Robot behaviours

Behaviour based robots was used in the teaching as way of getting the students to think out AI a little deeper and in particular Do we need Human Level intelligence? or rather Do we always need to aim for Human Level Intelligence?


Lego mindstorms robot are a good vehicle for students to start trying out idea around behaviour-based robotics. They are inexpensive, programmable and with the LeJOS software installed on them have behaviours built into the programming which is done in Java.


A good example to use comes from Bagnall's book (B Bagnall (2002) Core Lego Mindstorms: 

Programming the RCX in Java , ISBN: 978-0130093646)

code 1: HitWall

//Taken from Bagnall (2002)
import josx.robotics.*;
import josx.platform.rcx.*;
public class HitWall implements Behavior
{
public boolean takeControl()
{
return Sensor.S2.readBooleanValue();
}
public void suppress()
{
Motor.A.stop();
Motor.C.stop();
}
public void action()
{
Motor.A.backward();
Motor.C.backward();
try{Thread.sleep(1000);}catch(Exception e){}
Motor.A.stop();
try{Thread.sleep(300);}catch(Exception e){}
Motor.C.stop();
}
}

Code 2: DriveForward

//Taken from Bagnall (2002)


import josx.robotics.*;
import josx.platform.rcx.*;
public class DriveForward implements Behavior
{
public boolean takeControl()
{
return true;
}
public void suppress()
{
Motor.A.stop();
Motor.C.stop();
}
public void action()
{
Motor.A.forward();
Motor.C.forward();
}
}



Code 3: Bumper Car

import josx.robotics.*;
public class BumperCar
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
Behavior b1=new DriveForward();
Behavior b2=new HitWall();
Behavior [] bArray ={b1,b2};
Arbitrator arby=new Arbitrator(bArray);
arby.start();
}
}

robots and artificial intelligence

It has already been point out in earlier blogs (e.g 

Developing problem-solving teaching materials based upon Microsoft Robotics Studio and Problem-solving and robots ) that robots and problem-solving are a go well together. What about advanced problem-solving techniques such as artificial intelligence, do simple lego robots go well with these as a way of developing student's skills?

In my opinion it is a yes. As a part of a set of tools I have found them very useful for teaching the principles of simple neurones.

 Example code:

import josx.platform.rcx.*;

public class annlf{

 public static void main(String[] args)

 {

  int w[][] ={//put weights here};

  int o[]={1,1};

  int s1,s2,res1,res2;

  int sensor1=0,sensor2=0;

  robot_1 tom=new robot_1();

  Sensor.S1.activate();

  Sensor.S3.activate();

  for(;;){

   sensor1=Sensor.S1.readValue();

   sensor2=Sensor.S3.readValue();

   LCD.showNumber(sensor1);

   if (sensor1<42)

    s1=1;

   else

    s1=0;

   if (sensor2<42)

    s2=1;

   else

    s2=0;

   res1=w[0][1]*s1+w[0][2]*s2+w[0][0];

   if (res1>=0)

    o[0]=1;

   else

    o[0]=0;

   res2=w[1][1]*s1+w[1][2]*s2+w[1][0];

   if (res2>=0)

    o[1]=1;

   else

    o[1]=0;

   if ((o[0]==1)&&(o[1]==1))

    tom.forward1(10);

   if ((o[0]==0)&&(o[1]==0))

    tom.backward1(20);

   if ((o[0]==1)&&(o[1]==0))

    tom.tlturn(20);

   if ((o[0]==0)&&(o[1]==1))

    tom.trturn(20);

   LCD.refresh();

  }

 }

}

The example code uses two neurones to produce a line follower. The nice thing about this though is it easy to adapted this for a single neuron or multiple neuron tasks. For more on this some examples can be found here.

The above approaches used the Mindstorms RCX robots but it can equally be done with the newer NXT robots. 

 

website sustainability 1

Before starting to migrate the site from a hosted server to a Google sites, capturing the current web contents as static HTML has some benefits:
-Even though Google sites does allow for direct importing of HTML. HTML can be added to a Google Site.
-Provides all the images in one go.

Software selected for this job is the free software WinHTTrack Website Copier (http://www.httrack.com/). It is easy to install and use.

The currently free Dropbox  provides an alternative place to store a website. But only if we talking about static content (ie. content which is not changed dynamically by PHP, etc but is basically HTML). Dropbox provides a public folder which can be view by one with the appropriate link.

First we need to copy the site, so we have local copy on our own machine. This can be done using the method as an example shown in  the earlier blog entry Caught it.

