Junkbots

Details of the Raspberry Pi Junkbot are now available as resource on the Computing at Schools site. Link:  http://community.computingatschool.org.uk/resources/3390 If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

An undergraduate dissertation student is looking for help. James is a computing student looking at robot designs for primary education towards his dissertation and as part of the wider  Junkbots project , and the working going on in both the Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies, and School of Education on Physical Computing at the University of Northampton. The short questionnaire can be found at  http://t.co/zdomXnW2Qe  and is aimed at gathering  a variety of responses from both current Teachers, Students of Education and from anyone with knowledge of programming teaching methods in both Key Stage 1 and 2. He is planning to create a product which aims to teach programming methods and practices based on the current and new national curriculum. If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

A new Facebook page has been set-up to complement this blog:  www.facebook.com/junkrobot Please come along have a look. If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

First video of a junkbot being controlled by a Raspberry Pi. The bot was developed by Hayden Tetley and Scott Turner. Hayden's time was paid  for through the Nuffield Research Placements  Scheme ( http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements ). Next post will provide further details on how this was done. If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

Taken from:  Mobile Robotics with Scratch: Build an Arduino-based insect-like Walker and program it with Scratch : A version of the insect-like walker made with coat-hanger wire and originally designed by  Jerome Demers  ( see also this instructable ) and Gareth Branwyn. It comes in two versions: a standalone,  Arduino-only  version, powered by a common old-fashioned Arduino sketch, and a remote-controlled version, dynamically programmed using the MIT-developed  Scratch  visual programming language. 'via Blog this'

Taken from:  http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/physical-computing-junkbots-with-brain.html Figure 1 A new stage for the Junkbots project ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/  ) starts this week. Up to this point the junk bot building has largely being about building a moving (or drawing) 'bot' moved by vibration - limited control, but fun. This week, A  Nuffield funded bursary studen t starts working on investigating whether LEGO NXT or Raspberry Pi based solutions can be incorporated with the bot to add some control of the movement (still by vibration). Idea One  Is to add a LEGO NXT brick, plus motors that are made to vibrate, to a junkbot similar to one shown in figure 1. The motor and broken propeller combination being replaced with the NXT brick and LEGO motor. A good potential feature is it a self-contained unit with power and control together, as well as being potentially fairly simple to set-up. Idea Two Is to do a similar approach as...

Not exactly a Junkbot but definitely related is the  Robot Obstacle Course game developed by Oregon Museum of Science and Industry . The game takes the player through exercises in Boolean Logic to allow the robot to collect keys and jump over traps to open the door. This a good and fun introduction to logic. To play the game go to: http://www.omsi.edu/tech/RobotActivity/index.htm If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

Another example of 'junkbot'-type robot:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Bots-Wobbler/  Simple Bots: Wobbler : "Simple Bots: Wobbler by randofo Typically, you learn how to wobble before you learn how to walk. But in the world of bots, anything is possible! That is why a day after showing you how to walk and two after showing you how I roll, I am back to show you how to do a little wobble wobble. That's right! In almost no time, you can be out wobbling around with the best of 'em. All of the parts in this project are simple to find and even less-than-experienced bot builders should be able to make this one pretty easily. And, more experienced bot builders should be able to have some fun modding this one, as the casing leaves a lot of room for experimentation. 'via Blog this'

Related examples of junkbot-type projects: go to  http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Bots-Skitter/  for more details. Simple Bots: Skitter : "Simple Bots: Skitter by randofo

Some related 'junkbot'-type projects: A Scrubbing robot Simple Bots: Scrub : "Simple Bots: Scrub by randofo  low-cost cleaning bot called Scrub Bot.  'via Blog this'

Popular posts How to build junkbots: Old toys In a previous blog entry the idea of using drinks can and an unbalanced motor was discussed. but what else have the projects participants t... How to build junkbots: Drinks can, unbalanced motor The junkbots project has now being running for 18 months in Northamptonshire, UK. But how have the junkbots being built? A video produced by... How to build junkbots: Wheels don’t always work well Back to the main approach, simplest way and probably the quickest:- A body (drinks can and drinks bottles usually) and an unbalanced motor -... Huxlow Pt 2: Lego Robots  The second half (programming lego robots) on the junkbots project has been carried out at  Huxlow Science College  on 28th February 2011. ... Toys from trash Arvind Gupta has produced a lot of work on turning junk into toys that aim to demonstrate the engineering ideas in an very interesting (wel... Brooke We...

