Robots Activities Blog
Today was my first time using and experimenting with robots. Quite honestly, I enjoyed the experiment and learned a lot. Our goal was to collect data from nine different experiments. Three experiments were conducted per set of circumstances. My team then calculated and accounted for an error percentage.
Error percentage was calculated with the following formula:
Error% = Distance (measured) – Distance (Lab view)
Distance (measured) + Distance (Lab view) X 100%
2
Before I begin to explain or get into the details of our class experiment I would like to make a suggestion. Our team had two business students and one electrical engineer. I believe this should be the case on a weekly basis. Having my partner completely understand the project added value to my time in class. He answered a lot of questions and seemed comfortable with robotics. Although I can only speak for myself, as a business student I have never conducted research in this manner. It would be beneficial to the entire class if business students were paired with electrical engineers.
STEP 1:
- We first took the wheel and calculated the circumference.
- Circumference = Pi * Diameter
- Our measurements stated that the diameter of the wheel was 5.5 cm
- We converted it into meters .055m
- Circumference = .55 * pi = .173
Trial 1, which I consider to be the first threes samples went as follows. The first test we conducted allowed for 1.439 wheel turns to occur, the distance and velocity traveled was .249. Which also indicates that the total amount of time traveled was 1 second. Throughout the first three trials the rotation of the wheels (both left & right) were 525 degrees. The distance it traveled during this period was 24 cm.
Learning’s: What I learned from the first trial may sound obvious but it had honestly never occurred to me. Both distance and velocity were .249, which meant it had only traveled one second. In other words distance and velocity are to an extent intertwined.
After trial 1 we realized the left engine was not as powerful as the right engine because the wheel on the left was causing the robot to swerve left.
After three different tests with the same fixed variables there was surprisingly no error, each test provided the same results.
Trial 2:
The big change we had in the second trial was the degrees in which the wheels rotated. The left wheel rotated at 504 degrees while the right wheel rotated 511 degrees. The reason for changing the degrees was to attempt and make the robot go straight.
Overall, the distance the robot traveled was 27 cm.
- Number of wheels turned =1.4
- Distance = .24
- Velocity = .24
- Time Traveled = 1 second
After testing this trial we found an error percentage of approximately 1.5% (meters).
Learning’s: Trial 2 presented me with the opportunity to analyze, compute, and understand how exactly we were calculating for the error %.
Trial 3:
At this point we were rushing to ensure we would have time to conduct all three samples. During this last trial we changed the power of both wheel. The power of the left wheel was now 87, and the right wheel was now 80. The increase in power caused the number of wheels turned to increase to 1.67, it also increased the distance and velocity to .289, and the time remained 1 second.
Here is an example of our error %:
.295-.290
.295+.290/2 X 100% = 1.7%
We could still not manage the car to travel completely straight therefor within the last 2 minutes we conducted a last attempt to make the robot travel in a straight line. We increased the left wheel power to .99 and the right wheel to .87. The rotation increased to 687 and 696 degrees. The numbers of wheels turned increased to 1.9; distance and velocity were .33.
This last attempt had an error percentage of 6.25%. But, it was the closest we came to ensuring the car traveled in a straight line.
Learning’s:
Overall, I learned the importance of teamwork, and the importance of taking detailed notes. Regarding the trials I learned that by increasing the power of the wheels the number of wheels turned, distance, velocity, and rotation would increase. I believe the purpose of the class was to better understand how velocity works, and how it relates to distance.