Robots in the Introductory Physics Laboratory This website contains instructional materials and photos for our robot program in the Intro Physics Laboratory (PH 192). Most of the students are life science majors. An overview appears in the following article: Lowe, M.*, Moore, H., Langrall, E., and Gehrman, C. "Robots in the Introductory Physics Laboratory," submitted. (*Corresponding author.) In 2007, four lab periods were dedicated to building robots followed by a larger competition on a separate day. The instructions for each class period are shown below; the instructor can modify them as desired: 1. Day One
Instructions
Platform configuration
Component placement
Power switch 2. Day Two: Instructions 3. Day Three: Instructions 4. Day Four: Instructions 5. Competition: Track
Prior to the four robot labs, the students were introduced to basic circuit principles and components necessary for building a robot. The following files contain some of these circuit activities:
Ohm's law and IV curves
Batteries in series
Switches
Voltage dividers, potentiometers, Wheatstone bridge, photocells Two types of boards have been used in this program: the Scorpion HX and a power amplifier board designed by us. The following files contain information on the power amplifier board and augment what is described in the paper indicated above:
Photo of the power amplifier board (circuit diagram appears in the paper)
Full circuit diagram for radio remote control using the power amplifier board
Instructional diagram of the power amplifier board
Instructional diagram for radio remote control using the power amplifier board
Instructional diagram for the line tracker using the power amplifier board Photo Gallery: These are some of the robots built over the years using the principles described in the article. Except for the arm, the robots were all designed by intro-level undergraduates. Please refer to the article for descriptions, more photos, drawings, and teaching methods. | 
