fairfolio
Saved Projects

Avoiding the Subject: Avoider Robot's Performance in Mazes and Obstacle Courses

CSEF · 2004 Electricity & Electronics

David K. Crowther · Spring Grove School, Hollister

Overview

Objectives/Goals Determine if a simple walking robot designed to avoid objects, can pass through mazes more quickly than obstacle courses. Methods/Materials Materials include: "Spider 3 Walking Avoider Robot Kit" from the Mondo-Tronics Robot (Internet) store, Phillips screwdriver, pliers, plastic screwdriver, razor blade, various obstacles (different sizes, shapes, colors and textures), cardboard, linoleum floor, duct tape, paper, pens (multiple colors), camera, and pillows. We timed the robot through a total of four obstacle courses and three mazes. I traced the path of the robot through each course and maze for each run. Times for successfully completed runs were averaged and compared to each other. Results The average time to complete the obstacle courses was 1 min. 31 sec. The average time to complete the mazes was 6 min. 47 sec. Conclusions/Discussion We proved our hypothesis. On average, the robot went through the obstacle courses faster than the mazes. The major reason for this result is the difference between a maze and an obstacle course. A maze is a twisted path that requires intelligence to get through quickly. An obstacle course is an open path with objects in the way of the robot. This experiment proved that the robot can detect and avoid objects, but the robot cannot "think" it's way through a maze.

Summary statement

We tested a robot, designed to avoid objects, to see if it could get through mazes or obstacle courses faster.

Help received

My brother, Jonathan, helped me build the robot, design the mazes and obstacle courses, write some of the run notes and the report. My parents helped type the report and assemble the presentation board. My dad helped assemble the robot, took pictures, and advised on scientific method.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2004 Electricity & Electronics · Entry J0708

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google