Feb 3, 2010

Media contact: Patty Wellborn
Office: 604-795-2819
patty.wellborn@ufv.ca

Yale secondary students Seth Stenner, Colby Hink, and Myles Lucas tweak their gearbot after running it through one of the Smart Farm challenges. Each event was timed and UFV Electronics students volunteered as judges and timekeepers for the day. The yellow Lego blocks held by Myles represent a hay stack the bot was meant to push into a corner.

Lego gearbot challenge combines math, physics, and fun at UFV

While building a robot out of a Lego NXT Mindstorms kit and putting it through its paces may look like fun, Yale Secondary School’s Myles Lucas says it’s actually a lot of work. And a bit nerve wrecking.

Lucas, along with some 28 other Grade 9 Yale students, was participating in the University of the Fraser Valley’s Smart Farm Challenge, at UFV’s Trades and Technology Centre recently. All of the students were given the assignment to design, build, and then program an autonomous robotic device. The final challenge, hosted by UFV’s Electronics department, was to make the robots perform a series of timed jobs.

“We have to get it to do all of its tasks as quickly as possible, and we’ve had a few complications today,” Myles says, while pulling some grey Lego grabbers off the front of his gearbot. “We didn’t do as well as we hoped.”

The gearbots responded to sound, touch, and light.

It’s been a lengthy project for the grade nine students in Dereck Dirom’s Information Technology Robotics class. In November each team was given a kit along with instructions on how to build and program a mini robot that will perform tasks on demand. It’s Lego, engineering, computer programming, math, and physics all rolled into one lesson, says Dirom.

“It’s been about 25 hours of class time and the students really have to use their math skills — for instance they have to convert the size of their wheels to calculate the distance their gearbot has to move and then also program it, so it will move precisely as they want.”

The visit to UFV, where the bots are put through the paces, marks the end of the assignment — but not the fun. This year it was a smart farm challenge, so the gearbots needed to be programmed to collect farm-related objects (pretend manure piles), move things around, like a toy tractor, push plastic silage into the correct pile, and collect mini hay bales. The machines are also programmed to respond to sound and touch, and there are 10 bonus points if it will respond to light.

Dirom enjoys teaching the innovative program, he also hosts an after-school club, because it teaches so many skills, he says. The students work independently and with their teammates — leadership and problem-solving becomes key aspects of the project.

“It’s an innovative way to teach science, math, and technology. And it’s also a fun teaching method that reinforces core curriculum skills while also teaching leadership, teamwork, time management, organizational, and design skills.”

On challenge day at UFV, each team races their robot through the course, gaining and losing points depending on how well, and how fast, their creations complete the tasks.

Jacqueline Frost does some last-minute touch ups on her team's gearbot.

UFV’s electronics instructor Randy Kelley says events like these can help young students focus on future career goals. Kelley says the world of electronics and mechatronics is changing almost daily and can lead to many exciting jobs. Students in UFV’s Electronics Common Core program can look forward to careers in electrical engineering, electro-mechanics, and designing mechanical systems for the medical, aerospace, automotive, manufacturing or consumer products industries.

“This is a wonderful introduction at this level into the world of electronics and what we do in this industry,” says Kelley. “When I see what these students are doing in Grade 9, it is very exciting. I’m hoping by having the students here today, it will spark a new interest and maybe we’ll see some of them back here as university students in a few years time.”

The Yale robotics competition was sponsored by UFV and the Mitchell Odyssey Foundation — who helped pay for the computers and kits for the students. UFV also rounded out the day with pizza cooked by the students in the Professional Cook program.

And as for Myles and his teammates Seth Stenner, Colby Hink and Cody Mitchell, they placed sixth in the competition. Not as well as they hoped, but not last. And Colby shrugs when it’s suggested to him that building and programming a robot is a highly specialized skill.

“Really, anybody can do this,” he says. “It’s a Lego kit that comes with really good instructions, you just have to have some basic computer knowledge and know what you’re doing.”

UFV offers a 10-month Electronics Common Core program at its Trades and Technology Centre in Chilliwack where students learn how to build, repair, and troubleshoot analog and digital circuitry including electronic automation. To find more about the Electronics Common Core program, or any trades programs delivered at the TTC please visit www.ufv.ca/Trades

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