Here's a cool video of my first year class in Engineering Design. One of their projects is to build and program a Lego robot to compete in robot sumo...
Deltoid
Robot sumo
Here's a cool video of my first year class in Engineering Design. One of their projects is to build and program a Lego robot to compete in robot sumo......
Search
Profile
Tim Lambert (deltoidblog AT gmail.com) is a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales.
Recent Posts
- Robert Manne on Monckton's plan for the Australian media
- February 2012 Open Thread
- More fraud from Pat Michaels
- The Australian's War on Science 76: Dad Jokes
- January 2012 Open Thread
- Better late than never at The Australian
- Merry Christmas
- Keith Kloor's thinking on climate change
- Wegman one of The Scientist's top five science scandals
- The Australian's War on Science 75: Plimer vs Plimer
Recent Comments
- John on Jonas Thread
- ianam on February 2012 Open Thread
- Lotharsson on February 2012 Open Thread
- bill on February 2012 Open Thread
- ianam on February 2012 Open Thread
- Lotharsson on February 2012 Open Thread
- Lotharsson on February 2012 Open Thread
- bill on February 2012 Open Thread
- GSW on February 2012 Open Thread
- Lotharsson on February 2012 Open Thread
Categories
- Ask a ScienceBlogger
- Brignell
- CFCs and ozone
- DDT
- Fumento
- Global Warming
- Gregg Easterbrook is an idiot
- Iraq
- LancetIraq
- Lott
- Milloy
- Open Thread
- Roy Spencer
- Skeptics Circle
- The War on Science
- academia
- astroturf
- bingo
- computers
- creationism
- criminology
- economics
- free speech
- funny
- guns
- maths
- meet up
- meta
- personal
- politics
- quackery
- random
- reviews
- statistics
- stupidity
- surveys
- world
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
Links
Blogroll
- Angry Bear
- Atmoz
- Backseat driving
- Barista
- Climate denial crock
- Brad Delong
- Brave New Climate
- Bug Girls' Blog
- Climate Change
- Climate Feedback
- Climate Progress
- Climate Shifts
- Climate Sight
- Club Troppo
- Crooked Timber
- David Friedman
- Deep Climate
- Eschaton
- Fafblog
- FiveThirtyEight
- Freakonomics blog
- Greenfyre's
- Gristmill
- Groklaw
- Hot Topic
- Hit and Run
- International Journal of Inactivism
- James' Empty Blog
- John Quiggin
- Jon Swift
- Kevin Drum
- Larvatus Prodeo
- Logical Science
- Making Light
- Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub
- More Grumbine Science
- Nexus 6
- Notes from the Lounge
- Oliver Willis
- Only In It For The Gold
- Open Mind
- Paul Krugman
- Political Animal
- Quark Soup
- Rabett Run
- RealClimate
- Sadly, No!
- TBogg
- The Loom
- The Panda's Thumb
- The Poor Man
- The Reality-based Community
- The Volokh Conspiracy
- Think Progress
- TPM Cafe
- Unqualified Offerings
- Watching the Deniers
- AMK's Journal
- Andrew Norton
- Antony Loewenstein
- ArchPundit
- are you effin' kidding me?
- B and B
- Brian Linse
- Carnaby Fudge
- DeSmogBlog
- Detached Observer
- eRiposte
- Explananda
- Flop Eared Mule
- From a LAN Downunder
- Hoyden About Town
- Infothought
- John Fleck
- The Hard Sell
- Harry Clarke
- Known Unknowns
- Matt T
- Malaria Matters
- Mobjectivist
- Notional Slurry
- Opinion Dominion
- Penguin Unearthed
- Pro Bono Statistics
- Pro-science
- Psyche, Science, and Society
- Rants and Raves
- Say Uncle
- Section 15
- short notes: will brady's ruminations
- Skeptics' Circle
- skippy the bush kangaroo
- Some are Boojums
- Speedkill
- spiceblog
- Stephen Gloor
- stoush.net
- The Bartlett Diaries
- The Ethical Werewolf
- The Huffington Post
- The Myron Ebell Climate
- The Post-Normal Times
- The Virtual Stoa
- This Space For Rent
- Wis[s]e Words
« Latest on Listener vs free speech | Main | Heartland's bogus list of 500 scientists »
Robot sumo
Category: personal
Posted on: April 29, 2008 5:42 AM, by Tim Lambert
Find more posts in: 
Education & Careers
Education & Careers
Comments
Cool! :)
I wonder how easy it is to build and program a Lego sumobot, since I've never done that (not specifically, at least).
Posted by: bi -- Intl. J. Inact. | April 29, 2008 7:12 AM
Lambert, what is the male/female ratio in the class? It looks pretty similar to engineering courses here in the U.S.
Posted by: Thom | April 29, 2008 9:52 AM
Bi:
LEGO sumo is very popular here. Programming them's simple enough if you know what you're doing (hint: K.I.S.S.) and are using the right environment; the construction is a bit more difficult in my opinion. The key to victory in LEGO sumo is traction, and there's only so much of that you can get without compromising other important factors. (Tim mentions weight in the clip; my experience tells me that I'd rather have a moderate-weight robot with impossible traction than a heavy robot with average traction. Weight -- specifically inertia -- and motor torque matter mostly for offensive rushes; traction matters for offense and defense.)
Tim, I'm noticing a mix of RCX and NXT bricks in these designs (for the uninitiated, RCX bricks are the yellow ones, NXT are the white/grey ones. RCX uses standard LEGO studs, NXT has more advanced hardware (including ultrasonic sensors and servo motors) but peg-and-hole construction). What language were you using to program them? The standard environment is terribly limiting and awkward.
My research involves LEGO robots as well, and I TA a course every fall on exploring what we call "embodied cognitive science" through LEGO robots. We've started putting videos up on YouTube; once I convince the prof to let me upload the main one, I'll link it.
Posted by: Brian D | April 29, 2008 11:56 AM
The class is about 80% male.
They program in NQC/NXC.
Posted by: Tim Lambert | April 29, 2008 12:22 PM
Can they not program them to bow to one another and throw rice in the air?
Posted by: ejh | April 29, 2008 2:16 PM
yes, but can they be programmed for this: http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1665 ?
Posted by: z | April 29, 2008 7:03 PM
Brian D:
Wow, sounds like one hell of a research project. :-B
Posted by: bi -- Intl. J. Inact. | April 29, 2008 8:10 PM
So this is Ultimo Lego Sumo.
Posted by: Zarquon | May 1, 2008 4:52 PM
Oops, it's UTS in Ultimo, not UNSW.
Posted by: Zarquon | May 1, 2008 5:34 PM
Bi: Wow, sounds like one hell of a research project. :-B
Pretty much. ;)
The main video I mentioned, showcasing this approach is finally up, and as I said above, I'm linking it. It's more about the course I mentioned than the research, but the two are interrelated. No sumo here, although we do have an impressive Coke vs. Pepsi bot in the first part (it was a student project from a couple years back), amongst others.
Posted by: Brian D | May 6, 2008 2:28 PM