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Robotics:

Robotics is the field of study that focuses on creating machines to do specific types of labor, minimizing or even replacing labor in tasks that humans can do and completing tasks that humans can't do. The difference between robots and other machines (such as a furnace) is that a furnace cannot go into a mine and gather its own resources to sustain its own purpose and function and requiring a human to fuel it , where a robot is able to do all of this on it's own if designed correctly.

Computer Science:

Computer science is a field of science that focuses on the design of computer hardware, software, and algorithms to solve problems. This can range from abstract, such as whether a computer could theoretically perform a certain function and what kind of hardware and software it would use to perform a task, to tangible, where these pieces of hardware and software are actually utilized to perform said task once they are capable of performing it.

Design Process

1. Define the Problem

There is a natural disaster and a robot is needed that can traverse dangerous and difficult environments to obtain information.

2. Generate Alternative Solutions

Program the robot to follow a path only using light sensors.

Program the robot to traverse a course only using the bumper so it needs to crash into everything.

Program the robot to traverse a course using sonar and determining the best solution based on multiple pieces of information.

3. Evaluate and Select a Solution

Bumpers and light detectors are in truth mostly not needed in natural disasters, as light sensors do not help and bumpers are less useful that sonar sensors. For that reason we decided to use only sonar sensors and use it to determine what is around it and then determine what is the best path.

4. Detail the Design

Our group spent time to refine the code and to make it as feasible as possible. Although there were some malfunctions in the software, we concluded that the code must work in any other application and on a real robot. The design also has the advantage of having possible expansion with the arm that square bot has, which could serve as a tool.

5. Defend the Design

As a group, we looked at the code and decided that this is the best design over our other solutions even with the detailing. As one should only need a sonar sensor when moving through a natural disaster, as a touch sensor would require the robot to bump into obstacles (which may damage the robot) and a light sensor has few uses in natural disasters (as physical barriers tend to pose more of an obstacle than lines).

6. Manufacture and Test

Seeing as everything is virtual, we created a virtual robot and course and ran it in the course multiple times.

7. Evaluate the Performance

It performed fairly well considering the limited sensors, the fact that we did not use a gyro and the program seemed to be very inaccurate, as we explain later.

8. Prepare the Final Design Report

We have spent most of Thursday completing the web page and everything else that is needed to complete the project.