Some of your assignments in COMP 201 will be done on robots that you build yourself, or on garments that you make yourself. We hope that this will make things more interesting for you, as well as show you some of the more exciting and futuristic things that are happening in Computing.
The reason behind using both robots and garments was that we figured that each genre would appeal to a different set of students. In the past, we only used robots, but some students had trouble with the construction and mechanical parts (which has nothing to do with programming). Therefore, hopefully if we use both robots and garments, everybody will find something that works for them.
What to pick -- go by what you like. If you liked playing with Legos as a child, or you like building models, you're probably better off with robots. If you like clothes or fashion, and you wouldn't mind trying to make your own vest, then pick garments. The hardware is the same, the programming is the same, and we have taken care to ensure that the assignments are equivalent in nature and difficulty.
Just to give you an idea, here is the tentative list of assignments:
| Asgn | Robots | Garments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Random walk: forward, backward, left, right | Random output: Blink lights, play sounds | |
| 2 | User-directed maze navigating robot | User-directed maze navigating buzzing vest | |
| 3 | Bridge Walking Robot | Obstacle Detecting Radar Vest | |
| 4 | Remote controlled bridge walking robot | Remote controlled signalling vest | |
| 5 | (Done by 2 groups together) Robot-controlling vest | ||
| 6 | Morse Code Signalling Robot | Morse Code Signalling Vest | |
| 7 | (Done by 2 groups together) Treasure Hunt | ||
Notice that some of the assignments will be done by pairs of robots/garments. Therefore, we need the same number of groups on both the robot and garment side.
We have 105 students in COMP 201 right now, there may be some late additions to the class. Therefore, we will have 52 groups total -- 26 groups of robots and 26 groups of clothes.
Our preference is for a group size of two students, and we need exactly 52 groups. If you do the math, you can see that there's one group that will have 3 students. If you would like to form a group of 3, sign up early and be the first (WebCT will timestamp your hand-in). Later groups will get broken apart and randomly re-formed if necessary.
In addition, the same thing (first-come-first-serve) applies to the robot/garment choice. If we go over the number of groups that we have planned for one category, all other signups will automatically be allocated to the other category. So if you want to make sure that you get your preferred choice, sign up early.
Our policy is: If you can find another group to swap with you, go ahead.