Next, we need a Dropbox account. Go to www.dropbox.com and you should see the following:

Click on the download button and follow the instructions. You will need an email address. We actually on need the Typical setting.

This will add a piece of software to machine. With a little box icon at the bottom of your screen, if we click on this we see the files and folders in the dropbox, open the public folder, now.transfer files over to public folder

Go to the dropbox website and log-in

Then do

Step 2:  Right-click[control-click for a mac] this home page file, then choose Dropbox > Copy Public Link. This copies the Internet link to your file so that you can paste it somewhere else.

Example:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25018391/index.html for the East Midlands Knowledge Network

For more details on webpage sustainability go to website sustainability.

junkbots overview

The aim of this project is to introduce concepts of environmental sustainability, engineering and computing. In a fun and educational project that uses the STEM subjects. The project is delivered by university staff and students going into schools to provide guidance and support in the production of the robots.

This project sets out to engage pupils with a set of activities over 12 hours that provides an insight into STEM subjects. The workshops will be structured in the following way:

Activity 1

Introduction to waste management, its impact, recycling and reuse. An introduction to the idea of making robots from rubbish.

Activity 2

Involves some problem-solving exercises (approx. ½ hour), and then in groups investigate adding ‘junk’ with a new electrical components such as batteries and motors to use vibrations to move the robots.

Activity 3

To apply some of the ideas on problem solving and use of materials developed previously to build a little junk-clearing robot.

·         Lego based robots are provided with two light sensors;

·         a play area (containing borders and area for the junk to be placed);

The facilitators will help with programming the robots and the instructions to be used.

Activity 4

The final session will involve the students, with the help of the facilitators, demonstrating and presenting their group’s solutions.

·         Each group will present their work to the other groups in a way they feel is most appropriate- with facilitators help if needed.

·         An hour tinkering time before the presentation will be given to solve any last minute problems.

Target Audience

The project aims to provide an opportunity for year 7,8, or 9 students.

Delivery

This is can be delivered flexibly the restrictions are:

·         Students must get 12 hours of STEM activity

·         Availability of the project team.

Models of Delivery

The project has been delivered so far in two modes

·         Fours short days.

·         Two full days with 2 hours preparation outside of the sessions.

How much do it cost?

All  project team’s costs are covered by the project, as are some of the basic electrical parts essentially a few motors and wires and the Lego robots. The rest, ideally, is provided by the students and anything the school wants to contribute. Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd and East Midlands Development Agency (emda) are, along with the University of Northampton, supporting for this project.

School resources

It is useful to have two rooms one for building the robots and  a ICT room for preparing the presentations and keeping an journal. It would be helpful for one of the rooms to be suitable for running presentations and for the project team to present a small amount of material.

Student’s Feedback

Building  Junkbots

"We had the [f]reedom to show the teachers what skills we have" (Student BW-B)
"The activity was very fun and creative. We experience lots of difficulties to overcome." (Student BW-K)
"it was nice have time off timetable once in a while" (Student BW-N)
"I found that building the junk bots has made me some new friends..." (Student BW-T)
"...as we[ we]re able to put any ideas forward to put ideas forward to create our own creation" (Student BW-V)

“I enjoyed the activity but I had a few problems” (student M-D)

“I liked this but it was hard at times” (student M-F)

“It was fun” (student M-G)

Waste Management Activity

“...it was cool to know what my carbon footprint is.”
“... made me think about all the waste in the world.”
“[I] now recycle”

"Lots of information which was useful..."(Student BW-B)
"I learnt a lot and calculating my carbon footprint was great" (Student BW-J)
"I learnt about [Eco] stuff" (Student BW-S)
"I found the waste management activity helpf[ul] because it showed me the truth of what we could do to help the earth" (Student BW-T)
"I liked the presentation we were given...interesting facts which we will remember a long time" (Student BW-V)

Programming the Robots.

"Really enjoyed it" (Student BW- G)
"It was really good and the amount I have learnt about Java is incredible" (Student BW- J)
"It was cool because we could program them" (Student BW- Q)
"It was good being the programmer" (student BW- R)

“I enjoyed this the most because it involved problem solving” (student BW- G)

The Project Overall

“it was fun and creative, I learnt quite a bit” (Student T-A)
“It let us be creative with our design.” (Student T-B)
“it opened my eyes to engineering” (Student T-C)

"The whole project was really fun and I enjoyed it lots and I liked making the robots the most" (Student BW- A)

"It was fun because I learnt about carbon emissions and the stuff you need to do the robot" (Student BW- M)

"Overall it was very fun yet informative" (Student BW- R)

"... project was great! It was a great way to teach us more about science, technology, engineering and maths. I also think it improved our problem solving skills. " (Student BW- W)

 “brilliant” (student M-L)

“It was the best activity I have ever done” (Student M-M)

Working in teams

“We liked this activity because it help us work as a team.”
“We really enjoyed ourselves over the last 4 days. We found it very useful.”

