Rec Programming Design Brief

Rec
Programming
Design
Brief



 TheMatrix.png
at
commons.wikimedia.org


Situation/Challenge
 Foreword: This is an assessment challenge to end Unit 2 – Introduction to Vex Programming in Intelitek’s Robotic Engineering Curriculum (REC). Warning to students: This is a robotics activity with an environmental connection. This will not turn into an environmental debate about global warming or any other environmental issue. The fact is deforestation is happening and the deforestation process releases stored green house gases into the atmosphere. "Deforestation is progressing rapidly, and if continued for 20 or 50 years the results would be disastrous. However, it is very important not to succumb to the fatalism that so often affects discussions of Amazonia. What happens depends on human decisions. This includes not only the direct deforestation that is destroying the forest, but also the climate changes that threaten to destroy the forest even without further clearing. Global warming is believed to be the cause of observed increases in the frequency of El Niño events, which are caused by warm surface water in the Pacific Ocean. Most climate models now predict "permanent" El Niño-like conditions to develop in the Pacific. One climate model (the Hadley Center model of the UK Meteorological Office) shows this permanent El Niño resulting in catastrophic die off of Amazonian forest by 2080 if global warming is unchecked. Other models currently do not show the connection between El Niño-like conditions and drought in Amazonia. Unfortunately for us, the fact that El Niño causes droughts in Amazonia is known from direct observations - it does not depend on the results of climate models. This is obvious to anyone in Amazonia who saw the fires in the El Niños of 1982-1983, 1997-1998 and 2003. The threat of a "permanent El Niño" is therefore to be taken very seriously. Again, it depends on how seriously society takes the problem to be. If fossil-fuel combustion and deforestation are reduced to reflect the importance of the problem, then the worst could be avoided. If this does not happen, the danger of a "runaway greenhouse" escaping from human control becomes much greater. Disintegration of the Amazon forest, with release of the carbon stocks in the biomass and soil, would be a significant factor in pushing us into a runaway greenhouse." October 22, 2006 http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1023-interview_fearnside.html You are a robotics specialist and it is your job to help minimize the impact of the deforestation process in the Brazilian forests. Deforestation causes a “fishbone” pattern, Image 1, to occur from lumber traffic. It is your job to help automate this traffic and help keep unneeded destruction from occurring due to crazy drivers crashing vehicles in this hard to navigate situation. Deforestation is definitely a negative impact on the environment but it isn’t something that one person can stop. One person, you, can at least help eliminate other problems by using technology. Create a program that will “fishbone” 10 times.

Example of the type of track your bot should take. Each “bone” pattern should be the same size.

Image 1. Amazonie_deforestation.jpg at commons.wikimedia.org

Criteria
and
Constraints
 • •

•

Engineering Notebook (ENb) must have complete Engineering Design Process (EDP) documentation o Use the EDP steps as headings o Follow ENb rules Use structured programming o Loop o Sequence Add a comment every line of code

Tools,
Materials,
Equipment
 Instructor Supplied • VEX robot platform • EasyC software

Student Supplied • Assembled Basebot

Procedure/Timeline
 Total approximate number of days needed for unit: 5 1. Introduction a. Design brief overview b. Website and online documents/resources c. Extra required research items and questions to answer 2. Research and back ground knowledge video a. Online option: students search for relevant videos, bookmark favorite, and randomly select a few to share b. Topic to focus on: Deforestation 3. Lab a. Complete any documentation needed during this time, ENb, including i. Findings ii. Changes iii. Positives and negatives b. Expected amount of lab days: 3 4. Test and Evaluate 5. Communicate a. Project Evaluation or Assessment Guide b. Class discussion

Submit
the
Following
 • • •

ENb Demo of robot program, instructor observed Print out of your program (name included in commenting)

Assessment
 Score 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 0%

Criteria Program works perfectly. Structured using a loop or loops. Program works perfectly. Structured using only sequence. Program doesn’t work perfectly and has minor logic problems. Includes a function loop. Program doesn’t work perfectly and has minor logic problems. Does not contain a function loop. Effort was spent creating a program with a loop but never works. Effort was spent creating a program with sequences but never works. No program or a short program was created. Student gave up before the due date.

Printed: 10/10/2009 6:42 PM