Mini Grand Challenge Contest To Enhance CS Education Bob Avanzato Associate Professor of Engineering Penn State Abington 1600 Woodland Road Abington PA ACM SIGCSE 2008 Workshop #8: Computer Vision and Image Processing: Accessible Resources for Robotics and CS Curricula March 12, 2008

Objectives Design autonomous outdoor robot contest “Mini Grand Challenge” (MGC) to promote interest in robotics, vision and AI. Partly inspired by DARPA Grand Challenge Include vision and HRI component. Contest should be accessible to advanced high school, lower-division undergrads (CS. Engr, IST) and beyond. Availability of low-cost robot platform and development environment to improve accessibility to MGC contest.

PSU Abington Robot Platform

Mini Grand Challenge (MGC) Autonomous, outdoor, electric ground robot Follow 8-ft wide (unmarked) paths on college campus Reach 6 waypoints (GPS longitude, latitude) Avoid human obstacles on path Entertain human spectators Take off-road detour across field (with obstacles) Payload: 1 gallon of water Robot Speed: mph (6) Waypoints disclosed 24 hours prior to contest event.

Campus Paths

Campus Paths (Field)

Campus Paths

Sample Path/Waypoint Layout WP #3 WP #5 WP #6 WP #4 Path width = ~8ft Waypoint (WP) diameter = 20ft … orange cones

Key Equipment List (PSU robot) PowerWheels™ platform$150 GPS (with serial cable)$100 Speaker/amp (15-30 watt)$60 Inverter (DC to AC)$30 Servo (steering)$50 Speed controller$60 USB camera (240 x 320)$50 Camera stand$30 Sonar and servo$50 USB to serial converter$20 Servo controller$50-$100 Battery$50 TOTAL……$700 (approx.) NOTE: Laptop, MATLAB costs not included in above list

Robot Block Diagram USB Camera GPS (Garmin eTrex) Sonar Pontech SV203 Controller Speaker (30-watt) Steering Control Drive Motor Speed/Dir Control Laptop Computer Windows XP OS MATLAB

PSU Abington Robot

Key Software MATLAB with Image Processing Toolbox –Grab image from USB camera –Edge detection –Read GPS text serial output (position, velocity) –Text-to-Speech –Send motor and steering commands to servo controller –Main control loop written in MATLAB Drivers –MS Win32 Speech API (SAPI) (text to speech) –VFM (Video for Windows frame grabber) Any Software/Hardware solution Allowed

Vision Processing Edge detection

Vision Processing Example Edge detection

Pilot Study: Student Solutions Background: Sophomore-level CS/EE students with no prior experience in vision Students developed a heuristic, path- tracking algorithm in MATLAB (Image Processing ToolBox; Canny edge detection; non-optimal). MATLAB environment promotes rapid prototyping and facilitates testing.

Results 2005 Mini Grand Challenge (April 2005) –3 participants; no successful robots –Rain limited outdoor event (rescheduled in Dec.) –Robots on display indoors; same day as FF contest –Generated much interest for future events 2006 Mini Grand Challenge (April 1, 2006) –6 participants; one robot manages 50% of course 2007 Mini Grand Challenge (March 31, 2007) –8 robots registered –1 high school team –1 winner (50 out of 100 points); no robot completes course 2007 Mini Grand Challenge (April 26, 2008) –Expect 10 – 15 robots

Mini Grand Challenge Event (PSU-Abington PA; April 3, 2005)

MGC 2006

MGC 2006 (PSU Abington robot)

MGC 2006

MGC 2006 (PSU University Park robot)

MGC 2006 (Spectator Interaction)

Results/Conclusions Mini Grand Challenge (MGC) contest successfully promotes interest in robotics and vision for a wide range of participants (freshman college to professional) Low-cost robot platform with MATLAB software allows freshman/sophomore undergrads to participate in sophisticated algorithm development. Contest supports wide range of educational goals. Outdoor contest has risks (example: rain!) Larger robot --> more cumbersome for classroom integration

Future Directions Develop web-based resources and tutorials. Develop K-12 outreach activities based on MGC Assess (survey) student retention and recruitment. Regional contests Develop indoor extension to contest to mitigate weather problems. (Example: follow cones in gym) Non-CS major student involvement – IST (Spr 2008) Develop robot contest in Second Life 3D virtual world

References PSU Abington Mini Grand Challenge Website YouTube video of MGC robot (2007)

Robotics in Second Life Exploratorium Second Life site (Mars rover)

Portland, Oregon in Second Life