For more Information

Contact: Scott Turner

Email: scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

Telephone: 01604 893028

Junkbots blog: http://junkbots.blogspot.com/

Online materials and information: http://www.computing.northampton.ac.uk/~scott/projects_1.html

Alternative presentations

Can you sit through another powerpoint presentation often with strange colour combinations? Some initial work has been going at the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton on alternatives to powerpoint. Students were encouraged in certain assignments to consider alternatives to powerpoint.. 

The first was Tiddlywikis (http://www.tiddlywiki.com/) these largely self contained HTML files (they do often use a separate folder to store images) are releatively small but can be used to produce a web-based presentations.

 In two cases Machinima has been used one based around the Halo game and the other using a free package called MovieStorm (ShortFuze) in this case  a powerpoint presentation was embedded within it. Other students have gone down the route of using packages such as Microsoft's MovieMaker or PhotoStory to combine video or still images into a movie form.

Does this make the presentation better though? A personal view is though it does not automatically make the presentation better, I believe most people would find it more fun to do and so put more effort into them which will tend to make the presentations better. As a marking tutor the fact that is a bigger variation is the way the presentations look, makes a comparison of more difficult but at the same time more enjoyable to mark.

What about the lecturer? Of course the lecturer needs to consider if the way we present appropriate as you would for any part of your teaching. There are presentation tools out there that are very different to powerpoint as an example Prezzi.com that personally I think are interesting and worth considering. An example can be found at: http://prezi.com/s3uk0xmhq-hs/

.

Further Reading

Turner S(2009) " PowerPoint, but what else?"10th Higher Education Academy-ICS Conference, University of Kent.

Turner S (2008) "TiddlyWikis for Student Developed Resources" 9th Higher Education Academy-ICS Annual Conference, Liverpool Hope University, 26th August - 28th August 2008. pp. 192 ISBN 978-0-9559676-0-3.

7th China – Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Orientated Education at University of Northampton on 23-24th May 2011.

The 7th China – Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Orientated Education is to be hosted by the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton on 23-24th May 2011. 

This is only the third time the symposium has been held in Europe. Previous locations:

• 1st China-Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Oriented Education was held in HIT, Harbin.
• The 2nd  was again held in HIT, Harbin.
• The 3rd CIES-SIOE was held in DIT, Dublin, in Feb. 2007.
• The 4th CEISIE  was held in Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China in January 2008.
• The 5th CEISIE was held in University of Bordeaux, France in May 2009.
• The 6th CEISIE was held in Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China in May 2010.

The theme is Green Computing but the following topics are appropriate.

• Ethos for industry oriented software education
  
• Model for industry oriented software education
  
• Curriculum for industry oriented software education
  
• Quality assurance and evaluation in industry oriented
  
• Software education
  
• E-Learning and support tools
  
• Internationalization of software education
  
• Cooperation model for industries and software education
  
• Green computing and the role of higher education
  
• Behavioural and technological aspects of green IT
  
• Innovation and evaluation of software education.

To support potential Chinese participants, given that the costs of travel to Europe are not cheap the School of Science and Technology has offered to sponsor China based delegates by paying 50% of their registration fee. 

The deadline for paper submissions is 21st January 2011. Authors are invited to submit research contributions or practical experience reports related to the symposium topics in the form of word document file (doc/docx). Submission of FULL paper, normally within four pages must be sent by email to tricia.goodchild@northampton.ac.ukor guowh@hit.edu.cn (see contact information). 

Submissions should be written in English.

The title paragraph should include: title, each author’s name and affiliation, full communication address (correspondence will be sent to the first-named author unless otherwise indicated). The papers will be evaluated by the international programme committee.

The accepted papers will be presented in a session of the symposium and be published in a volume of proceedings

The symposium website has further details.

Iphone accessible course content

The Division of Computing, School of Science and Technology at the University of Northampton is investigating ways of how mobile devices can be used. Using mobile applications, both in terms of iphone 'apps'  as well  as investigating how some of the web based materials the division produces, can be made  more accessible on mobile devices for example the iphone.

