Physics Class Robotics
by Kim Lingenfelter
March 11, 2008
The members of Mr. Kaiser's Physics class has just finished a section on robotics. One might wonder if the class was playing with legos upon entering the classroom. Actually, they are legos, very sophisticated legos, used to build computer programmable legos machines! Each student chose a machine to build and used computer software to program them to be able to move.
LaVerne Hauger built a robot that resembles a tractor with a packer. It has a bumper on the front to tell it when to run. The tractor drives into a wall and the bumper tells it to stop and back up. The bumper also starts a motor to lift the packer. The wheels turn and the tractor turns around and lowers the packer and drives back the way it came.
Nick Mertens's robot is called Mert's Mower. It is designed to follow a path with a laser mounted in front of it. A motor with a PTO powers 3 mower blades suspended on the deck. His other robot is a dump truck which is designed to load up something and drive to an area to dump it out.
The Robo Hunter was built by Justin Avery. It is programmed to find other robots and drive to them to pinch them with its two arms. It also has a sound sensor to say when it has completed the task.
Joni Yule's elaborate machine is a motorcycle with a pivoting wheel in the front to hopefully someday make it turn! It has four wheels in the back that provide the power steering and the momentum to make it move (sometimes).
Justin Cunningham's robot is called the Cunningham Crane. It is moved by a set of tracks. Two other motors power the crane. One lets the crane move up and down and the other controls the string and hook by allowing it to move up and down.
Darrin Roeber invented a four legged machine. It's mission was to walk evenly with all four legs going. He had to make sure the front right and back left leg were down while the other two were up to try and walk forward.The name of his robot is The Beast.
