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Mini Grand Challenge Contest To Enhance CS Education

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

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Mini Grand Challenge Contest To Enhance CS Education

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  1. ACM SIGCSE 2008 Workshop #8: Computer Vision and Image Processing: Accessible Resources for Robotics and CS Curricula March 12, 2008 Mini Grand Challenge Contest To Enhance CS Education Bob Avanzato Associate Professor of Engineering Penn State Abington1600 Woodland RoadAbington PA 19001RLA5@psu.edu

  2. 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.

  3. PSU Abington Robot Platform

  4. 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: 1.5 - 5mph • (6) Waypoints disclosed 24 hours prior to contest event.

  5. Campus Paths

  6. Campus Paths

  7. Campus Paths

  8. Campus Paths

  9. Campus Paths

  10. Campus Paths (Field)

  11. Campus Paths

  12. Campus Paths

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

  14. 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

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

  16. PSU Abington Robot

  17. 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

  18. Vision Processing • Edge detection

  19. Vision Processing • Example Edge detection

  20. 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.

  21. 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

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

  23. MGC 2006

  24. MGC 2006 (PSU Abington robot)

  25. MGC 2006

  26. MGC 2006 (PSU University Park robot)

  27. MGC 2006 (Spectator Interaction)

  28. 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

  29. 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

  30. References • PSU Abington Mini Grand Challenge Website http://cede.psu.edu/~avanzato/robots/contests/outdoor/index.htm • YouTube video of MGC robot (2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVMxM7VVe8Y

  31. Robotics in Second Life • Exploratorium Second Life site (Mars rover)

  32. Portland, Oregon in Second Life

  33. Portland, Oregon in Second Life

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