In this article I will explain the theory and initial code to get a Lego Spike Prime robot following a wall.
Disclaimer: This article will use Robocup Junior Australia‘s Rescue (Maze) Challenge with a Lego Spike Prime robot as an example.
Robotics
#Robotics Programming a Spike Prime Line Following Robot – Part 3
At the end of the second article in this series, I mentioned some additional line following methods. In this article I will explain the theory and initial code to get a Lego Spike Prime robot following a line.
Disclaimer: This article will use Robocup Junior Australia‘s Rescue (Line) Challenge with a Lego Spike Prime robot as an example.
If you have not read the previous articles, please do so before continuing:
#Robotics Handling Reversed Tiles and Wide Lines
One of the challenges with the Robocup Junior Australia Line Rescue challenge is handling when the tile colours are reversed, that is a white line on a black background. This tile is called “Night Drive”.
There is also a tile which has a wider black line but is still on a white background. This tile is called “Wide Road” but is probably only used for the Western Australian competition.
This article explains techniques that can be used to update the line following algorithm for a two-sensor line following robot to handle these two tiles.
#Robotics Demo Video and Hints: Mighty Maisy Maze Rescue
I have been involved with mentoring robotics to primary and secondary school students for many years. However, you might not know that back in 2023, I took over the role of Rescue Maze Challenge Coordinator for Robocup Junior Australia at the national level when my friend, Neil Gray, went to the US for a few years.
One of the primary projects I championed was the creation of a simpler Maze challenge than the original Open Maze challenge. We wanted something that beginners and younger students would enjoy getting involved with, which had a much gentler learning curve and lower cost barriers than the existing Open Maze challenge. This new division was named Mighty Maisy Maze (MMM) and was based on ideas that Neil had before he left.
#Robotics Demo Video and Hints: Primary and Secondary Line Rescue
You already know that I love robotics and working with primary and secondary school students to mentor them through the learning experience of building and programming robots for the Robocup Junior Australia challenges.
I was the Western Australia Rescue Line Coordinator for many years before moving to the Rescue Maze challenge in 2023. I have built many Rescue Line robots over the years, primarily using the various Lego Mindstorms platforms, including NXT, EV3 and now Spike Prime.
#Robotics Better Colour Detection by Converting RGB to HSI Values
Accurately detecting colours without needing calibration has always been an issue with robots for both Robocup Junior Rescue Line and Rescue Maze competitions.
If the sensor can detect colours itself, it might have issues depending on the range of shades for each colour. For example: Lego EV3 colour sensors are known for being bad at detecting shades of green other than Lego Dark Green.
Using the RGB (Red, Green and Blue) values from a colour sensor does allow the developer to interpret the values and decide which colour that represents. However, using HSI (Hue, Saturation and Intensity) makes this exercise simple and accurate.
#Robotics Lego Spike Prime Robots for Rescue Line and Rescue Maze
A couple of years ago I created some videos showing how to use the Lego Spike Prime set to build robots for the Robocup Junior Australia Rescue Line and Rescue Maze challenges.
This article is just to make them easier to find from David’s Robotics Portal.
#Robotics Hints for creating a successful OnStage Performance Dancing Robot
Today’s article is a welcome addition to David’s Robotics Portal. It is a “brain dump” of all the hints, tricks and techniques I can think of that will help you create a successful dancing robot for the Robocup Junior Australia Onstage Performance challenge.
If you are planning to compete in this challenge, the information in this article will help you get the best performance and the most points you can.
#Robotics Welcome to Lego SumoBots
I have been planning to write this article for a long time. So, I am really happy to finally get it posted and welcome everyone to the world of Lego Sumo Wrestling Robots (aka SumoBots).
You probably know that I have been mentoring robotics for the students at All Saints College in Perth for many years now. My kids are all grown up, have completed university degrees and have been working full time in industry for a few years already, but I love helping the engineers of tomorrow get excited about building and programming robots. I explained more in my previous article:
At the robotics club, we start the younger (Year 5) students’ robotics journey by introducing them to building Lego Mindstorms robots to compete in a Sumo Wrestling competition.
