The robotics activity was a great experience for me because i’ve never done anything like this in previous classes. This was my first time building a robot which I thought would be difficult, but the instrutions were very easy to follow and with the help of my partner we were able to successfully do the activity. Apart from being a new experience for me, I also learned quite a bit about how to calculate the total distance and velocity of the robot.

After assembling our robot, my partner and I determined what power levels we wanted to test with corresponding times. For our first trial we tested the robot at a 25 power level for 2 seconds. Our second trial at a 50 power level for 4 seconds, and our third trail at a 60 power level for 6 seconds. To make sure our trials would produce valid data, we had to make sure our robot had enough distance to travel on our label without inferfering with any other objects. Also, we had to make sure that our robot was traveling in a straight line every time we performed a trial. Below is the data we collected from our trails. The first table includes our own calculations, and the second includes calculations from the computer.

Our Calculations

Power level & time traveled	Distance measured (meters)	Velocity (m/s)
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	0.17	0.085
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	0.171	0.0855
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	0.171	0.0855
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	0.741	0.185
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	0.742	0.186
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	0.751	0.188
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	1.40	0.233
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	1.39	0.2317
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	1.42	0.2367

 

Computer Calculations

Power level & time traveled	# of wheel turns	Distance measured (meters)	Velocity (m/s)
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	0.941667	0.160083	0.0800417
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	0.963889	0.163861	0.0819306
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	0.969444	0.164806	0.0824028
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	4.322222	0.734778	0.184757
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	4.34722	0.739028	0.184757
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	4.38333	0.745167	0.186292
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	8.11389	1.37936	0.229894
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	8.10833	1.37842	0.229736
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	8.14167	1.38408	0.230681

 

For our calculations, we determined the distance traveled by meausring from the starting point to where the robot stopped using a ruler. We marked the starting point with tape and would place the robot there before every trial. When we measured the distance, we would measure from the back of the robot (starting point), to the front of the robot (ending point). To calculate the velocity, we used the formula: Velocity = distance / time. We did not calculate the number of wheel turns, but if we did we would have used the formula:

Wheel turns = rotation /360(degrees).

We also calculated the perecent error in distance from our data to the computer data. For this, we used the formula:

% Error = |(our distance-distance on computer)/average  x   100|

Below is our results for Percent Error:

PWR level  & time traveled	Percent Error
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	6.008
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	4.26
25 PWR, 2 Seconds	3.689
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	0.8432
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	0.4013
50 PWR, 4 Seconds	0.7797
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	1.485
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	1.053
60 PWR, 6 Seconds	2.6519

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based off of our percent error data, our measurements were not too far off from what the computer calculated. The percentages are very low, which means we measured fairly correctly.

Overall, I think this activity was a good expereience and I learned a lot from the data my partner and I collected. All three variables (# of wheel turns, distance, and velocity) increase as the time traveled, and power level increased. My partner was awesome and I feel like I learned a lot more doing this hands-on activity than I would have in a lecture.