Robotic Building Activities
This robot goes fast and turns even faster, executing super fast spin-turns in place. Although the robot has six wheels, it is essentially perfectly balanced over the two drive wheels in the center of each side. The four castor wheels at the corners barely touch the ground, except when needed to keep the robot from tipping over during rapid changes in speed or direction. This balanced design makes the robot turn very easily.
The program provided for this robot makes the robot cruise quickly around the room, bumping into things with its rubber bumper and then using the rotation sensors in the motors to detect when it has run into something by detecting when the motors stall or partially stall. This allows it to know when to back up and change direction without using any other sensors.
These two “snowmobiles” race each other in a circle around the NXT brick, which will rotate with them on a pivot. One of the snowmobiles is built to go faster than the other one by using different gears, but the slower one has the “inside line” because its cord is shorter. So, which one will win?
Well, depending on how you adjust the wire leading to the slower one, you can make it a tie, one might pass the other, or they might crash into each other!
The construction of the snowmobiles is very simple, so there is plenty of opportunity to try to make them faster or better.
This puppy is all ready to go for a walk, either with his leash or on the loose by himself. He can go straight or turn on smooth floors, and he can turn his head to look left and right.
Two programs are provided. With the leash program, you can control when the puppy stops and turns left or right by pushing the button on the leash. Without the leash, the alternate program makes the puppy explore around the room by himself, trying to avoid walls with his ultrasonic “eyes.” You can also get him to turn in one direction or the other by calling him; he will hear you with his sound sensor and come to you!