#Robotics Making a Robot that can move in any direction
At the recent Robocup Junior Western Australian State Championships competition, I took a few moments just before the awards ceremony to demonstrate a robot that could move in any direction.
While the actual robot was originally designed for the Rescue Maze challenge to allow it adjust its position in the maze by moving sideways, it ended up being much more capable in how it can move and could be the basis for a dancing robot for the Onstage Performance challenge. 😀
New Robocup Junior Rescue Robot Videos and Spike Prime Review
Following on from the Robocup Junior Western Australian State Competition 2020 article I wanted to share with you some videos of the robots I have been working on.
As an adult I cannot compete in the Robocup Junior competition, but there is nothing stopping me enjoying working/playing with Lego Mindstorms robots and coding something that has a presence in the physical world. Continue reading
Robocup Junior Western Australian State Competition 2020
As you may know I am on the Western Australian Committee for Robocup Junior Australia. This year the WA State Competition, along with most of the other state competitions and the national competition, were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Western Australia was in a good position with no community transmission, it was decided to hold a delayed WA State Competition in November instead of the usual August.
#MVPBuzz Why I Mentor Robotics
OK, I admit it…. I am a geek. I love gadgets and technology especially when they are fun to play with. I always have, even before I played with my neighbour’s Sinclair ZX-80 computer when I still lived in the UK. I think the first real gadgets for me were Lego.
I would say it started back in 1977 (4 years before my family moved to Perth, Australia) when I bought one of the first Technical Lego sets ever released, the Lego 850 Fork Lift Truck. I still have this set and the associated Lego 870 Power Pack which could be used to add a motor.
So how did a lifetime love of Lego get me into Robotics?
#Robotics Line Rescue Additional Considerations
Just when I thought I had finished the series of articles explaining the techniques need to complete the Robocup Junior Australia Line Rescue Challenge, I realised that there were some additional considerations and advice that will help take your robots to the next level.
The idea of this article is not to provide solutions, but to make teams aware of issues and problems they make encounter, so they can make their hardware and software more robust and capable.
Good Luck.
#Robotics Line Rescue Completing the rescue
The previous article in this series covered how to find the victim in the rescue zone for the Robocup Junior Australia Line Rescue challenge:
This article covers the steps needed to complete the rescue depending on the division you are competing in; Primary, Secondary or Open.
#Robotics Finding objects with an Ultrasonic sensor
This is almost the final article explaining the techniques to handle the challenges your robot will face during the line rescue division of Robocup Junior Australia competition.
Your robot should now be able to navigate all the way through the course following the line and handling intersections and obstacles in its path. The final part of the challenge is the rescue and this article discusses the first part of the rescue process…. finding the victim.
#Robotics Handling water tower or obstacles
Keeping the momentum going, here is the next article in this series to help you prepare of the Robocup Junior Australia competition.
Your robot should now be able to line follow and navigate intersection markers successfully, so the next task is to make sure it can handle obstacles (previously known as the water tower) that might be placed in front of it. This challenge can be a little tricky as the robot will need to leave the line and then find the line again to continue line following.
#Robotics Handling intersection shortcut markers
The Robocup Junior WA State Competition for 2019 is just around the corner, so I thought I would get back to writing some more of the blogs in this series.
So far we have concentrated on building and programming of a Line Following Robot, but we have not discussed the handling of intersections or shortcuts. These are the green squares which indicate the direction a robot should turn when it reaches an intersection.
#Robotics Programming a Self Calibrating Line Following Robot
It has been a while since I wrote an article for my robotics portal, so I thought I would write about a topic I have been mentoring a student recently.
This concept for this article is how to create a line following robot that is self calibrating. When a robot is self calibrating, the requirement for taking light readings and updating the code when changing venues or light conditions change is avoided.
Robocup Junior WA 2018 Rescue Line Workshop
On the 15th March 2018, the Robocup Junior WA Committee ran a Rescue Line Workshop at All Saints’ College.
The workshop was a great success with a large turnout who enjoyed the session and learnt the basics of building a robot (both hardware and software) for the Robocup Junior Australia Rescue Line challenge.
[Edit] While the video was recorded in 2018, all the materials in the shared folders linked to are being kept up to date.