CpSc 226 - Spring 2005

Final Project Topics

Listed below are several topics suitable for your Final Project. You should select from among them and submit a written statement of your intentions before Spring Break. Some of the topics allow a limited number of students to participate. These are labeled limited participation or FCFS (first come first served). Some of the projects may require the purchase of parts to complete or some other time consuming preparation. These are labeled advance notice required. I have to order parts for these right away. All projects require a written document in the form of a real reasearch paper, and/or a poster to be presented by the last day of class. Which is required is indicated appropriately. Many of the projects also require the demonstration of a finished product at the 2005 HWS Robot Festival. These are labeled demonstration. Other requirements may be listed with each topic or may be provided to you when you see me for additional details (which you should do for any of these topics). Search terms are included with several topics to aid you in making a decision. Even though your written statement of intention is due next week, I suggest you don't wait that long to see me.

Topics

1. Build a Fire Fighting Robot and enter a competition. HWS has entered robots in the Trinity Firefighting Contest many years in the past. The goal of the contest is to search a house looking for a fire and then putting out the fire. You will probably want to use a Handyboard controller for this project. This project is a group effort and requires 2-4 team members per robot. limited participation, advance notice required, paper AND poster, demonstration [Search: Trinity Firefighting, Handyboard.]

2. We can't do BattleBots, but we can do the next best thing. SumoBots! Build a small robot that conforms to the Sumo specifications and compete against another Sumo robot at the Robot Festival. Note: Although this is an individual project, you must find at least one other student who will also select this project so you have someone to compete against. advance notice required, paper OR poster, demonstration [Search: Sumo robot.]

3. Build some small robots using BEAM technology. If you enjoy building and watching your light seeking robot, you might want to build some other small robots that move on their own without the use of a controller. For this topic, you will build 2 or 3 small robots using various parts salvaged from computer peripherals and other places, and using solar power or single battery power to operate. paper AND poster, demonstration [Search: Beam robot, bugbot.]

4. Want to build a robot that can climb over obstacles, turn on a platter, and sense it's surroundings with a single sensor. You might want to build a TankBot. This robot will be controlled by the same controller you use for your Festival Robot. FCFS, paper AND poster, demonstration

5. Maybe you want someone to pour that drink for you. You need a third hand. Build a robot that can pour a beer and then crush the can with it's bare hand. This robot is a multijointed gripper arm and will be controlled by the same controller you use for your Festival Robot. FCFS, paper AND poster, demonstration

6. There are many micro-controllers that can control robots. We are using one called the IsoPod, which uses a Motorola DSP microprocessor. For this project, you would also learn how to control your robot using a controller based on the ARM microprocessor. FCFS, paper, demonstration [Search: ARM, Plug-an-ARM]

7. Need some help cracking an egg? Tired of doing it the easy way? Build a Rube Goldberg-like device that will do just that in as complex a way as possible. This device will be partially controlled by your IsoPod controller. paper OR poster, demonstration [Search: Rube Goldberg, contraption]

8. Circuit Cellar Ink is an engineering trade magazine aimed at the embedded microprocessor folks. Check out the Circuit Cellar site at www.circuitcellar.com. Search through the various topics in back issues and pick one of the articles and investigate something such as bar codes, analog computers, robots, voice controlled telescopes, fuzzy logic, making a weather station, programming your Palm Pilot, making USB controllers, explaining how GPS works, making a storage oscilloscope using a few chips, QNX, etc. You might check with me on your particular choice to make sure it is appropriate. paper AND (poster OR demonstration)

9. Musically inclined? Check out the MIDI standard for interfacing musical instruments to computers. Research information on what hardware (down to the electrical signals!) and software is required. Set up a MIDI sequencer and give a show and tell demonstration for an appreciative audience. paper, demonstration [Search: MIDI, music.]

10. Stepper motors are specialty motors which can be very accurately controlled so they move in increments or steps and hold their position very closely. They are used heavily in floppy disk and removable disk drives to position the read/write head. Find out all there is to know about stepper motors, unipolar and bipolar, chopper and transistor drive, build a stepper motor driver kit, and work up some nice routines for using stepper motors with IsoPod. We have a couple of robots using steppers for locomotion so you have some ready made hardware to work with on this project. paper, demonstration

11. Attach an LCD to your IsoPod. Our controller board comes with only 3 colored LED's for signaling to the outside world what is going on. Add a 2 line LCD (liquid crystal display) to your controller and learn to program it so you can have a more informative idea what is going on in your little computer. limited participation, paper, demonstration

12. Tired of messing with that dinky little breadboard on your carrier board. Design and manufacture your very own 2-layer Printed Circuit Board (PCB) to replace it and your entire carrier board. (Or you may design and manufacture a PCB for some other application.) paper, demonstration [Search: PCB howto.]

13. We all take a mouse on our desktop for granted but do you know exactly how this rodent thing works? Investigate the mouse/trackball issue and check out how the mouse does its thing. Dissect one of these gadgets (I have a couple of extras) and figure out what is coming in over the serial cable. Learn about quadrature encoders, put one on an oscilloscope and check out the mouse signals and report how all this mouse stuff is done. Hook one up to your IsoPod and decode the mouse into servo action or other interesting effect. paper AND poster, demonstration

14. Sensors for computers are usually classified as analog or digital. So-called analog to digital converters (ADC) are found in lots of places. Give an overview of how AD converters work, provide some worked through examples, investigate the classic Wheatstone bridge, and build some simple circuits and illustrate the conversion process. paper AND (poster OR demonstration)

15. Don't see anything you like? Propose your own Final Project. Note: Approval and a nicely written, detailed and specific, proposal paper is required before spring break. proposal, paper, (poster AND/OR demonstration)