Controlling the ER1 Robot with Visual Basic Anthony Austin Kenneth Hanson William Lopez

The Evolution of the Robot into the Learning Environment Anthony Austin Cerritos College

Statement of the Problem: The US is experiencing a decline in the number of college and university graduates in the fields of engineering, computer science and technology.

Addressing the Problem: n Interest students in technology through the use of robotic, computer and electronic engineering. n Provide technical workshops to strengthen teachers’ experience and education in engineering. n Encourage enrollment through articulation between the university, community college, secondary and elementary educational systems

A Robotic Solution: There has been a resurgence of interest in robotics caused by: Space exploration Marine exploration Entertainment Automation

Objective of the Activity n To Provide a Graphical Interface Using the Visual Basic Language to control the ER1 Robot.

CSULB Research Project n Educational Use of Autonomous Robots –Communication –Control –Programming –Sensor interface –Imaging –Speech recognition –Speech synthesis

The ER1 Robot Kenneth Hanson Cerritos College

Capabilities of ER1 Robot n Motion Control-Navigation n Speech Recognition and Synthesis n Vision-Object Recognition n Gripper Control n Communication by Wireless and Internet Communication

Programming the ER1 Robot The behaviors or activities of the ER1 are controlled by a series of IF, THEN statements.

Controls Screen

Behavior Execution Examples of IF, THEN Behavior Behavior 1: IF see a dollar bill THEN say 1 dollar bill. Behavior 2: IF Detector senses obstacle THEN say obstacle

Controlling the ER1 with Visual Basic William Lopez Cerritos College

ER1 Control Screen n Sophisticated n Complex n Proprietary

Disadvantages of Using ER1 Control Screen n Coding of ER1 incompatible with Existing Educational Robots n Limited by Proprietary Coding n Difficult to Modify

Why Use Visual Basic? n Provides a Simple Visual Interface n Code is Transparent to the User n Common Programming Language n Versatile

Visual Basic Interface

Visual Basic Code n Similar to Basic Computer Language n Easy to Modify

New Visual Basic Control Screen

Activity Results: n Achieved Control of ER1 Robot using Visual Basic Programming n Gained new programming skills

Evolving the ER1 into the future n Educational Use of Autonomous Robots –Communication –Control –Programming –Sensor interface –Imaging –Speech recognition –Speech synthesis