Local Robots – Caleb Kahn

About The Project

Cost Efficient & Accessible Robots

Our goal was to create cheap robots for an AI class taught at Bradley University to give students a place to test their algorithms. Assignments are completed on a mat with simple objects.

Test Algorithms By Simulating Robots

One solution was to virtually simulate robots through Webots. Students are given a easy-to-follow guide through GitHub with premade worlds that feature real-world unpredictability.

3D Print The Robot

Another solution is to make the robot ourselves. Bradley University has 3D printers, which allows us to 3D print certain parts in the physical robot to keep costs low.

Challenges

This project started as the first large scale project for my partners, and it started with a goal, but no clear path to get there. Most of us had very little experience in robots, so we had to identify the optimal approach for simulating and constructing robots without much guidance.

Post Mortem

The project ended in a good place and it was rewarding being able to guide the rest of the team with the experience I gained in my game projects. The simulation side is easy to use for students, but the physical robot is still lacking. We should've had engineers help with the design because learning how to design delayed the development of the physical robot too much.

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