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The Swamp Navigator Challenge
Design Brief:
Your uncle Arturo retired last year and moved east—he actually exchanged his farmland in Phoenix for swampland in Louisiana. You thought he was a little nuts, especially when he called to ask you and your design team to build a swamp navigator. He’s suddenly obsessed with documenting everything that lives in his swamp. At first you blew it off, thinking that his sudden interest in nature will fade just as suddenly as it began. But he’s serious. In fact, he just sent your team first-class airplane tickets. In two weeks you’re supposed to fly to Florida with a model of your design. Arturo is so confident that your ideas will be brilliant that he’s invited a mechanical engineer for dinner on the day you arrive. (In addition to swamp navigating, Arturo also has taken up cooking since he retired.)
Design Features:
These are the things that Arturo wants in his swamp navigator. He’s sending you those plane tickets, so don’t disappoint him by leaving any of these things out! That swamp navigator must:
- Move forward, backward, and side-to-side (duh)
- Move over different types of terrain (sand, mud, rocks etc.)
- Be controlled by user
- Move with legs NOT wheels
- Moves through water
- Moves across all kinds of underwater
Getting Started on Design:
Go to the Conexiones Web site. Look at what other people have created. Soon you’ll get a sense of the great potential of Lego Robotics. But other people’s ideas aren’t going to match all of Arturo’s requirements. So this is only a place to start.
http://conexiones.asu.edu/curriculum/roboticideas.html
Think About the Client:
Arturo’s gotten a little crazy since he retired. He’ll be really disappointed if your swamp navigator functions well but looks boring!
Brainstorming:
Look carefully at those design features (above) and start asking yourself some questions. For example, What is a swamp? Is a Louisiana swamp different from other swamps? What is the best way to maneuver through water? Make a list of questions and use the Internet to search for answers. But don’t get lost while you’re surfing the Web. Start with key words that relate to your questions, for example "Louisiana swamp." Search the Web until all your questions are answered. And make sure that your questions cover all of those design features.
While you’re surfing the Web, think ahead to the presentation you’ll be giving.
Sell the Idea:
Selling the idea is part of the design challenge. Arturo is your uncle, he’ll give you hard time whether your design is good or bad. BUT if it’s going to be built (and you know there’s no beach vacation unless it does), then you’re going to have to make your ideas clear to a lot of people.
You’ll create a project Web site to get your ideas across. These are the things you must include on your project Web site:
- Describe the design challenge.
- Describe your research (the questions you came up with while brainstorming a and the answers you found on the Internet.
- Describe how the mechanics of Arturo’s swamp navigator satisfy those design challenges.
- Include plenty of details about those mechanics.
In what ways are the mechanics for traveling through water different than for traveling on land?
What are the mechanics involved in lifting and moving objects?
Be sure to include some interesting stories about swamps?
How much swamp land is in the United States?
What’s the most important piece of swamp land in the history of the United States?
Is Louisiana swampland anything like other swamp land?
What animals live in swamp lands?
What challenges did you come across while designing and programming the swamp navigator?
What research information helped you design and build the swamp navigator?
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