ROB-Robotics and Programming

Using the Design Process to build our Mars Lander

For the brainstorm section of the design process we put our design ideas forward that we had thought about individually. The we tested out the sphero to figure out how it worked and how we could use it to make a mars-lander. Once we tested out the sphero we had a chance to go on something called the mars-lab. The mars-lab allowed us to control three separate rovers and we had to figure out how to maneuver it and how to adjust different settings with the camera. This one helped us to figure out how to control a rover efficiently. They all had their pros and cons, The MAMMOTH had 4 hydraulic legs which would make it sturdy, the MAWSON had solar paneling charging and suspended wheels and the CONTINUUM had a camera with an adjustable neck. We had to decide which one was best and I decided that the MAWSON was the best because of it’s solar panels and suspended wheels which would be good for travel on rough terrain. The MAMMOTH is really sturdy and even though the hydraulic legs would be useful, it would be useless going over rough terrain because when I tested it out, it flipped. The CONTINUUM had a really good camera but other than that it would’ve been very unstable because of the amount of electronics there were near the battery. When we had a good idea about what would go well on a mars-lander we grabbed a piece of paper and drew our ideas. A lot of people had different designs but there was a good few people that had similar ideas to one-another. I tried to incorporate the three key things that the three rovers had on mars-lab. I also incorporated some of my ideas but they were basic adjustments that were needed to make it work. I looked around at other people’s ideas and took some of their ideas and added it to mine to improve it. We then got into groups and brainstormed ideas about making a mars-lander with the sphero and then we trialed and error until we got a good idea of what we wanted to make.  

MARS

The terrain on the planet Mars looks a bit like a desert because it is covered with loose dust and rocks. The soil on mars is full of Iron Oxidize(rust) giving it’s red color. The atmosphere on Mars is cold and thin which means that liquids will most likely decimate after no amount of time.. Although the atmosphere is harsh against liquids, Ice has been discovered under the surface. Mars is the home of the biggest volcano in our Solar System. Olympus Mons builds up to 17 miles(27 kilometers) high which is about 3 times the size of Mount Everest and is 30 miles(600 kilometers) in diameter. The Valles Marineris is a system of valleys that was discovered in 1971. It is around 6 miles deep(10 kilometers) and runs east-west for 2,500 miles(4,000 kilometers). The atmosphere on Mars is made up from:

• 95.32% Carbon-Dioxide
• 2.7% Nitrogen
• 1.6% Argon
• 13% Oxygen
• 0.08% Carbon Monoxide

The gravity on Mars is half of the force as Earth’s gravity making weight different than what it is on earth.The Rovers that we create should be sturdy enough that they would survive with the gravity on Mars. The attributes on the rover would have to be fitting for the environment otherwise it will get crushed with the force of gravity. The surface on Mars is rough which makes it hard for normal wheels to be mobile. With the gravity changing the weight of the vehicle, the rover would have to be pretty heavy but also really mobile. It would have to be able to withstand the gravity and the temperature of the planet and it would have to have a self replenish-able energy source.

A BIT ABOUT ROBOTICS

JavaScript is one of the most popular languages in the world. It is mostly used for coding modern day websites and other things that require coding. It was created in 1995 and was one of the first companies that created a popular website with the dial up internet that they had back in the day. The company “Java” was created to help with coding and powering apps on early computers and other devices. The company NetScape(the people who run Java) and Sun Micro systems built a plugin that would run natively inside popular browsers. NetScape created javaScript as a tech language that would fine focus websites. Other websites back in the day were run on HTML and CSS. JavaScript started to get used for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer.

Punctuation in JavaScript is very important because it has been put in a structure where the code has to be
specific for the computer to recognise what you are trying to input.

A specific app that runs on JavaScript is Sphero, especially the drag and drop code function that it has.
The drag and drop is really easy to use because all you have to do is drag and drop.
One block is the roll block which tells the sphero that you want it to roll.

Syntax is basically a rule that has been set for how the structure of code should be. HYPOTHESIS

Our Robot has these parts because it is very sturdy, very mobile and is very agile/nimble. It should be able to carry weight with good stability.

CODE COMBAT

We have been learning to use JavaScript to code a game. It has been a bit challenging but at the same time it has been very fun and on some levels very time consuming. the level of code is quite similar to Python but it still teaches us the difference with Python and JavaScript. Both manors of code has to be very specific for it to work other wise it will not work.