ROBOKAR: Robot Programming Workshop
Subject : Technology and Information Systems (SECP1513)
Section : 03
Group : 4
Task : ROBOKAR: Robot Programming Workshop Report
Due : 19/12/2019
Introduction
On Monday, 9 December 2019, first year students of School of Computing have joined a robot programming workshop called ROBOKAR under instruction of lecturer of Information System and Technology, Dr Haswadi Hasan. Robokar is basically a robot that is shaped and works like a car. Robokar UTM workshop held in the Active Learning Lab, n28 and the person who in charge to arrange the program and give introduction to students is Nurul Nazihah binti Jamal. We as students of Technology and information systems section 03 are directed to attend the workshop. What we do and learn from this workshop is how to program a robokar which basically uses the C programming language. We were taught how to program a robokar to follow a black line that will be read by 3 sensors represented in binary digits and entered into the computer software so that the programmer from robokar can create an algorithm for robokar.
After succeeding, the workshop participants will be directed to another floor to join the robokar competition. This competition is a robokar competition between groups who participated in the workshop. The winner of the competition is determined by robokar who is the fastest in completing the circuit. The workshop concluded with the announcement of the winner and the awarding of prizes by Dr. Haswadi Hasan who is a lecturer in technology and information systems section 3.
Details of Journey/Work Plan
- 2.00 P.M : Arrival of participants and registration
- 2.20 P.M : RoboKar Introduction
Venue : Active Lab Learning, Level 3, N28, School of Computing
Presenter : Nurul Nazihah binti Jamal, Muhammad Irsyad bin Kamil Riadz
- 3.00 P.M : Practical Session
- 4.00 P.M : Robokar Game
Venue : Level 2, N28 School of Computing
Moderator : Ahmad Syahir bin Abdul Hanim
- 4.30 P.M : Award Giving and Closing Ceremony
Detailed Descriptions
The presenter, Nurul Nazihah and Muhammad Irsyad started to give a short briefing about the program. They have talked about the background behind the organization of the program and the history of ROBOKAR program. They also explained the reason why the organiser want to build ROBOKAR program. They have tons of experiences in organising the programming workshop to people from different education level such as high school student, college students and even high school teachers or lecturers.
Next, the presenter started to explain the tasks to the students. The students are divided into several groups with each group 6-7 students. Then, the groups are given a small box with a robot car, USB, a pen drive and a reference booklet inside. The presenter then explained to the students on how the robot car work and the basic programming knowledge behind it. There are three sensors at the bottom of car head and the students have to do programming to read and manipulate the data get from the sensors. Next, the presenter asked the students to install a program in laptop called Arduino IDE for codes writing and running. The students set up the environment for coding under the instructions of the presenter.
Next, the briefing is ended and students are allowed to start the programming and they have to finish it in limited time. Each group are given a white card with black path on it for testing the movement of the robot car. The programming language used to complete the task is C. The students started to do discussion on coding and testing their robot cars. In roughly 4.00pm, the students are asked to stop and complete their project as fast as possible. Next, they have to bring their robot cars and gathered at Level 2 N28 and there was a mini match prepared by the organiser. There was a designed path and the group who can make the car complete the path in short period are considered winner. Finally, Group 2 has won the champion with the shortest time to complete the path.
In the closing ceremony, Dr Haswadi Hasan is invited to give award to the winner and meanwhile a short talking as the mark of the end of this program.
The students are listening to the briefing.
The robot car and codes.
Robot Car
The racing paths.
The winner of the competition get their awards from Dr Haswadi
Students’ Feedback (Reflection)
1. What is your goal/dream regarding your course/program?
Our course, which is Software Engineering is one of the crucial aspects for the future. As time progress further, advanced technology will be created with the existence of great software to ensure human’s life will become easier. Hence, one of our dreams is that we wished to create more programs that are more efficient and faster. Although the current technology are already great enough, there are still weaknesses and shortcomings that cannot be overcome and also room for improvement. Thus, we strongly believed that one day, our course Software Engineer would create a better version of current program that already overcome all the weaknesses and shortcomings. Hence, technology will become more advanced in the future.
2. How does this workshop impact on your goal/dream regarding your program?
We got a lot of impact from participating in this workshop, we learned how to work a robot, how a robot reads using a sensor and then uses the sensor, and many more. Many say that the robot is one of the advances in technology and information systems in this world. From this workshop we got a proof that the statement was true, because to get the advancement of technology and information systems we need enough insight and knowledge. For example, to program the robot we need to learn the programming language and then insert it into the robot through the help of a software. And to make the software requires other special expertise, that's why technology and information systems are very important for us all. With this course we can find out how a robot works and what components are needed to make it work. And not only robots, there is much more that can be learned from this course when it comes to technology and information systems. And of course, for computer science students almost all of their lives are related to technology and information systems.
3. What is the action/improvement/plan necessary for you to improve your potential in the industry?
One important form of action to increase the potential in the industry is to follow technological developments. That way we can learn how technology works. Because in the industrial world, technological development is very fast. And also, we, as computer science students, are not only required to know these developments, but also must learn. Computer science students who do not follow technological developments may be able to be compared to partially lost their lives. The second is to learn as much as possible knowledge related to technology, because after all, in the industrial world, science cannot be ignored. It is undeniable that large companies have human resources who have a lot of knowledge, that is why to be able to join the company or even compete with these large companies requires a lot of knowledge.
GROUP MEMBERS:
- Yong Jing Xuan A19EC0214
- Imam Daru Rismi A19EC0241
- Muhammad Rafiy Athalla A19EC0267
- Syafa Ilyas Al Muzani A19EC0288
- Robby Samudra A19EC0279
- MD Shadman Sakib A18CS4062
- Desmond Chieng Chee Hong A19EC0040