July 27, 2014 at 10:29Summer PhMS of innovative projects “Creation of the Future”: how it was
Good afternoon, dear residents of Habr!
Now it’s summer, the time for vacations and the time for relaxing on the beach, but we were
1. Introduction (it’s also a historical reference).
06/26/1999, the First President of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Mikhail Efimovich Nikolaev issued a decree on the organization of the Physics and Mathematics Forum "Lensky Krai" in the village of Oktemtsi, Khangalassky ulus (district - approx.), Whose main mission was to form qualified and competitive scientific and technical personnel who are ready in their professional activities to protect interests and ensure the sustainable development of the Arctic. Since then, for 15 years now, the Forum has been conducting year-round work, gathering under its roof students, students, teachers, scientists from all over the republic and many other regions of the country (including even from Moscow). Initially, the Forum was organized in a wooden building, more reminiscent of an ordinary rural school than a forum of national significance. However, After a fairly short period (3 years), modern residential and educational buildings were rebuilt. Currently, the Forum is located on an equipped territory, which includes a residential complex in which the forum participants live, a two-story educational building with lecture classes and laboratories equipped with modern equipment, as well as the Museum of the First President of the Republic of Sakha - M.E. Nikolayev.
View of the educational building
The Forum is open all year round. In winter and summer - schools for gifted children, lasting, on average, a couple of weeks. The rest of the time - conducting various competitions, scientific and technical competitions, as well as internships for schoolchildren and students, as well as for teachers from all over the republic. The teaching staff is specialists from various fields invited from the best universities of our country. The main areas in which the Forum operates are physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science and robotics. In these areas, students take in-depth courses in physics and mathematics, master the technique of digital measurements, assemble robots and even launch their own satellites. Participants of this forum often become winners and prize-winners in various physical and mathematical olympiads, as well as competitions in robotics both on an all-Russian and international scale. This Forum is the pride of the Republic of Sakha and the main scientific and educational center of national importance.
2. Who are "We" and how we were among the invited.
We are graduates and employees of MSTU. N.E. Bauman from the faculty of "Robotics and complex automation", specifically the departments of RK9 and, already disbanded and merged with another department, RK10. There were three of us in total - two development engineers and our leader, the organizer. Currently, we are employees of various organizations (including MSTU named after N.E.Bauman), but we all share a love of robotics and the construction of all kinds of interesting things. It is for this reason that we often engage in the implementation of various non-trivial projects, as well as share our knowledge and skills with schoolchildren, and we accepted the invitation to visit the summer physics and mathematics school not only because we will have to work not only in a new format for us, but also because for us, spoiled and settled in urban Moscow, a trip to Yakutia promised to be very exotic. And the exotic did not take long to wait.
3. Here it is not for you!
Having gone through all the points of torment at Sheremetyevo, we finally saw what should become our fulcrum for the next six and a half hours. The number of people climbing the ladder did not correlate with the size of the iron “bird”. However, I thought. And I was not mistaken. Having enjoyed all the sensations like “herring in a bank” after 6,000 kilometers, we nevertheless successfully landed. While we were being transported to the location of the Forum, we managed to look a little at Yakutsk. A contrast is immediately apparent: modern sleeping areas are interspersed by private sectors with rickety houses and cows grazing peacefully next to them. Wherever you look, construction is going on everywhere. Houses, shops, office buildings are being built. I have not seen such a pace of construction anywhere. Well, apparently that's why some of the cars that are often found on the road are Kamaz trucks. The remaining 2 largest parts are our legendary all-terrain vehicles - UAZ cars (loaves) and mostly right-handed Toyota. However. The roads that we saw deserve special attention. I have not seen so broken roads even in the provinces. Sometimes on these roads even asphalt was found. But even such difficulties did not stop us, and, having felt all our insides and having beaten off the chopping place, we nevertheless got to the destination and collapsed to sleep in order to be cheerful and cheerful in the evening. Naive Moscow guys. Despite the fact that we morally reconciled with the difference of 6 hours with the usual time zone, our bodies stubbornly did not want to put up with it and as a result, we enjoyed all the charms of the consequences of acclimatization. It was getting dark ... which we saw deserve special attention. I have not seen so broken roads even in the provinces. Sometimes on these roads even asphalt was found. But