ITAS152Lego

MindstormsProject Proposal

Group Members:

Paul MartinMickel Smith

William Hogeweide

ITAS152

The Lego MindStorms Education NXT is an educational Robot that was designed by Lego to assist

teachers and professors. It’s versatility is what allows an 8 year old all the way up to a University

student to learn with it.

Using the NXT we plan to build a robot that will be able to perform 3 distinctly different tasks. Each of these tasks will be performed consecutively without interference from any

group member.

All commands will be stored in the NXT Intelligent brick, the “brains of the Robot”.

With the use of it’s built in GUI, you can drag and drop commands and/or use Java

to input more specific instructions.

We will accomplish these tasks with the use of the following:

Touch Sensor

Ultrasonic SensorLight Sensor

Electric Sound Sensor

In order for this design to work the ultrasonic sensor will have to be placed on

top of the robot. This will best utilize the echo location ability of the sensor to locate different

objects.

The light sensor will be placed on the front under carriage, which will enable the NXT to place the ball close enough

to the light sensor to get a proper reading.

Since the light sensor is capable of differentiating between shades of grey, we will be able to test the light sensor against

the blue ball and red ball, recording its readings.

Red Ball Blue Ball

How does the NXT know to close its claw?

By placing a touch sensor inside the claw, when it comes into contact with

the ball it will press the sensor in sending a signal back the the “Brain”

telling it to close its claw.

Once the correct ball has been chosen, the NXT will then, with the use of the Ultrasonic sensor try locating the container. It will be

able to distinguish the container from a wall or another ball with the use of its Light

Sensor.

Throughout the entire task there will be an object emitting sound. Now that the second task is completed the NXT will

now try locating it through the use of the Sound Sensor.

The sound sensor works by measuring the intensity of the sound from 0 - 100 i.e.

how loud it is. This will enable it to determine if it is getting closer to the

object making the sound.

Like the second part of the task, the NXT will grab onto the object emitting sound and drop it off in the container utilizing

the exact same methods as before. Once this is completed all requirements will

have been met.

Any Questions?