Mini Grand Challenge Contest for Robot Education

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Mini Grand Challenge Contest for Robot Education
AAAI 2007 Robotics and Education March 27, 2007

• Bob Avanzato
• Associate Professor of Engineering
• Penn State Abington1600 Woodland RoadAbington
  PA 19001RLA5_at_psu.edu

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Objectives

• Design autonomous outdoor robot contest Mini
  Grand Challenge (MGC) to promote interest in
  robotics and AI.
• Partly inspired by DARPA Grand Challenge
• Include vision and HRI component.
• Contest should be accessible to advanced high
  school, lower-division undergrads (Engr, Cmpsci,
  IST) and beyond.
• Availability of low-cost robot platform and
  development environment to improve accessibility
  to MGC contest.

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Penn State Abington Robot Contests
Regional Trinity Firefighting
Robo-Hoops

• Robot Contests at Abington campus (Phila. PA
  area)
• Over 40 robots participating in each contest
• Over 120 students (K-12 to college and beyond)
• Over 15 high schools/middle schools represented
• Over 50 pizzas consumed!
• Both contests offered annually since 1995.
• What is next step?

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Impact on Curriculum Outreach
CSE 271/275 Digital Electronics Sophomore EE/CSE
EDG 100 Freshman Design
Robotics Contests
IST 402 (new!) Emerging Technologies
ENGR 297 Robotics Special Topics Freshmen/Sophomor
es
K -12 Outreach
Comp Sci 201C Intro for Fresh/Soph
Undergraduate Research (ACURA)

• Robotics supports wide range of educational and
  outreach goals

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PSU Abington Robot Platform
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Mini Grand Challenge (MGC)

• Autonomous, outdoor, electric ground robot
• Follow 8-ft wide (unmarked) paths on college
  campus
• Reach 6 waypoints (GPS longitude, latitude)
• Avoid human obstacles on path
• Entertain human spectators
• Take off-road detour across field (with
  obstacles)
• Payload 1 gallon of water
• Robot Speed 1.5 - 5mph
• (6) Waypoints disclosed 24 hours prior to contest
  event.

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Campus Paths
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Campus Paths
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Campus Paths
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Campus Paths
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Campus Paths
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Campus Paths (Field)
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Campus Paths
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Campus Paths
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Sample Path/Waypoint Layout
WP 4

WP 3
WP 5
orange cones
WP 6
Path width 8ft Waypoint (WP) diameter 20ft
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Key Equipment List

• PowerWheels platform 220
• GPS (with serial cable) 120
• Speaker/amp (15-30 watt) 60
• Inverter (DC to AC) 50
• Servo (steering) 50
• Speed controller 60
• USB camera (240 x 320) 50
• Camera stand 30
• Sonar and servo 50
• USB to serial converter 30
• Servo controller 50-150
• Battery 50
• TOTAL 850 (approx.)
• NOTE Laptop, MATLAB costs not included in above
  list

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Robot Block Diagram
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PSU Abington Robot
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Key Software

• MATLAB with Image Processing Toolbox
• Grab image from USB camera
• Edge detection
• Read GPS text serial output (position, velocity)
• Text-to-Speech
• Send motor and steering commands to servo
  controller
• Main control loop written in MATLAB
• Drivers
• MS Win32 Speech API (SAPI) (text to speech)
• VFM (Video for Windows frame grabber)
• Any Software/Hardware solution Allowed

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Pilot Study Student Solution

• Background Sophomore-level EE student with no
  prior experience in vision
• Student developed a heuristic, path-tracking
  algorithm in MATLAB (Image Processing ToolBox
  Canny edge detection) within 4 hours
  (non-optimal).
• MATLAB environment promotes rapid prototyping and
  facilitates testing.

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Big Design Questions

• Can an outdoor robot platform (hardware and
  sensors) for MGC be constructed for under 1000?
• Answer Yes (almost)
• Can an operational outdoor, autonomous, robot
  prototype (hardware software) be completed
  (with minimal testing performance) for MGC in
  40 hours?
• Answer Yes (almost)

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Results

• 2005 Mini Grand Challenge (April 2005)
• 3 participants no successful robots
• Rain limited outdoor event (rescheduled in Dec.)
• Robots on display indoors same day as FF contest
• Generated much interest for future events
• 2006 Mini Grand Challenge (April 1, 2006)
• 6 participants one robot manages 50 of course
• 2007 Mini Grand Challenge (March 31, 2007)
• 8 robots registered
• 1 high school team

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Mini Grand Challenge Event(PSU-Abington PA
April 3, 2005)
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MGC 2006
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MGC 2006 (PSU Abington robot)
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MGC 2006
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MGC 2006 (PSU University Park robot)
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MGC 2006 (Spectator Interaction)
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Conclusions

• Mini Grand Challenge (MGC) contest successfully
  promotes interest in robotics and AI for a wide
  range of participants (freshman college to
  professional)
• Low-cost robot platform with MATLAB software
  allows freshman/sophomore undergrads to
  participate in sophisticated algorithm
  development.
• Spectator friendly educational outreach
  benefits
• Outdoor contest has risks (example rain!)
• Larger robot --gt more cumbersome for classroom
  integration

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Future Directions

• Expand student involvement in Mini Grand
  Challenge (course integration problem).
• Develop web-based resources and tutorials.
• Develop K-12 outreach activities based on MGC
• Assess (survey) student retention and
  recruitment.
• Expand spectator-robot interaction (SRI)
• ArtBots (in Philly, PA)
• Develop indoor extension to contest to mitigate
  weather problems. (Example follow cones in gym)
• Non-engineering student involvement IST?