Robot Competition –14 and 15 August
As part of a theme day, we had to build a robot using legos to successfully traverse an obstacle field, reach some gems, and then collect the gems. In the end, we were not successful, but we had a blast making our robot in spite of all the other activities going on that time. The crew was Hideaki, Satoko, Ken, Dawn, Su-Yin, and me.

Our robot was supposed to sense its way through the big rocks, then turn around and scope up the gems in the gem field, with a final sweeping action to pull them into the vehicle. We had a drive train problem in the end and we bogged down, but it was fun getting nowhere!

Building the Robot
Checking out the Lego Kit. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. We just got the lego set and were trying to figure out ... what next?

What Does The Manual Say? 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. While everyone else looked at the cool parts, Su-Yin found the manual! She built a standard sensor and I built a standard drive system. Both were modified later with improvements but it was a good starting point.

Building the Sensor. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Su-Yin and Dawn starting building the front sensor while Ken played with parts. Actually Ken was responsible for the gem collection design.

Computing Central. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Satoko-san was the program expert, with algorithm design by Satoko and Hideaki with some ides from me (that I think in the end were all rejected).

Hard At Work. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Su-Yin had probably finished the sensor by this point, Ken was on design iteration 38 of 65 789 of the gem collector, and I was probably frustrated because I couldn't find any parts. Hideaki-san was working on algorithms.

Dawn and Ken Design. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Dawn and Ken on design iteration 857 of 65 789 of the gem collector. It was probably shortly after I took this picture than Ken told me he didn't like my idea and I tossed a part into the lego box and left the room. I cooled down and put a lego robot in perspective and had a lot more fun.


The Final Design
Completed Robot. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. The finished robot in the midst of its original elements (lego parts).

Intimidating Front View, Robot. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. I have no children or pets. But I have a lot of pictures of a robot I built.

Crew With Completed Robot. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. The crew, minus Dawn, posing with our robot.

Another View, Completed Robot. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. THe robot with its sweeper in the "stowed" position. The side tubes do absolutely nothing except look cool.

Up Close and Personal, Completed Robot. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Looking at the details of the sensor, and trying to remove the sense of the size of the robot.

Side View, Completed Robot, Space Pioneer's Hall. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Well this view makes the robot look HUGE! Just look how small the rest of the room is.

Ken Looking Tough With Completed Robot. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. I guess we figured we'd try to intimidate the other robot teams


Other Teams in the Robot Room
Just Starting. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Other teams trying to figure out just what they were going to do.

Teams Getting Active. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. The other teams started getting active digging into the parts.

Heavy Construction Phase 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. The robots were getting built by all teams while others struggled with software.

Brian Reaches the End of His Rope. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Brian collapsed into a quivering mass at one point. Actually I think he was just checking clearances between the launching pad and something but the picture is funny.

Bart - Software Expert. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. I don't think Bart was having much fun trying to deal with software,

Stian, Vish, and Denis. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. It looks like Denis is reacting to Vish's idea.

Blaise and Erik. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. You hope Blaise will be successful since he works on Ariane 5 control systems. Erik seems quite interested in the mechanical aspects of his robot.


The Competition - 15 August 2003
Big Crowd, Competition. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. We had a lot of locals come to watch the robot competition. Things must be slow in Strasbourg!

Posing at the Competition. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Don't ask me why Ken is flashing gang signs in half his pictures, but anyway, here well all are again with the robot.


Post Competition - 15 August 2003
Post Competition Pose. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. One more picture with the robot.

Proving Collection Capabilities. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. We wanted to prove the robot could actually collect gems. It did.

Setting Up For Success. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. OK, we made SURE we'd collect the gems.