Research Paper: Results and Conclusion

The Results and Conclusion of a Paper offer the results that occurred after numerous testing and experimentation. It also provides a conclusive statement that can be reached after the experiments.

The results for this experiment proved that our hypothesis was incorrect. The Rover-Bot did not move toward the ping-pong ball. The Rover-Bot was unable to go through the maze due to the poor lighting conditions. As a result, even with RAW values, the Rover-Bot could not distinguish between a ping-pong ball and a wall. In addition we had problems with the communication between the Crane-Bot and the Sort-Bot. They did communicate but it was necessary for a human to continually press the run button in order to place the ball into its designated can. Batteries and inconsistent movements also proved to be a problem. The movements of the Crane-Bot were timed and thus any small change would cause its task to become very inaccurate.

The maze for the Rover-Bot was a spiral. The robot needed to only turn left, so every time it sensed a wall, it should have turned left. The materials used to build the maze were mostly colored paper sheets. The light sensor was unable to tell the difference between the sheets. The IR signal, located on the RCX, went right through the paper walls. We managed to make the Rover-bot scoop the ping-pong ball, but that was only after 10 unsuccessful tries, and we did not have enough time to complete the program. As a result, this aspect of the project was unsuccessful.

The Crane-Bot also had its problems. We succeeded in sending a message to the Sort-Bot but the Sort-Bot could only complete its tasks by pressing run, thus making our robots not completely autonomous. The Crane-Bot could complete its tasks with a little more programming but it was quite difficult to keep all variables consistent. In addition the Crane-Bot could only move clockwise but this did not prevent it from performing its task. The robotic arm did succeed in reading the color of each ping-pong ball and send its raw reading to the Sort-Bot allowing it to make specific modifications before the ping-pong ball reached it. Once the ping-pong ball finally arrived at the Sort-Bot, after numerous attempts, the ping-pong ball was able to reach its designated can. The Sort-Bot proved to have the least problems. Its design was ingenious and could have easily performed flawlessly if the other robots worked properly.

Unfortunately our robots could not be completed due to the lack of time. We were allotted only one week to complete our robots and program them. We believe that if we were given more time we could have finished the project and present our experiment flawlessly in Freeborn Hall.

Unfortunately, we did not have the time to fix all of the errors in the construction of the Rover-Bot and the Crane-Bot. The Rover-Bot had problems colleting the ping-pong balls without a barrier to push up against. In addition paper was used to create the mechanism to collect the ping-pong balls. Despite the fact that it worked it was not very efficient. The Crane-Bot also had its problems. Due to its large mass it had difficultly rotating around its center axis and could only move clockwise. Despite these small problems the designs could have beautifully if more time was given.