Abstract

LEGO Mindstorms combine one or more programmable bricks with electric motors, a variety of sensors, and other LEGO pieces to create robots. LEGO Mindstorm robots can be programmed to accomplish thousands of different tasks from walking robots to fork lifts, it really is an amazing tool of education.

Project Information

The assignment for our robot is to climb a set of fifty stairs and cross three flat surfaces on campus without human control with a time limit of fifteen minutes. There are also a few minor turns involved. The robot must be completely made out of LEGO from the LEGO Mindstorm kits. We had 3 kits to work from but ended up using more random pieces from other kits.

Team Profile

Tyson Roy - http://www.royt.ca

Tyson was responsible for the physical design and building of the robot. He created all of the original drawings and it was his vision from the beginning. Tyson was able to maintain a robot that in the end was a very similar looking robot as his original design.

Original Design

Finished Robot

Overall the robot did what it was designed to do. It climbed stairs.

Kyle Corey - http://www.kylecorey.ca

Kyle was responsible for implementing and maintaining the Sharepoint site for the project, programming the robot, and taking pictures and videos.

SharePoint was a good choice for a way to keep all of the data localized. It was not that difficult to implement, and kept the team well organized on task.

The Lego Mindstorm programming software was difficult at the beginning but became easy to understand was we went along. It was a very simple loop that was used to allow the robot to climb 51 stairs.

Our Program

Chad Ryan - http://www.chadryan.ca

Chad was responsible for creating the portfolio documentation and PowerPoint presentation for the project.

Robot Profile

Stair “E” has one purpose in life: to climb stairs. Stair “E” consists of:

* 8 Wheels
* 3 Motors
* 1 Mindstorm NXT Brick
* 1 Touch Sensor
* A variety of other LEGO pieces

After much work Stair “E” can climb flat stairs consistently, he just has trouble with bevelled ones. Given more time, Stair “E” would be able to climb any type of stairs.

Our Videos

Stair "E"'s journey up the campus

Stair "E"'s Incredible Journey

Summary

Unfortunately Stair “E” did not climb fifty stairs. With a few more modifications this would have been a possibility. Our group is proud of what we accomplished.