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The Real Robot Lab Assignment

Overview

In Weeks 8-11 you will attend weekly two-hour lab sessions in Diamond Computer Room 5 (DIA-CR5), where you will work in teams with our Real TurtleBot3 Waffle Robots, and program them to complete a "Real World Exploration" task. You'll use the ROS2 knowledge gained throughout the Simulation Labs, as well as the theory you are learning in the ACS6121 lectures to help you with this.

In preparation for this, you will form your teams in Week 5, and work together during the labs in Weeks 5 & 6 to develop the necessary control algorithms in simulation first. The labs in Weeks 5 & 6 will take place in Diamond Computer Room 6 (DIA-CR6).

Unlike the Simulation Labs in Weeks 2-4, there won’t be any taught content or weekly exercises for you to work through for the Real-Robot Labs: from Week 5 onwards you are expected to work more autonomously in your teams.

Logistics

Lab Sessions

The lab schedule is summarised in the table below.

Semester Week Location Details
5 & 6 DIA-CR6 Work in teams on the Real World Exploration task, in simulation.
7 DIA-CR6 Individual Assessment for the Simulation Labs
8 - 11 DIA-CR5 Work in teams on the Real World Exploration task, with the real Waffles.

From Week 8 onwards the class is divided into two groups: 1 and 2, each group attending a different weekly lab session in Diamond Computer Room 5. Check your timetable to find out which weekly lab session to attend and ONLY attend the lab session that you are supposed to attend. You will attend the same weekly lab session as the rest of your team.

Teams & Team Working

You are expected to actively work together with your team members to complete this assignment. Details on the teams can be found in the "Real-Robot Labs" section on the ACS6121 Blackboard Course Page.

It is up to you to decide on the best way to work effectively within your teams, but you should try to communicate regularly, not only during the scheduled lab sessions, but at other times as well.

Each team member will need to complete a peer evaluation at the end of this assignment. This will be available on Blackboard, and due by the end of Week 12.

Managing Your Time

Important

You will only have four lab sessions to work with the real robots, and you won't be able to gain additional access the robots outside your scheduled lab sessions.

It is vital that you work together in your teams in advance to prepare for this.

Before week 8, you will need to work in the lab and in your own time (with your team) to develop your ROS package for the assignment task, so that you have something ready to go in time for the first real-robot lab in Week 8.

Assessment

This assignment is worth 20% of your overall mark for the ACS6121 course.

Your team will need to submit a ROS package via Blackboard before the deadline at the end of Week 11 (see Blackboard for the exact date and time). See here for full details of the submission process.

Your submitted ROS package will then be assessed by the teaching team off-line during the Spring Exam Period. Before the end of the exam period you will receive your marks, plus video recordings of your ROS package being run on a real robot in the Diamond Computer Room 5 robot arena.

We will run your ROS package three times, and the performance of the robot during all three runs will be considered in the marking. See here for more detail on this.

Getting Support

The best way for you to get support is to attend the weekly lab sessions, where the teaching team will be present to answer any questions that you may have. Although we are more than happy to discuss things and help you, it is not our job to debug your entire code on your behalf on the spot.

Remember to use the Simulation Lab Course as a reference throughout this work: taking the things that we worked on here and applying them to your team’s ROS package.

Finally, don’t forget to use the ACS6121 Discussion Board on Blackboard to post any questions you may have.

Getting Started (from Week 5)

As discussed above, you'll need to make a start on this assignment during Weeks 5 & 6, before you actually get your hands on the real robot hardware (in Weeks 8-11). You'll need to start working in your teams from Week 5 onwards, both in and out of the lab sessions, in order to ensure that you are appropriately prepared.

Below you'll find a list of things that you need to do before Week 8.

Real-Robot Health & Safety Quiz

Before working with the real robots in Week 8, it's important that everyone completes a Health & Safety Quiz.

The quiz is available on Blackboard:

ACS6121 > Real-Robot Labs > Health and Safety: Working with the Real Waffles

Warning

Your team won't be provided with a real robot until ALL team members have completed this quiz (and attained a score of 10/10)!