even such difficulties did not stop us, and, having felt all our insides and having beaten off the chopping place, we nevertheless got to the destination and collapsed to sleep in order to be cheerful and cheerful in the evening. Naive Moscow guys. Despite the fact that we morally reconciled with the difference of 6 hours with the usual time zone, our bodies stubbornly did not want to put up with it and as a result, we enjoyed all the charms of the consequences of acclimatization. It was getting dark ... which we saw deserve special attention. I have not seen so broken roads even in the provinces. Sometimes on these roads even asphalt was found. But even such difficulties did not stop us, and, having felt all our insides and having beaten off the chopping place, we nevertheless got to the destination and collapsed to sleep in order to be cheerful and cheerful in the evening. Naive Moscow guys. Despite the fact that we morally reconciled with the difference of 6 hours with the usual time zone, our bodies stubbornly did not want to put up with it and as a result, we enjoyed all the charms of the consequences of acclimatization. It was getting dark ... we nevertheless got to our destination and collapsed to sleep in order to be cheerful and cheerful in the evening. Naive Moscow guys. Despite the fact that we morally reconciled with the difference of 6 hours with the usual time zone, our bodies stubbornly did not want to put up with it and as a result, we enjoyed all the charms of the consequences of acclimatization. It was getting dark ... we nevertheless got to our destination and collapsed to sleep in order to be cheerful and cheerful in the evening. Naive Moscow guys. Despite the fact that we morally reconciled with the difference of 6 hours with the usual time zone, our bodies stubbornly did not want to put up with it and as a result, we enjoyed all the charms of the consequences of acclimatization. It was getting dark ...
4. Working hours - from dawn to dawn.
On average, officially the time for giving lectures and conducting practical classes with schoolchildren was 3.5 - 5 hours a day, however, who can resist not having to tinker with robotic sets in their free time? Therefore, all our available time except sleep (6-7 hours) and lunch (war-war, and lunch on schedule) we spent in the location of the educational building, doing, in addition to preparing for classes - a more detailed study of sets and mastering of them all sorts of cool pieces. In general, an organism used to night vigils did not strongly resist such a regime, but there was one big problem, which we did not foresee in our inexperience - it was white nights ... And we had to put up with it ... But we did not regret it - where else would we have at the disposal of a large number of robotic kits, from LEGO that already got everyone's teeth to an exotic like DaNI? And besides this there were also Bioloid Premium and Bioloid Stem, the “iron” VEX and VEXiQ ... And after all, they were far from a single copy ... I have not seen such a level of technical equipment anywhere else. Even in Moscow, only a few can boast the presence of at least several robotic sets of a similar level. But in addition to robotics, they are also involved in physics and chemistry - these are full-fledged digital measurement laboratories equipped with LabQuest laboratory measuring stations with a large set of Vernier sensors.
5. Workflow - an inside look.
In total, 100 students from the 5th to the 11th grade studied at the summer school. Before they got here, they underwent a serious selection in their schools, so the level of all the children was approximately equally high, but their interests and skills, of course, differed. At the beginning of the school, lectures were given by the leaders of all available areas and the guys could choose where to engage in their project activities. Protecting their own project was the main condition for studying at this school, and therefore students were provided with all the opportunities for their own creativity. In addition to the main areas - physics and mathematics, students chose from robotics (LEGO, DaNI, VEX and Bioloid), applied physics, 3D - modeling, graphics and English. I would also like to note the direction of CanSat - we had a chance to get to know and schoolchildren to learn from the winners of the Russian CanSat championship - the Yakut team Cholbon. Let us return to our direction. On the second day of the school, we gave lectures to the entire audience on the basics of prototyping robotic systems, and also talked about every available area within the framework of robotics. As a result, 43 people signed up for robotics in total, 18 of them were registered on VEX, 9 on Bioloid, and the rest on LEGO - mainly all those who are 7th grade and younger, as well as those who have long been involved in LEGO and participated in championships. Good performance. In other areas, according to my data, the disposition was as follows - out of 23 people, 5 people signed up for applied physics, 7 people signed up for CanSat, and the rest went for 3D modeling. The remaining children were divided between mathematics, graphics and the English language (mainly younger students). I was responsible for the direction of Bioloid and therefore I will continue to mainly rely on the performance of my group. Of the nine people, I ended up with one seventh grader (who later turned out to be very intelligent in programming), four ninth graders and four tenth graders. Overall, not bad.
