily gets a go at the programming. To address this a new feature has been added to the project. There are now two parallel activities  as well as programming a robot; there is a separate programming exercise carried out at the same time which replicates some of the same actions of the robot but this time on screen.

Figure: Robot pushing a barrel

These exercises are based around the increasngily popular Greenfoot software (http://www.greenfoot.org/download/) which is free to download and use. This can be put on as many machines as are need enabling more people to have a go at programming.

The exercises initially gets participants to set-up the world, place a robot within it and get the robot to move across the screen. Building on the each previous exercise, the complexity increases and includes challenges (such as in the figure) where the robot pushes a piece of rubbish (in this case a barrel) off the screen.


Some of the material can be found at: http://www.computing.northampton.ac.uk/~scott/greenfoot_ex/sco1/default.htm. An example is shown below.

News: Feedback on junkbots

Feedback from the sessions in December are very encouraging. When students were asked to grade out of 5 the sessions overall ( scores with 1 being poor and 5 excellent) of the twenty replies received 100% were rate at 4 (65%)or 5(35%). In all the questions asked, the feedback was in the majority rated three or above.

For this group of the students the creative aspects of the activities engaged them and this was reflected in their feedback. Quotes from some of the students:
“it was fun and creative, I learnt quite a bit”
“It let use be creative with our design.”
“it opened my eyes to engineering”
This last on is especially of note as the aim of the project is to encourage engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.

The waste management activities seem to engage from the point of view of helping them to understand their own impact both positively and negatively.
“...it was cool to know what my carbon footprint is.”
“... made me think about all the waste in the world.”
“[I] now recycle”

An observation that needs to be unpacked a little more is the language the students used. Each reply was an individual reply, but in many cases ‘we’ and ‘us’ was used. This could be indicative that these students did see it as a group activity (which it was intended to be). A couple of quotes from one of the students on this point
“We liked this activity because it help us work as a team.”
“We really enjoyed ourselves over the last 4 days. We found it very useful.”