Demystifying autonomous...

[JBotAlan]

I just had a bit of a brain blast. It probably won't be so great grammatically or organizationally because I'm not feeling so hot right now, but wanted to write this down.

It is so difficult to explain to those uninitiated with programming why I can't "just make it go straight for 3 feet, then turn left"...what they don't seem to get is how the robot actually sees the world.

So...

How about having a session before the build season in which we explore what life is like for a robot? Take each of the kids, put a blindfold on, and have them navigate through an obstacle course. Ask them what they did to keep on course, and then draw the parallel to different sensors on the robot.

Then you could proceed to write up steps of how to get through said course, after outlining which sensors would be necessary.

Maybe even give a good heads-up display of sensor values (SANS CAMERA) from the robot sitting around the corner. Give the controls over to a student and watch them figure out the shape of the course based on a few microswitches, an ultrasonic, and a gyro.

It would require a bit of elbow grease on the programmer's part, but I think the effort would pay off.

Input? Anyone done something like this before?