RoboticsTransition Year Robotics is a brand new class for 2015. A group of students will work throughout the year to create Mini Sumo Wrestling Robots and enter them into the National Competition in spring 2016.
This will introduce students to aspects of Leaving Certificate subjects such as Engineering and Design & Communication Graphics. It will also be quite a cool challenge. |
What are Mini Sumo Robots?
Robot-Sumo is a sport in which two robots attempt to push each other out of a circle (just like Sumo wrestling). Two robots are placed in a ring and turned on, from this point on they are on their own.
The engineering challenges are for the robot to find its opponent (usually accomplished with infrared or ultra-sonic sensors) and to push it out of the flat arena. A robot also has to avoid leaving the arena, usually by means of a sensor that detects the edge. The most common "weapon" used in a Sumobot competition is an angled blade at the front of the robot, usually tilted at about a 45 degree angle towards the back of the robot. This blade may have an adjustable height for different tactics. However, there are lots of different designs that can be used to make a competitive robot. |
The Rules
How big?
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Components
To minimise costs and ensure fairness for the competition, specifications for the following components have been created.
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A full copy of the 2015 Rules is available here.
What are we going to do in class?
Students will work in small groups to deign and build their robots. This is the first time we've done this so it's going to be a bit of an adventure into the unknown, however the general plan is as follows:
- Build the T4 Sample Mini Sumo Robot
- Refine the operating software and understand what makes a competitive robot
- Design & build your own robot
- Refine it
- Enter the robot into the Irish Mini Sumo Robot competition
T4 Sample Mini Sumo RobotThere are a full set of instructions for making this robot, we just follow them and end up with a basic robot.
Why build this when I have a much cooler idea? Well, it would be easy to waste 2 months thinking about amazing blades to attack opponents and cool paint jobs, the problem is that with any engineering project, it's only as good as the weakest link. That's why we will start with a simple design and learn how to make it (a lot of new stuff here for many students), what makes it good (new for all of us) and how to control it (a crucial part). At that point we'll be ready to come up with our own design. |
Click on the images below to get the working drawings
Assessment
End of term assessment will be broken into two parts:
1 - What you've achieved
In order to have a brilliant robot ready for the national competition in spring, each group will need to hit the following end of term milestones:
2 - Telling your story
In order to gain a broader range of skills and help others understand what we do, each group will have to tell their story along the way. You can choose a variety of ways to do this such as:
At the end of each term all groups will present on their progress so far and the challenges they as facing. Everyone in the group will be assigned the same mark (although effort marks may vary) and the class will all have an input into those marks.
- What you’ve achieved
- Telling your story
1 - What you've achieved
In order to have a brilliant robot ready for the national competition in spring, each group will need to hit the following end of term milestones:
- Term 1 - Sample Sumo Robot built
- Term 2 - Software refined on sample robot, design complete for your own robot
- Term 3 - Your own robot ready for competition
- Term 4 - Final story of your robot complete
2 - Telling your story
In order to gain a broader range of skills and help others understand what we do, each group will have to tell their story along the way. You can choose a variety of ways to do this such as:
- Make a video
- Make a website (Web Design is one of your TY classes)
- Make (and give) a presentation
At the end of each term all groups will present on their progress so far and the challenges they as facing. Everyone in the group will be assigned the same mark (although effort marks may vary) and the class will all have an input into those marks.