Ghee Keong Kang

Solve problems with your robot Ghee Keong Kang

The objective of this book is to share with you a method for solving problems using a robotic kit.
There are many different types of problems in the world, we shall limit ourselves, with this book, to solving only those that can be solved with a specific robotic kit, the LEGO Mindstorms Robotic Kit. The current version is the EV3, but it can be generalised for using any other robotic kits.
The full history of LEGO Mindstorms can be read on the internet if you do a quick search.
(Ref: https: //www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/history )
Suffice to understand that it has undergone a few revisions, with name of the brain changed from RCX to NXT and now EV3. Our own contact with these kits started from 1999, teaching robot building and programming for students participating in national and international competitions.
The current kit has a brain (processor). For movement, it has 2 large motors, 1 small motor. For display, the brain sports a screen and built it speaker. The brain can accept data from 3 sensors, the colour/light sensor, distance/ultrasonic sensor, touch sensor (a push button switch) and the angle sensors built into the motors.
The brain can be programmed via various programming languages, and LEGO provides a pictorial, drag-and-drop styled language that can be accessed via the computer, mobile phones or tablets such as the iPad.
With this knowledge of the equipment & resource available, we can then limit the type of problems which we can solve. But please don't stifle your imagination. There are bound to be creative ways even with limited resources. For example, it is possible to imagine a way around adapting the light sensor to be used as a tilt sensor, sensing if the robot is not longer horizontally held. Can you imagine how that can be done?
This book aims to provide lesson plans and worksheets that parents, teachers, trainers and even senior students can use to train others.