Ginosterous Academy
Project Ideas
Tethered balloon wildfire observer platform. It would float up hundreds of feet into the air, then use a simple computer vision setup to look for fires and report their location back to the ground wirelessly.
AI assisted tool-path generation for CAM. If an open source AI model could be created that would generate a tool path for machining an object given a 3d model of it.
Make an autonomous vehicle simulation using the
CARLA simulator
Engineering Skills
Watch this
motors video
with the kids
#hw
(robotics) Implement your proposed speedup changes.
Bot features
#hw
Oval track time trials, two laps in each direction around the track, 30 minutes to work on code, then repeat. Winner picks dinner!
2025-04-03
#hw
Introducing a 6-axis IMU -
MPU6050
HowtoMech tutorial
Prototype a circuit that reads data from the mpu6050 and displays it to the serial port
#hw
Create a class to interface with the mpu6050. You'll need to look at the
I2C serial interconnect protocol tutorial
to see how to use it
#hw
Use the IMU to implement an
angle
function that measures the current orientation and returns it as an angle.
#hw
Use the IMU to implement
move_by
and
turn_by
, which each take a number and either move that far or turn by that amount.
#hw
Use the
turn_by
and
move_by
to implement
drive_to
, which takes an x, y coordinate relative to the current position at angle 0 (set when bot started) and drives there.
#hw
Add an
ultrasonic-range-sensor
to your bot.
Quick tasks
#teacher
Add
the engineer guy's youtube channel
to the engineering curriculum
2025-02-05
In-progress
#hw
Drive the bots around on a simple oval track, two straight sections, two semicircles. Debug and optimize the line-following code
2025-04-01
#hw
(robotics, gr10) Analyze what the biggest speed bottleneck is for your robot. What could you change about its behavior to make it follow the track faster? Write a technical report of 200-500 words that describes the problems you identified and proposes a step you can take to improve performance. It must be specific, measurable, and achievable in a reasonable amount of time.
2025-04-24
Complete
Complete
#hw
(robotics) Make a test track for your robot with sheets of paper and black electrical tape. The bots are big, so the track will need to be very large (it should probably be laid out all over the floor of the workshop).
Debug the movement controls, do an in-depth code review and provide suggestions for improvements in code structure. Pay special attention to repetitive or misplaced functions (state funcs in the state machine or robot class, etc).
#hw
Final assembly of v2
differential-steering-bot
, and test the state machine implementation with all parts active.
2025-03-27
differential-steering-bot
: Connect the IR obstacle sensors to the board and add them to the control loop. Write code to test each sensor one at a time to avoid interference.
Fix the caster wheel mount so that the screws don't interfere with the turning of the caster.
photo-gate-project
to build a set of photo gates for our physics lessons.
#hw
(robotics) Create
pivot_left
and
pivot_right
methods for the
Robot
class that will cause it to turn in place to the left or right.
#hw
(robotics) Install IR sensors and do remaning bot assembly
2024-12-10
#hw
(robotics) Create a Robot class with a drive_forward method that turns both servos in a way that will make your bot move forward.
Make the photogate code use analogRead instead of digitalRead so that we can make it a bit more sensitive, since the phototransistor has a much higher internal resistance than I expected.
#hw
(robotics) Design a very simple 3d printable chassis platform shape for a simple differential-steering robot
2024-09-12
#hw
(robotics) Measure battery voltage to make sure it's within safe limits for arduino, then connect battery to arduino via dpst switch
2024-12-10
#hw
(robotics) Write code for your robot that can tell the difference between white and black for an IR sensor. It should print a line to the serial port that states what it senses. You will probably need to adjust the sensitivity on the IR sensor board (there's a tiny screw on a potentiometer).
2024-12-11
#hw
(robotics) Measure and model a micro-servo so that it can be mounted to the chassis
2024-09-17
#hw
(robotics) Design mounting system for micro-servo on the chassis and 3d print a physical model
2024-09-25
#hw
(robotics) Charge LiPO battery packs
2024-12-09
#hw
(robotics) Add mounts for an arduino
2024-09-30
#hw
(robotics) LiPo battery pack to the chassis design
2024-10-08
#hw
(robotics) Search online to find a design or tutorial for line-follower robots using arduino. Put the link and a description in a file in obsidian.
2024-09-24
#hw
(robotics) Hook up one of the continuous rotation servos to your arduino uno and experiment with it using the Servo library
2024-11-01
modeling a real-world object in CAD
Designing an interface to attach two things to each other
Making an assembly in CAD
Considering manufacturability (what if it can't be 3d printed)
#teacher
how-servos-work
reminder, with programming assignment
2024-11-01
,
#hw
Research how line-follower robots work
2024-10-01
#hw
Model the IR sensor board
2024-10-03
#hw
(robotics) Connect IR sensor to arduino and write code to detect when something is in front of it.
2024-11-15
#hw
(robotics) Design mount for sensors on chassis
2024-11-15
#hw
(robotics) Build robot physical structure