"Mars or Bust!" - Using Lego Mindstorms(tm) to solve simulated Martian Landing Scenarios Under revision - New sections under development To find out more about Mars visit the mini-site. Acknowledgements Supported by funding from: and We are especially grateful for the continued support of Setpoint Wales and the School of Computing and the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Glamorgan We are hoping that "Mars or Bust!" will be included in the forthcoming Robofesta Competitions Briefing Videos (Streamed QuickTime) Please note: Some elements of these videos comes from JPL -specifically the Mars and Miranda fly by sequences - and are used on the understanding that all copyright is owned by them. We would like to acknowledge this, and the original work of the US Geographical Survey for the spatial data used to develop these sequences. All other footage, including the HMS Herschel computer graphics, was developed by Mike Reddy. All rights reserved. P.S. Visitors to Bath's William Herschel Museum will know that this material also appears as part of their multimedia exhibit in the basement; a 20 minute virtual journey round the Solar System. Well worth a visit! Video 1: HMS Herschel takes off from Earth Big (61 Mb) | Small (11 Mb) Video 2: HMS Herschel journeys towards Mars 24 Mb | Small (5 Mb) Video 3: HMS Herschel crashes on Mars 58 Mb | Small (11 Mb) Briefing Docs (MS Word .rtf and .ppt) Introductory material Intro to "Mars or Bust!" Pack Intro to Robots presentation Mission 1: Clearing the Landing Site Intro to "Mars or Bust!" Challenge 1 Intro to Challenge 1 presentation Press Transcripts: One and Two Additional notes for Tutors and Students Mission 2: Saving the Astronauts Intro to "Mars or Bust!" Challenge 1 Intro to Challenge 1 presentation Press Transcript: One Additional notes for Tutors and Students Incomplete Missions Mission 3: Small Step - Tutors and Students Mission 4: Rocky Road - Tutors and Students Video Results The project has been run with Year 5 & 6 primary students at the Pontypridd Museum - footage to follow - Year 12 students from across the UK as part of the 2001 residential Space School - footage to come - but here are selected highlights from the West Midlands Show, where the project was run with the Shropshire SetPoint and Dr. Ashley Green of Oxford Brookes University: Robot Mars Day - Shrewsbury (21/6/02) The following videos are QT streamed results of the four teams that took part in the June 2002 Robot Mars Competition. The day consisted of several robot activities, including buggy races, buggy wars, time trials and Robot Mars. The Robot Mars session was a modified version of the "Mars or Bust!" challenge 1 scenario, with schools developing their robots for an hour a week over several weeks, rather than in one session. It was quite tense, apparently, with the majority of the time devoted to buidling the robot, rather than writing or testing the software. The results show this, but the robots were all first class, with only minor problems of control!!! For ease of access, the teams footage has been split by team, rather than chronologically - and you can see changes made during the competition, such as one robot dropping tracks for wheels, with unforeseen consequences: Robot Mars (113Mb) For interest, several other videos were taken at the West Midlands Show: Small buggy racing (23Mb) Small buggy wars (129Mb) and Big buggy wars (91Mb) Buggy Football (50Mb) Small buggy wars (34Mb) INSET Training Day (17/12/01) The following videos are QT streamed results of the five teams that took part in the December 2001 INSET training day. The day consistend of a morning orientation to the Lego Mindstorms for Schools equipment, courtesy of Tim Sugget (Commotion Ltd.). The afternoon session was a reduced version of the "Mars or Bust!" scenario, with only two hours to achieve the challenges, rather than the six allowed for students! It was quite tense!!! For ease of access, the teams footage (mostly shot by themselves!) has been split by team into four phases: 1) The Build 2) The Test 3) The Trial and 4) The Debrief This is an artificial split, as it must be understood that building and testing were actually intersperced in a spiral development. However, it is interesting to see testing in its own context to see how the robots developed. The build video is better for showing the collaboration and morale (!) of the teams... The trials have been edited for brevity, but several interesting attempts at the challenges are included in their entirety! Due to some technical problems, the chronological order for the day was: Team 3 (Challenge 1), Demo (Challenge 1), Team 5 (Challenge 2), Demo (Challenge 2), Team 2 (Challenge 1), Team 1 (Cahllenge 1) Several of the debriefs are frank, but remember that these people had only two hours, having had no prior experience with Mindstorms! NOTE: Team four had numerous problems with their computer and the RCX and gamely tried, but you will note that they did not complete a working robot. Apologies to them for all their many difficulties. Challenge 1: Team One The Build - big (23Mb) small (8Mb) | The Test - big (6Mb) small (2Mb) | The Trial - big (16Mb) small (7Mb) | The Debrief - big (44Mb) small (13Mb) Challenge 1: Team Two The Build - big (16Mb) small (5Mb) | The Test - big (17Mb) small (7Mb) | The Trial - big (8Mb) small (2Mb) | The Debrief - big (84Mb) small (25Mb) Challenge 1: Team Three The Build - big (50Mb) small (16Mb) | The Test - big (37Mb) small (12Mb) | The Trial - big (18Mb) small (6Mb) | The Debrief - big (46Mb) small (13Mb) Challenge 1: Demo (run by Tutors) The Trial using a previous winner - big (19Mb) small (6Mb) Challenge 2: Team Four The Build - big (17Mb) small (6Mb) | The Test - big (3Mb) small (1Mb) | The Trial - None | The Debrief - None Challenge 2: Team Five The Build - big (50Mb) small (16Mb) | The Test - big (37Mb) small (12Mb) | The Trial - big (18Mb) small (6Mb) | The Debrief - big (46Mb) small (13Mb) Challenge 2: Demo (run by Team Four) The Trial using a remote control with the previous winner - big (45Mb) small (14Mb) All material, unless otherwise stated is copyright 2002, Mike Reddy & Iain Sutherland, University of Glamorgan. All rights reserved. Reproduction or adaption not allowed without acknowledgement and express permission.