20 documents found, page 1 of 2
RoboParty: 20 editions building robots and motivating youngsters for science, t...
Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Lopes, Gil; Pereira, Nino; Cruz, JoséRobotic products and services are quickly getting into people’s homes and it is important to prepare the youngsters to new challenges. One way to motivate them is through competitive events [1]. Back in 2006 the Laboratory of Automation and Robotics (LAR) [2] from University of Minho [3], Guimarães, Portugal, created a new event named RoboParty® [4]. The main objective is to teach youngsters how to build and pr...
Learning Robotics for youngsters - the RoboParty experience
Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Lopes, Gil; Pereira, Nino; Cruz, JoséThe involvement of children and adolescents in robotics is on demand by the many events and competitions of robotics all over the world. This non-deterministic world is more attractive, fun, hands-on and with real results than computer virtual simulations and 3D worlds. It is important, by different reasons, to involve people of all ages in an area that some consider the future of mankind and an opportunity to ...
Magnetically impelled kicker for robotic football in MSL RoboC
Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Lopes, Gil; Martins, Bruno; Silva, Pedro; Moutinho, Ivo; Braga, Paulo; Pereira, NinoThis paper describes a kicking device used in RoboCup middle size league robotic football. In order to kick the ball in robotic football, several devices have been developed by many other teams. Some of these have been raising safety precautions due to its strength. In this work it was developed a magnetic impelled device, which is used as a kicking device. It uses an electric coil, in which a current passes th...
Path planning towards non-compulsory multiple targets using TWIN-RRT*
Pereira, Nino; Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Lopes, Gil; Lino, JorgePurpose – The purpose of this paper is to characterise the TWIN-RRT algorithm which solves a motion planning problem in which an agent has multiple possible targets where none of them is compulsory and retrieves feasible, “low cost”, asymptotically optimal and probabilistically complete paths. The TWIN-RRT algorithm solves path planning problems for both holonomic and non-holonomic robots with or without kinema...
Golf ball picker robot: path generation in unstructured environments towards mu...
Pereira, NinoThe new TWIN-RRT* algorithm solves a motion planning problem in which an agent has multiple possible targets where none of them is compulsory, and retrieves feasible, ―low cost‖, asymptotically optimal and probabilistically complete paths. The TWIN-RRT* algorithm solves path planning problems for both holonomic and non-holonomic robots with or without kinodynamic constraints in a 2D environment, but it was desi...
Autonomous golf ball picking robot design and development
Pereira, Nino; Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Lopes, Gil; Whitney, Daniel; Lino, JorgeThe golf ball picking task is a daily that requires human intensive labor. This document presents the hardware developing process of an autonomous golf ball picking robot which aims to efficiently perform this task. It has a maintenance capacity of a 25,000 m2 practice field. Compared to a similar device in the market this robot has twice the maximum speed and three times more container capacity.
Bot’n roll robotic kit as a learning tool for youngsters
Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Lopes, Gil; Pereira, Nino; Cruz, José; Costa, Manuel F. M.Activities involving robotics, projecting assembling and programming robots are in essence hands-on and inquiry-based activities leading to an effective learning of different aspects of science and technology among others. Different approaches have being used to introduce robotics in the education of young children. In this communication we will present an approach that in an inquiry based science education, IB...
Catadioptric system optimisation for omnidirectional Robocup MSL robots
Lopes, Gil; Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Pereira, NinoOmnidirectional Robocup MSL robots often use catadioptric vision systems in order to enable 360º of field view. It comprises an upright camera facing a convex mirror, commonly spherical, parabolic or hyperbolic, that reflects the entire space around the robot. This technique is being used for more than a decade and in a similar way by most teams. Teams upgrade their cameras in order to obtain more and better in...
A golf ball picking robot design and development
Pereira, Nino; Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Lopes, Gil; Whitney, Daniel; Lino, JorgeThe golf ball picking task is a daily that requires human intensive labor. This document presents the hardware developing process of an autonomous golf ball picking robot which aims to efficiently perform this task. It has a maintenance capacity of a 25,000 m2 practice field. Compared to a similar device in the market this robot has twice the maximum speed and three times more container capacity.
Catadioptric system optimisation for omnidirectional Robocup MSL robots
Lopes, Gil; Ribeiro, A. Fernando; Pereira, NinoOmnidirectional Robocup MSL robots often use catadioptric vision systems in order to enable 360º of field view. It comprises an upright camera facing a convex mirror, commonly spherical, parabolic or hyperbolic, that reflects the entire space around the robot. This technique is being used for more than a decade and in a similar way by most teams. Teams upgrade their cameras in order to obtain more and better in...