Exotic from National Instruments - DaNI Robotic Kit. A distinctive feature is the presence of a real-time controller on board.
The learning process was structured as follows - from 9.30 to 11.00 a lecture for everyone who chose robotics. From 11.00 to 11.30 a break, and then until 13.00 the continuation of the lecture. Mostly lectures were devoted to the history of robotics, its current state, and in the end several kinematic problems were sorted out and solved, which undoubtedly was very useful for those who developed robots with manipulators. After lunch - from 14.30 to 18.00 the design work began - the guys dispersed in their audiences and each engaged in their own robots. Since we had only a few days to implement the project, the guys united in groups of 3-4 people, but there were also those who carried out their projects alone.
5.1 Group "Bioloid"
My group and I were initially not very lucky - of those present, only one student had experience assembling a humanoid robot from the Bioloid Premium kit. No one dealt with programming. It was very sad and pichalnoe, so I had to spend 2 days explaining the basics - how to build Bioloid'ov and how to program them in the RoboPlus Task environment (I chose the standard programming environment, because we simply have time to learn programming in C did not have). I also had a student who chose a project to develop a Bioloid management model for ZigBee using LabView, so I had to give an additional lecture on the basics of development in LabView. In my group, I demanded without fail the implementation of my ideas and the assembly of layouts, which are not in the guidelines for designers. At first it even seemed to me that we can’t do anything serious, but I was very mistaken. On the third day, the guys felt the theme, offered their ideas, and the work began to boil. For 4 days, they not only managed to assemble a layout of their robot, but also develop a 3D model of their layout in the R + Design environment, write a program in the RoboPlus Task environment, test the layout, refine it, make a presentation and defend their project in front of the entire forum. They did a great job. In my group, the guys were divided into 3 groups (4 + 4 + 1) and, accordingly, prepared 3 projects: write a program in the RoboPlus Task environment, test the layout, refine it, make a presentation and defend your project in front of the entire forum. They did a great job. In my group, the guys were divided into 3 groups (4 + 4 + 1) and, accordingly, prepared 3 projects: write a program in the RoboPlus Task environment, test the layout, refine it, make a presentation and defend your project in front of the entire forum. They did a great job. In my group, the guys were divided into 3 groups (4 + 4 + 1) and, accordingly, prepared 3 projects:
1. Service home robot with sound control system.
2. Autonomous manipulator on a movable chassis.
3. Remote-controlled research robot via ZigBee.
The results, in my opinion, are amazing:
1. Service home robot with sound control system.
The robot responds to sound and, depending on the received command, moves around the territory and brings the desired item. (A bunch of 5 batteries is used to balance the robot). The design includes 8 dynamixel ax12a servos.
2. Autonomous manipulator on a movable chassis.
The robot performs complex movements during the transfer of objects, is able to pour soda in a glass, as well as open the box, which is located behind it and put things there. The design includes 12 dynamixel ax12a servos. (The photo in the picture is slightly different from the final version)
3. Remote-controlled research robot via ZigBee.
The layout itself is very simple - an ordinary machine with two dynamixel ax12w servos, but the main “trick" is the exchange of data with a PC via two radio channels - ZigBee and WiFi. The program developed on LabView allows you to control the robot by specifying the destination. The robot itself determines the route, after which it moves, simultaneously transmitting the video picture via Wi-Fi. An improvised tool, the iPhone 5, acted as a camera.