Examples of the web-pages design changes are shown below:

   

This figure above is difficult to read on the screen and so needs to be expanded to make it more readable. The figure below uses the same web-content but has included a way of formatting to be more suited to mobile devices.

 

This was done with a small adaptation to the website that makes the pages more readable without effecting the way it is view on a browser on a PC.

Applications or 'Apps' are under development as a complementary method of delivery of some of the taught materials the division produces. Examples of which can be seen below

Some examples are shown here.The two below show how taught material or module information can be presented and accessed via a mobile device.

For more detail please contact: gary.hill@northampton.ac.uk

More detail about the modules within the Computing division can be found by clicking here. 

Science and Technology Research in Pedagogy (STRiPe) at Northampton

• The University of Northampton's STRiPe group brings together academic members of staff who are interested research on various aspects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning and teaching.

  Academic staff involved currently in this research group are:

  • Dr Jonathan Adams
  • Gary Hill
  • Professor Phil Picton
  • Dr Scott Turner
  • Dr Mark Johnson
  • Rashmi Dravid
  • John Sinclair

  For more information or interested in being involved please contact Dr Scott Turner. 

  Example Publications:

• Turner S and Hill G (2010) "Innovative use of Robots and Graphical Programming in Software Education" 6th China Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Oriented Education (CEISIE2010) Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an
• Duncan A and Dravid R (2010) "Soft skills for scientists; not a soft option" Learning Dialogues: Learning and Teaching Conference, University of Northampton 13th May 2010
• Turner S(2009) " PowerPoint, but what else?"10th Higher Education Academy-ICS Conference, University of Kent, 24-27th August 2009, pp 151 ISBN 978-0-9559676-6-5
• Turner S (2009)"Initial experience of using audio feedback for general assignment feedback" A Word In Your Ear 2009 Sheffield Hallam University, 18 December 2009 pg 12
• Johnson M and Davis R(2009) " An Examination of the Causality of Transition and Retention Failure with Computer Science Based Courses"10th Higher Education Academy-ICS Conference, University of Kent, 24-27th August 2009, pp 148 ISBN 978-0-9559676-6-5
• Dravid R (2009) "Context-based teaching - A key to graduate employability for computer network courses10th Higher Education Academy-ICS Conference, University of Kent, 24-27th August 2009, pp 159 ISBN 978-0-9559676-6-5
• Turner S, Hill G, Adams J (2009) "Robots in problem solving in programming" 9th 1-day Teaching of Programming Workshop, University of Bath, 6th April 2009.
• Turner S (2009) "Tiddlywikis for student developed resources" Transitions: Teaching and Learning Conference 13th May 2009 University of Northampton.
• Dravid R (2009) "Context-based teaching - A key to graduate employability for computer network courses" Transitions: Teaching and Learning Conference 13th May 2009 University of Northampton
• Johnson M (2008) "The Dyslexic User's Interface Support Tool (DUIST)" PhD Thesis University of Northampton.
• Turner S and Hill G(2008) "Robots within the Teaching of Problem-Solving" ITALICS vol. 7 No. 1 June 2008 pp 108-119 ISSN 1473-7507
• Turner S (2008) "TiddlyWikis for Student Developed Resources" 9th Higher Education Academy-ICS Annual Conference, Liverpool Hope University, 26th August - 28th August 2008. pp. 192 ISBN 978-0-9559676-0-3.
• Turner S and Adams J (2008) "Robots and Problem Solving" 9th Higher Education Academy-ICS Annual Conference, Liverpool Hope University, 26th August - 28th August 2008. pp. 14 ISBN 978-0-9559676-0-3.
• Minai, A, Turner S, and Hill. G (2008) "Motivational Differences in Learning Internet Programming Between Arts and Computing Students" 9th Higher Education Academy-ICS Annual Conference, Liverpool Hope University, 26th August - 28th August 2008. pp. 197 ISBN 978-0-9559676-0-3.
• Adams, J. and Turner, S., (2008) Problem Solving and Creativity for Undergraduate Computing and Engineering students: the use of robots as a development tool Creating Contemporary Student Learning Environments 2008, Northampton, UK.
• Adams, J. and Turner, S., (2008) Problem Solving and Creativity for Undergraduate Engineers: process or product? International Conference on Innovation, Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education 2008, Loughborough, UK.
• Adams, J., Turner, S., Kaczmarczyk, S., Picton, P. and Demian, P.,(2008). Problem Solving and Creativity for Undergraduate Engineers: findings of an action research project involving robots International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE 2008, Budapest, Hungary.