Multidisciplinary Teamwork

An Undergraduate Robotics Course Emphasizing

Integrated System Design

A CCLI – A & I Grant

funded by the National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education

Grant # 0311434

A Multidisciplinary Teamwork Experience

• The pedagogical goals of this project include:– learning to work in a cross-functional team

– learning about integrated system design

– learning about group dynamics and teamwork

– a hands-on experience in practical robotics

• The educational goals of this project include the development of course materials to teach an integrated system course using robotics

Interactions Between Sub-systems• Complex systems consist of

multiple sub-systems, each one has the potential of interacting with every other one.

Complexity comes from Multidisciplinary Systems

• Complex systems can be an integration of mechanical, electrical, chemical, and computational sub-systems.

• Like vacuum cleaners, washers, cars, hard drives, space shuttles, …, and ROBOTS.

Integrated Systems• Integrated systems are comprised of interdependent

components that can include electrical, chemical, mechanical, and computational components.

• Theses systems are developed in cross-functional teams made up of members from the different disciplines.

Robotics: Electronics, Mechanics, & Computation

• Inexpensive robotics kits provide a tool for designing integrated systems of mechanics, electronics, and computation

• Working in multidisciplinary teams students develop labs that include:– Designing & Implementing a 2 DoF planar robot arm– Designing & Implementing differential light & sound sensors– Designing & Implementing mobile robots

Course Objectives

1. To study the mechanical mechanisms necessary for robot movement and actions.

2. To study the electrical mechanisms of sensor sampling and signal processing.

3. To study the computational mechanisms necessary for sensory perception.

4. To study the computational mechanisms of autonomous robotics.

5. To learn about integrated system design.6. To provide a hands-on experience to practical robotics.7. To learn to work in a cross-functional team.

Integrated Course Topics

• ME: Translationa & Rotation, Degrees of Freedom, Forward & Reverse Kinematics, and PID Feedback Control

• ECE: Basic Circuits, Transducers, and Signal Processing & Filtering

• CS: Basic & Heurstic Search Techniques, Multi-Processing, Worst Case Complexity Analysis, Image Processing

• IE: Multi-agent Planning Systems, Shared Information & Communication

• Specific to Robotics: Robot Control, Navigation, & Localization

• Topics on Teamwork: Group Dynamics, team process, running effective meetings

Multidisciplinary Teamwork• Teams formed of students from Electrical & Computer

Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Industrial Engineering– Each team has at least one student from ECE, CS, and ME.

• Teamwork and group dynamics are covered– Students are given a team process

• Students are encouraged to study as a team so that learning from each other is a natural part of the team activity

Designing, Building & Programming

• Each class member will participate on a cross functional team consisting of 3 or 4 students from different disciplines.

• Teams will work on a variety of lab assignments that include designing & building mechanisms, circuits, and robots

• Robot will be built using the Handy Board Microcontroller (www.handyboard.com).

What is a Team?• Two or more people who interact with each other, are

interdependent, and define themselves and are defined by others as a team, who work together to achieve a common purpose.– Otherwise you are a group ( or a party).

Team Process

• How are decisions made?• How are conflicts resolved?• Team Roles

– CTO: Chief Technical Officers (Facilitator)• Keeps the team focused and productive

– Scribe• Documents the activities and decisions of the team

– Rat Hole Watcher• Makes sure the team doesn’t get too far off topic

Running an Effective Team Meeting • Meetings must have a detailed agenda

– What topics are to be covered, what activities will be performed

• Team Roles Assigned– CTO, Scribe, Rate Hole Watcher

• Document the Meeting– What was discussed or accomplished– What are the “action items” and who is responsible for

each one.– Provides a group memory– Reminds individuals the assignments they need to complete

Team Meeting Exercise • Get into your assigned teams

• Introduce each other and trade contact information

• Run a 10-minute team meeting– Assign roles, use the meeting minutes template

– Here is the meeting agenda:

1. Individual team members list 5 characteristics of a good team member

2. Individual team members list 5 characteristics of a poor team member

3. As a team come to a consensus of a top 5 list for good characteristics and poor characteristics in order of priority.

Review Lists

My list of top 5 “Do Be’s”

• Completes assignments on time

• Communicates

• Uses constructive criticism rather than destructive criticism.

