Ch10 - Droid
This friendly robot was designed by Adam from Warsaw – hello Adam!
At first, the word „robot” meant a machine that was a simplified version of a human being, designed to help people in their tasks. Nowadays, human shaped robots are called humanoids or androids.
The idea of building artificial humans is a very old one. First projects were made in 1495 by Leonardo Da Vinci, but even Greek myths describe artificial warriors grown by humans from dragon teeth.
The first operating android was created in 1738. This robot was an automatic musician and could play 12 different melodies on a flute. It could also play the tambourine.
Human-shaped robots have a powerful influence on imagination – they appear in many movies or books. The "Terminator" or "Star Wars" movies are good examples of that.
The engineers observe and analyse how human body functions and try to repeat these processes in a robot. The more prehensile the robot fingers are, the more free its movements become, the better.
Nowadays, many robots are designed to have strong facial expressions. One of such robots is ‘FACE’ created in Italy. It has 32 engines to imitate the work of 100 muscles and is able to express anger, sadness or joy.
Human intelligence is also inspiring for engineers. They analyse intelligent human behaviour and try to create a computer program that would resemble the process of thinking. This is called artificial intelligence.
Creating artificial intelligence is an extremely difficult task and involves a lot of problems. The constructors research the workings of human brain and the way people use their knowledge, how they make decisions and use rational thinking.
A man is not the only inspiration for the engineers. Many robots are inspired by plants, animals or nature in general. Usually, their task is to imitate the animal behaviour by using a similar method of movement. Robotic insects, cats or dogs are very popular.
Build
To build this construction, you will need LEGO Education WeDo
Explore
This is how the complete droid looks like. It may seem familiar to you, as it was inspired by Furby.
The model has two electronic elements.
1. The hub, which powers the motor and allows you to program the construction.
2. The motor, which propels the transmission that makes the droid move.
1. The model turns when operating, which is you can see black round plates under the hub.
1. This is how your friendly droid looks like!
2. On its head, you can see eyes that imitate sensors with which robots usually perceive the world.
3. The robot has four legs to move around. They are propelled via a complicated gear transmission.
1. This axle is propelled by the motor. The gear installed at the end propels the other gears it is meshed with.
2. This gear propels the front legs of the droid.
3. The back gear propels the rear legs of the droid.
1. Legs move thanks to the movement of these gray bricks.
2. Gray bricks increase the radius of the gray axle rotation. Note that they are placed on opposite sides.
1. This gray brick is connected to the black one, which increases the radius of axle rotation.
2. The droid can imitate walking because of these axles, which hold its legs.
Program
Program for the droid will allow it to follow the circle.
The robot will start moving, after you press the right key.
