Assessed Exercises
There are 9 assessed exercises, each will build on a previous exercise. Six of these exercises are classed as “Basic” and we expect that all groups should be able to complete these using the three laboratory classes and maybe a little working outside the lab. These Basic exercises are worth 60% of the total assessment mark. There are also three “Advanced” exercises, which are an extension to the Basic exercises, and will require extra work outside the laboratory session to complete – these are worth the final 40% of the assessment mark.
Note
You must complete all the Basic exercises before you can gain credit for any of the Advanced exercises.
The marks weighting for each exercise is provided in Table 1:
| Exercise: | Weighting: |
| Basic: LED Pattern | 15% |
| Basic: IR Sensor Measurement + Graph | 10% |
| Basic: Externally Powered Servo | 10% |
| Basic: DC Motor | 10% |
| Basic: Encoders + Motor | 15% |
| Advanced: PI Control – IR Sensor Distance | 15% |
| Advanced: PI Control – Encoder Position | 10% |
| Advanced: PI Control – IR with Sequence | 15% |
| Total | 100% |
Marks Weighting for the Introduction to Arduino Exercises.
You will have three laboratory support sessions to complete these exercises, at the end of the 3rd laboratory we will stop marking. Any exercises not marked by the end of the session will not be marked.
To complete all the Basic exercises, you will almost certainly need to do a little work outside the laboratory sessions. To complete all the Advanced exercises you will need to put in extra effort, outside the laboratory sessions, to fulfil the requirements.
The system has been designed, such that it is a sequential development, where each exercise builds on previous exercises, both in terms of hardware and software. This way, you do need to dismantle your circuits between exercises allowing you to work more efficiently across exercises.
Building the Robot
When you come to build the system, you can either build it all the circuitry at the start or you can build the circuitry section by section, as you progress through the exercises. Details of the mechanical and electrical systems are provided in the Building the Robot section of this site.
Suggested Timeline for the Basic Exercises
There is no rigid structure for your progress through these exercises, but the following time plan, (this is a summary of the time plan from the Introduction) should be sufficient to ensure that you have time to complete all the Basic exercises and have them marked by the GTAs before the end of the 3rd laboratory session.
| When: | What: |
| End of session 1 | Robot Assembled and LED Pattern Marked |
| Start of session 2 | IR Sensor Measurement and Externally Powered Servo Exercises Prepared |
| End of session 2 | IR Sensor Measurement and Externally Powered Servo completed |
| Start of session 3 | DC Motor and Encoder Exercises Prepared |
| End of session 3 (Final Session) | All work completed and marked for the basic exercises |
Suggested timeline to complete the basic exercises, only.
If you are planning to complete the Advanced exercises, you will be required to achieve these goals quicker and have any Advanced exercise you have completed marked by the end of the 3rd laboratory session. Any exercises not marked by the end of the 3rd session will not be marked, and you will lose the marks for these unmarked exercises.
Note
You must have completed all the Basic exercises before you can receive credit for any of the Advanced exercises.
Peer Assessment
There will be a BuddyCheck peer assessment for this section of the course, which is accessed through Blackboard. This must be completed in the deadline - details on Blackboard. Failure to complete this peer assessment within the deadline will result in a loss of 10% from your group mark, (only for the non-submitting individual).
All peer assessments will be individually viewed, both in terms of the mark awarded and the worded comments provided. The peer assessment will only be used to penalise students that are poorly contributing to the group effort. We will not penalise students on peer assessment scored alone, but will use these in conjunction with the worded responses and laboratory attendance. (The worded responses hold considerably more sway in deciding if a student should be penalised for not engaging and contributing to the group activities.)