Video Version:
Micro Aerial Vehicle – Unmanned aerial vehicles generally fall into categories roughly based on their size:
- Small: <10m across, and 10-25kg
- Mini: <5m across, and <10kg- Micro: <15cm across, and <100g – For more information (HS)
- Introduction to unmanned aerial vehicles by Penn Engineering Dean Vijay Kumar (HS & advanced)
Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) – An IMU is an electronic device that measures acceleration and angular velocity in order to calculate a robot’s pose. – Sparkfun description of IMUs, accelerometers, and gyros (7-12)
- Robot Academy course on measuring motion (HS)
- Coursera video on IMUs (advanced)
Motion Capture – “Motion capture, or mo-cap, is a process of digital recording of people or objects’ movements.” Robots use motion capture systems to measure their pose in 3D space. – Teslasuit (HS)
AprilTag – When motion capture systems are unavailable (such as outdoors or in unknown locations), robots can use AprilTags to determine their pose. AprilTags are two dimensional bar codes, similar to QR codes. Robots use cameras to detect AprilTags, which have known locations in the world. By computing the precise 3D pose of the AprilTag relative to the camera, robots can determine their own pose in 3D space. – University of Michigan (HS)
Features – Instead of relying on AprilTags, robots can use the world around them to determine their pose. “A robot can use a camera to capture an image of the world. The image contains millions of pixels, but the value of each pixel is not particularly informative about what’s present in the scene. We need a more concise or ‘higher level’ way to represent the information, and this is what we refer to as image features.” – QUT Robot Academy (7-12)
- Image features (HS)
- QUT Masterclass on Feature extraction (HS & advanced)
| Name | Grade Range | Resources | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Rescue | 3-5 | $3/group | Students simulate a search and rescue operation |
| Mountain Rescue | 6-8 | $2/group | Students simulate a search and rescue operation |
| Super Spinners | 7-9 | $1/group | Students investigate inertia by designing spinners |
| Newton’s 1st Law lesson | 5-7 | $0 | Students learn about Newton’s 1st law |
| Relative Position | 7-9 | $1/group | Students triangulate their position to simulate GPS navigation |
| Texas Instruments | 9-12 | Calculators | Exploration of circle equations using a TI calculator |
| Line equation activities | Varies | Varies | Collection of activities regarding graphing lines |
| Math (Common Core) | Science (NGSS) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Description | Standard | Description |
| CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.EE.B.6 | Derive the equation y = mx for a line through the origin and the equation y = mx + b for a line intercepting the vertical axis at b. | HS-ETS1-1, HS-ETS1-2, HS-ETS1-3 | Engineering Design |
| CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.GPE.A.1 | Derive the equation of a circle of given center and radius using the Pythagorean Theorem; complete the square to find the center and radius of a circle given by an equation | MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3 | Engineering Design |
| CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.7.A | Interpret statements of inequality as statements about the relative position of two numbers on a number line diagram. | MS-PS2-2 | Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object. |
| HS-PS2-1 | Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration. | ||