Msc in Autonomous Robotics Engineering
MSc in Autonomous Robotics Engineering
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
Practical Robotics (PRAR)
Open Assessment
Issued: Wednesday 5th February 2014
Submission due: 12.00 (NOON) Wednesday 12th March 2014
All students should submit their code using the on-line submission system by NOON on Wednesday 12th March 2014. An assessment that has been handed in after this deadline will be marked initially as if it had been handed in on time, but the Board of Examiners will normally apply a lateness penalty.
Presentations will be held Wednesday 12th March 2014 in the afternoon in the robot lab.
Your attention is drawn to the Guidelines on Mutual Assistance and Collaboration in the Student's Handbook.
Any queries on this assessment should be addressed to:
Prof Jon Timmis
Email:
Replies will be published on-line (and available to all students) on the course website. No queries will be answered via email after 26th February 2014.
Marking Criteria
The assessment is marked out of 100, with part 1 making up 60 marks and part 2 making up 40 marks. Marks will be awarded for:
- A demonstration of the system developed performing required tasks
- A 5 minute oral presentation of the work undertaken
- Good coding practice, software design and software testing
Notes for the Presentation
You should ensure your presentation has at least the following components:
- A title slide, including your name
- Details on the design, implementation and testing of the system
- Details on results obtained from running the system (in test scenarios)
- Reflections on lessons learnt from the project
Part 1 – Individual Robot Controller (60 marks)
Design and Implementation: You are required to develop a controller for a pi Swarm robot that can follow a wall for at least 2 metres. An opposing wall will have a series of notches, which must be counted by the robot as it tracks the wall (see figure 1). We will provide a series of different wall designs and your system should be able to count notches of all provided designs. (30 marks)
Figure 1 - Possible scenarios for robot testing. Robots need to track the wall on the left, whilst counting the number of notches on the right hand side.
After the wall following task is completed, the robot should stop and then the robot will be required to switch to a line following mode and follow a line for at least 1 minute. (10 marks)
Testing: You will be provided two courses on which to test your system and a third will be provided on the day of assessment that you have not had access to. This will test for generality of your approach. Marks will be awarded for performance on all three courses equally. (15 marks – 3 marks each for the course you have practiced on and 9 marks for the new course)
Presentation: For your 5 minute presentation, you should allocate around 3 minutes to presenting work from this activity. (5 marks)
Part 2 – Multiple Robots (40 marks)
Design and implementation: You are required to design and implement a robotic control system using a minimum of two robots (pi swarm), and any other equipment you feel appropriate, which is capable of performing any task for a minimum of two minutes. You are free to design what ever task you like, we want you to be creative. The environment for your robot demonstration will in epuck arena in the robot lab. You should inform Dr James Hilder if you require any extra ‘props’ for your experiments. Please give Dr Hilder () at least 3 days notice if this is required. (20 marks)
Testing: The system should run for a minimum of two minutes, the robots are not allowed to stay still for longer than 5 seconds at any point in time. 5 marks awarded for operation over 2 minutes and 10 marks awarded for the creativity and difficulty of the task.
Presentation: Of your 5 minute presentation, you should allocate around 2 minutes to presenting work from this activity. (5 marks)
END OF ASSESMENT