For the last few months at lot of the outreach work from the Junkbots project was focused on the exercises based around turning cans into drawing bots or junk clearing bots. Yesterday (21st June 2012) the robot programming side of the project was trialled with primary schools. The Northamptonshire based Nene Lakes Extended Services ran "Chemistry at Work Day" event hosted by Scott Bader, Wollaston  and the robot programming was also included as well. The programming idea, an off-shoot of the junkbots project, was for the students to programming an NXT Lego robot to dance using only four commands that allowed the robot to: go forward for so many centimetres go back for so many centimetres go turn right for so many degrees go turn left for so many degrees The structure of the activity was up to 5 minutes introduction to the activity up to 10 minutes as a group of usually up seven; design a dance routine of no more than four moves up to 10 minutes putting the ro...

Figure 1  The first half (waste management activities and turning junk into robots) on the junkbots project has been carried out at  Huxlow Science College  on 15th February 2011. Some interesting designs were produced for junkbots that could clear up a range of 'rubbish'. These included: - one based around a milk carton, wheels and propellor at the back that was very quick.It included a scoop at the front to sweep up rubbish as it went.(see figures 1 and 2). Figure 2  - one based around a bottle with legs that vibrated along. This one included a magnet at the back that could pick up small metal items(figure 3,4 and 5) Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 -A third one included a scoop that designed to scoop up the rubbish as it moved forward.

The insperation for the Junkbots project came from reading the seminal book  Junkbots, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels   by  Dave Hrynkiw and Mark W Tilden. In this book they discussed turning electrical 'junk' into some very interesting robots - and sneaking in some very interesting engineering challenges and principles. A sample chapter can be found here  looking at producing a solar powered motored 'bug'.  The robots built within the JunkBots project are simpler but the principles are the same. If you are interested in this area this book is a must read.

The junkbots project has now being running for 18 months in Northamptonshire, UK. But how have the junkbots being built? A video produced by one of the particpants can be found here , showing some of the examples. Several ways have been investigated by the participants in the next few blogs some of these will be talked about. Let's start with the main approach, simplest way and probably the quickest:- A drink can and an unbalanced motor - shaking its way around. Take a 330ml drinks can and put it on its side. Fix an electric motor over one end of the can, packing tape is good for this (but not very environmentally friendly). Attach something to the motor's spindle that unbalances the motor, the goal is to get it vibrating. Broken propellers, cogs with Blu-tak, cogs with modelling clay have all being tried. The problem with this, is turn the motor on and the junkbots rolls over onto it side and goes around in circles. A couple of fixes students have tried, adding outrigg...

Thank you to the students and staff at Brooke Weston School, Corby, UK for working with us on this project. Here are some of the comments made by the students. Several of the students identified some interesting features about building robots out of 'junk': "We had the [f]reedom to show the teachers what skills we have" (Student B) "interesting overall" (Student H) "...but frustrating because modifications were frequent" (Student J) "The activity was very fun and creative. We experience lots of difficulties to overcome." (Student K) "it was nice have time off timetable once in a while" (Student N) "I found that building the junk bots has made me some new friends..." (Student T) "...as we[ we]re able to put any ideas forward to put ideas forward to create our own creation" (Student V) The programming of the robots caused a differences in opinion which seemed to come down to two main factors, that th...

Students at Brooke Weston School, Corby have been working with the University of Northampton's School of Science and Technology on the junkbots project. Scott Turner and Terry Tudor on the 16th and 17th February 2010 went to the school to run the sessions. Starting with a talk and activities on waste management, including how much waste the UK produced, and in terms of numbers of slices of toast what is the cost of energy of leaving a monitor on overnight.   The task was to produce robots out of rubbish that could carry other rubbish into a containment area. The change made to the sessions was that students brought there own 'junk' to the sessions. S ome innovative and creative designs were produced involving 'legs', wheels (including turning cans into wheels and wheels from old toys).    Some of the designs pushed rubbish into the area, but one of the designs carried the rubbish into the area and some designs used magnets to pick up small steel parts (nuts a...

Feedback from the sessions in December are very encouraging. When students were asked to grade out of 5 the sessions overall ( scores with 1 being poor and 5 excellent) of the twenty replies received 100% were rate at 4 (65%)or 5(35%). In all the questions asked, the feedback was in the majority rated three or above. For this group of the students the creative aspects of the activities engaged them and this was reflected in their feedback. Quotes from some of the students: “it was fun and creative, I learnt quite a bit” “It let use be creative with our design.” “it opened my eyes to engineering” This last one is especially of note as the aim of the project is to encourage engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. The waste management activities seem to engage from the point of view of helping them to understand their own impact both positively and negatively. “...it was cool to know what my carbon footprint is.” “... made me think about all...