ABE 4171

LEGO Mindstorms Semester Project

Did you ever play with LEGOs as a kid? Didn’t ever think that you’d be able to use that skill again did you? Well your long awaited opportunity is here! In the late 1990’s LEGO introduced a robotics line of products called LEGO Mindstorms. These robot kits use a LEGO controller to operate LEGO motors as well as touch sensors, temperature sensors, proximity sensors, light sensors, etc. Since their release, this product has become immensely successful with not only the traditional LEGO audience but also with high schoolers, college students, and even professionals. Competitions have emerged throughout the world for inventors to show off their skills in building and programming. College classes at MIT, Case Western, Rice, Brown, Dartmouth, and the University of Illinois all use LEGO’s in teaching robotics principles. Examples of the types of robots that can be built with LEGO Mindstorms are shown below.

In agricultural and biological engineering, robotics is seen as a new frontier. As the population of the world continues to increase and the land available for agriculture continues to decrease, agricultural and biological engineers are looking for ways to improve the efficiency of food production. Many tasks in field and greenhouse production are repetitive, dangerous, physically demanding, and generally undesirable making them ideal for automated solutions. In an effort to perform these tasks more efficiently and to promote worker safety and comfort, automation and robotics research is being conducted at the University of Florida ABE Department. Opportunities also exist in food and biological processing systems to apply automation and robotics in order to improve human work conditions and productivity. An example of a watermelon harvesting robot developed in Japan is shown below.

In ABE 4171C, students have the opportunity to build a LEGO Mindstorms robot that will perform certain agricultural/biological engineering related tasks. Students will use engineering concepts that they have learned through this and other previous courses. Concepts such as traction, pneumatics, gearing, electric motors, force analysis, and programming are all relevant to the development of a LEGO Mindstorms robot. No prior experience is necessary. A team of ABE graduate students will serve as mentors to help provide a successful learning experience. Student teams will compete with classmates in a robotic competition.