• Is on time for meetings

• Sense of humor

Puzzle Game

Form Teams

Solve the given jigsaw puzzle without looking at the picture

What did we observe?• It is difficult to solve the puzzle without having a

clear picture of what the objective is

• Team members automatically assumed certain roles based on their personality types and styles

General Lab Philosophy & Expectations

• The assigned labs are to get hands-on experience applying the concepts covered in lecture to elements of robotics.

• Labs are for preparing the team for designing and implementing the final project.

• The labs are for developing effective teamwork skills.

• The labs are for learning from each other enough about other disciplines to be able to work on a multidisciplinary project.

• Lab work is team assigned; it is to be done as a TEAM.

General Lab Philosophy & Expectations (continued)

• Teams are expected to meet, discuss, plan, and develop the labs together as a team.

• Team meetings are to be run as discussed in the class, each member should be assigned a role, each meeting must have an agenda, task assignments must be made, and progress documented.

• Team roles must be assigned appropriate to the topic. The Chief Technical Officer (Facilitator) will be the person with the appropriate background, for example, an assignment on circuits will be led by an electrical engineer. The other positions assigned will be Scribe and Rat Hole Watcher (Timer).

• With each assignment teams will hand-in their team meeting minutes. Minutes must include who was present, assignments, what was discussed and accomplished, and the amount of time met.

Lab 1: Rube Goldberg Machines

• Lab Goals– To get familiar with materials in the robot kit.

– To get in an engineering frame of mind for designing and building.

– To get working as a team.

– To have some fun.

• Build a Rube Goldberg Machine that will capture a mouse without harming it (a non-violent mouse trap).

Lab 2: Bug Behavior• Lab Goals

– To get familiar with the Handy Board, sensors, and different types of motors.– To design a mechanism for a 1-DoF joint.– To work as a team on an integrated system that includes mechanics, electronics,

and computation.

• Team Assignment: Build a Bug with an Appetite– Build a mobile bug.– Using a shielded light sensor, the bug should wake up when a strong light

is shined on it.– The bug should scan the area in front of it for the closest object which it

will assume is a food source. Use the sonar sensor placed on a turret mechanism for this. The turret must be turned by a servo motor.

– Once the bug identifies the closest object, it should move in the direction of the object.

– When the bug finds the food with its antennae, it stops to feed. – If the food source is removed, the bug searches for a new food source.

Lab 3: Design a Custom Light Sensor

• Lab Goals– To become familiar with interfacing sensors to the Handy

Board

– To design, build, and test a custom electronic circuit that can locate a light source

• Team Assignment: Homing Light Sensor– Design and build a light sensor for use with your

mobile robot that can “home in” on a light source.

Lab 4: Robot Arm• Lab Goals

– To design a mechanism for a 2-DoF manipulator.

– To implement PD feedback control.

• Team Assignment: Build a Robotic Manipulator– Design and fabricate a two-link

manipulator that can hold a pen.

– Implement PD closed-loop feedback control to achieve accurate tracking of the circular path for both inverse kinematic solutions.

Final Project

Cross-functional Teams will design and build a robot to complete in a Urban Search and Rescue Challenge

Adaptation & ImplementationThis project adapts material from:

– CMU’s General Robotics Course, H. Choset– Swarthmore & Bryn Mawr’s Robot Building Lab Project, D. Kumar

& L. Medeen– Drexel University’s Education Tools for Low-Cost Robotics, L.

Greenwald– Tuft University Robotics Academy– KISS Institute for Practical Robotics

Links to these resources can be found at:

http://www.cs.siue.edu/robotics/integratedsystems/

Jerry B. Weinberg, CSWilliam White, CSGeorge Engel, ECE

Cem Karacal, IEAi-Ping Hu, ME