Your Winterterm paper for CMSC 298M is due at 4pm on Tuesday
WEDNESDAY afternoon
(January 23rd) and can
either be delivered to me in person or placed in my mailbox in room 1105
AVW. The paper should be typed in 12 point font, 2 to 3 pages long (2 will
be perfectly fine, more than 3 is acceptable but definitely not required),
double spaced (if you prefer
single spaced that is fine - I do - and you can then write 1 to 2 pages
instead). You should give me a printed version of your paper and
make sure to include your name on it. Also note that each member of a team
must write their own paper - you can discuss the contents of the paper but it
must be an original work (do not just read your partners paper and
retranslate it for me).
What follows are some suggestions of what you should discuss in your paper.
Do not give me a series of short answers to these questions, rather write an
essay about your project and incorporate the answers to the following
questions into that essay. Also you can organize your essay however you want
and do not have to cover things in the order they appear below. (note: in
the section below, by "your robots" I mean both of your teams robots):
Describe the mechanical systems of your robots.
What is the gear ratio used by the drive system of each robot?
How is steering achieved by the robots (if at all)?
What collection mechanism, if any, is used to gather and
distinguish the balls?
...
Describe the sensing capabilities employed by your robots.
How does your robot translate sensing into information (for
example how does it sense the line or the different colored
balls)?
Describe any interesting features used in your robots software.
Include a printed copy of the code used by your robots (specify
which robot used which program) - this printout does not count
towards your 2 to 5 page limit and must be included.
Did you use the expansion board and if so for what task(s)?
What is your favorite feature of your robots (is it the line following
software or a pid controller or its mechanical arm or ...)? How
about your least favorite feature?
What are your robots strengths and weaknesses?
If you had more time to work on your robots how would you use it?
Describe different obstacles you encountered in building/programming
your robots and how you overcame them (or didn't). If there were any
"prototypes" that were precursors to your final robots you can discuss
them as well.
If you could modify the "game"/task your robots were supposed to
accomplish what one thing would you add? What one thing would you
remove? What one thing would you definitely not remove (or in other
words what one thing did you find the most interesting about the
"game")?
Include anything else you may think relevant to the project and/or the
course.
Also I want you to rank the effort of your teammate(s) on a scale of 1 to
5 (1 being little to no effort and 5 being lots of effort) and briefly
describe each teammates main contribution(s) to the project (including
your own). Also I want you to rank your own effort on the same scale
(1 to 5). You can include this information at the end of your essay or
on a separate sheet of paper which you can deliver to me in person or by
placing it under my office door (I will be the only one who sees your
paper).
Direct questions and comments to:
James Maybury
Last Modified:
Mon Jan 21 14:06:22 EST 2002