5.2 Group "VEX"
The group dealing with the designers of VEX and VEXiQ, mainly enrolled high school students 9th - 11th grade. It is understandable - to work with sets of a competitive level, you need not only desire, but also the ability to program (RobotC environment was used to program VEXs) and assemble complex mock-ups of robots. I would also like to note that many of the guys came with their projects, which they developed and developed as part of the school. Compared to the Bioloid group, in this group the initial level of training of the guys was higher, which resulted in better quality and a larger number of completed projects.
5.3 LEGO Group
Conditionally, we called this group “LEGO”, but in fact, in this group we were engaged not only in LEGO constructors, but also in DaNI.
By age, this group turned out to be the youngest - the youngest participants finished only 4th grade (in the photo the group is not in full strength). But despite their young age, the guys with their originality and complexity of their layouts “gave a light” to their comrades from the VEX and Bioloid groups without much tension.
5.4 Group “Applied Physics”
As part of the work of this group, original projects were completed, such as Dynamo-door as an alternative source of electricity, Compact underwater turbine, Heat pump in the north, etc. With their projects in this group, the guys not only demonstrated their skills and abilities in the field of solving complex problems, but also showed high awareness of the relevance of the work performed, mainly in relation to their region. In my opinion, this group of groups involved in robotics was distinguished not only by a deep degree of study of the material (many in the presentations had a decent level of research to justify the relevance of the work), but also the originality of the designs proposed.
5.5 Group "3D modeling"
This group was the smallest, but this did not affect the results shown. In the process, the guys got acquainted with the Compass-3D environment, and as a result were able to fully simulate the CanSat satellite, which was developed in parallel by another group.
5.6. Group of Innovative Offers
Formally, we did not have such a group, but I decided to single out the remaining projects into it, which are difficult to bring under one of the existing groups, but differing in originality and relevance. As part of the work of this group, the guys completed such projects as the “New look of the village”, offering options for improvement of their native places, as well as the “Interactive map of industrial places of Yakutia”, collecting in one application information about all the industrial enterprises in the region and presenting all this in the form of a map.
6. And how did it all end?
Upon completion of the school, a 2-day marofon was held to present their projects. On the first day, a conference was organized - the guys presented their projects to the audience and the jury, which evaluated not only the relevance of the assigned work and the tasks solved during the work, but also the quality of the presentation and the ability to defend their projects. Most of the groups were represented by only one participant, but there were also those who broke up their speech and made it possible for all participants to speak. Given that the time of the speech was limited, the option of “letting everyone know” was not always successful.
On the second day, an exhibition of working models created during the work on the project was organized. Sitting on two floors of the educational building, the guys showed the results of their work to everyone and the jury. The complexity, originality and reliability of the design were evaluated at the exhibition. Attention was also drawn to the process of the demonstration itself. The places were distributed as follows - in two categories: robotics and physics (everything that did not enter the direction of robotics), the conference and exhibition were separately evaluated. A separate column in these two categories was the choice of the audience - everyone could vote for the project they liked at the exhibition.
CanSat'chiki
Transport handling robot with remote control
Amphibian Research Platform and Wheeled Robot Researcher.
Tracked Intelligence Robot
Intrashow transport robot
Sapper Robot and Garbage Sorter Robot
The team of the youngest participants with a whole fleet of robots called "Your own director. Haymaking. Rise of the Machines"
After the exhibition, the winners were awarded and the school was officially closed.
7. Conclusion
Despite the difficult schedule, the rather tough Real-Time and other difficulties that we encountered, we managed to organize and bring to the result a large number of projects. The experience gained as a result of this work is important both for us - teachers, and for the guys who will soon be entering universities and will be engaged in their own scientific activities. Remembering my school years, I want to grieve only about one thing - why we did not have such opportunities. We hope that our work has not gone in vain - and many guys will continue to work on their projects further, and maybe we will meet with them more than once. I would also like to thank the organizers of the Forum for their dedicated work and wish them success in their work. Well, we only have one thing left - to return to Moscow and begin to mentally prepare for the next school, which,