Robotics for Embedded Systems Education
Joseph Zambreno
10/16/06
Motivation
Investigate robotics platforms that might be used for 288/388/488 sequence
Can we do better than… …microcontroller on a breadboard? …simulator?
Requirements: Flexibility to conduct multiple labs Ability to explore concepts like memory addressing
and I/O, interrupt handling, ADC/DAC, etc. C programming interface
Common Uses
Robotics typically not being used in introductory CprE courses Slightly more common in introductory ComS courses Also found in 300/400 level courses in robotics, AI,
embedded systems, mechatronics Most common usage in K-12 outreach programs Some available resources:
NASA Robotics Alliance – http://robotics.nasa.gov Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy – http://www-
education.rec.ri.cmu.edu Iowa State University Robotics Club (ISURC) –
http://nukelab1.student.iastate.edu
Academic Projects Stiquito (http://www.stiquito.com)
Developed at Indiana University in 1992 J. Conrad, “Stiquito for Robotics and Embedded
Systems Education”, IEEE Computer, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 77-81, June 2005.
Hexapod robot Six legs glued to a simple PCB TI MSP430 microprocessor 4Kb of flash memory
Small, inexpensive (comes with the textbook!) Limited ability, flexibility
Academic Projects (2)
Palm Pilot Robot Kit (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pprk)
Developed at CMU in 2000 Three-wheeled robot
Palm Pilot or other PDA controls the system
More functional than Stiquito Fairly expensive (PDA, sensors not included) PDA requirement complicates programming
interface
LEGO Mindstorms
http://mindstorms.lego.com Mindstorms RCX
Renesas/Hitachi H8 microcontroller Graphical programming model (LabView) Third-party modifications for C, other languages
Mindstorms NCX ARM7 microprocessor Atmel AVR microcontroller USB/Bluetooth connectivity
D. Cliburn, “Experiences with the LEGO Mindstorms throughout the Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum”, ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2006.
Very popular, lots of resources available Targeted for grades 4-8? Limited to LEGO parts?
Other Systems
Parallax, Inc. makes several robotics kits (http://www.parallax.com) Boe-bot Hexcrawler
All built on BASIC stamp microcontroller PIC16C57 microcontroller BASIC interpreter
Other Systems (2)
Vex Robotics Design System (http://www.vexlabs.com) Two PIC18F8250 microcontrollers 16 I/O ports Programming kit with C compiler
S. Cass, “Getting Vexed”, IEEE Spectrum, May 2006.
RC controlled but can be autonomous Less limitation on design
Next Steps
Is this the direction we want to go in?
Best bets: Vex system or LEGO Mindstorms LEGO is fairly well-established in this area Vex systems more flexible and are a bit more serious
than LEGO
Team-up with ISURC group to gain further insight into the different choices