Robotics: Integrated Systems Design

• Today– How to work in a team– Form teams– First Team Assignment

• Monday– Controls with Dr. Krauss

Announcements• Reading for next week:

– Using a PID-based TechniqueFor Competitive Odometry and Dead-Reckoning

• from the Newsletter of the Seattle Robotics Society

• Course Website– http://roboti.cs.siue.edu/classes/integratedsystems/– Class drop box: http://classes.cs.siue.edu/

• CS Senior Projects Lab: EB 2029– Available for teamwork– Store materials

What is a Team?• Two or more people who work together to

achieve a common purpose– What will be your team’s common purpose in

this class?1. To perform the lab assignments

2. To design and implement a robot for the Urban Search & Rescue Project

3. To learn about each other areas from one another

How do you recognize a team when you see one?

• Two or more people who are interacting with each other, are interdependent– Otherwise you are a group – Or a party (if there is a beer).

Team Process

• How are decisions made?• How are conflicts resolved?• Team Roles

– CTO: Chief Technical Officers (Facilitator)• Keeps the team focused and productive

– Scribe• Documents the activities and decisions of the team

– Rat Hole Watcher• Makes sure the team doesn’t get too far off topic

Running an Effective Team Meeting • Meetings must have a detailed agenda

– What topics are to be covered, what activities will be performed

– Agendas are sent out in advance of the meeting• Team Roles Assigned

– Team Leader (CTO), Scribe, Rate Hole Watcher• Document the Meeting

– What was discussed or accomplished– What are the “action items” and who is responsible for

each one.– Provides a group memory– Reminds individuals the assignments they need to

complete

Team Meeting Exercise • Get into your assigned teams• Run a 20-minute team meeting

– Assign roles, use the meeting minutes template– Here is the meeting agenda:

1. Introduce each other and trade contact information2. Discuss the characteristics of a good team

member. Come to a consensus of the top 5 characteristics in order of priority.

3. Beginning next class period your team will sit together in class, come to a consensus of where your team will sit.

4. Every team must have a team name. Decide on your team name.

Review Lists

My list of top 5 “Do Be’s”

• Completes assignments on time

• Communicates

• Uses constructive criticism rather than destructive criticism.

• Is on time for meetings

• Sense of humor

Puzzle Game

Solve the given jigsaw puzzle

What did we observe?

• It is difficult to solve the puzzle without having a clear picture of what the objective is

• Team members automatically assumed certain roles based on their personality types and styles

Creative Thinking

• Notes from: “A Whack on the Side of the Head: How you can be more creative”, R. von Oech, U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1990

• Creative Thinking is looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.

– Shifting the context in which you think about something– Requires an attitude that allows you to search for ideas and

manipulate your knowledge and experience

Mental Locks/Mental BlocksMental Locks are attitudes that lock our thinking into the status

quo and keep us thinking “more of the same”. Inhibit creative thinking.

1. Habitual Thinking – Doing things or thinking about things in way that is out of habit. Habit reduces cognitive load but can keep your thinking in a rut.

2. The Right Answer – Thinking that there must be only one right answer or the best answer. By being stuck looking for “the right answer” we tend to discard potentially good solutions before we have a chance to explore them.

3. Making unwarranted assumptions – Making assumptions about the problem that are unfounded or unnecessary.

Mental Locks/Mental Blocks5. Play is Frivolous – Business thinking leads us to believe that

the bottom-line is about productivity, so any activity that is not directly productive must be unproductive. Sometimes it helps to look at ideas in playful, humorous, or imaginative ways. These can possibly lead to new insights that can potentially be productive down the line.

6. I’m Not Creative – Self-fulfilling prophecy. Give yourself a license to be creative.

Creative Thinking Methods

• Vertical Thinking– Systems and sub-systems

• Lateral Thinking– “I don’t care about what anything was

designed to do. I care about what it can do. " – searching for different ways of looking at things– http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm

Vertical vs Lateral Thinkinghttp://www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/961.html

Vertical thinking Lateral thinking

Looking for the right approach Looking for as many approaches as possible

Rightness Richness

Proceeds if there is a direction Proceeds to generate direction

Is analytical Is provocative

Is sequential Can make jumps

One must be correct at every step One does not have to be correct at every step

Uses negative to block off certain pathways

There is no negative

Excludes what is irrelevant Welcomes chance intrusions

Fixed categories/labels Labels may change

Explores most likely paths Explores least likely paths

SCAMPER Questions

• Idea generating questions– Substitute something– Combine it with something else– Adapt something to it– Modify it– Put it to some other use– Eliminate something– Rearrange it– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgp8wSuC_HA

Example• An Electric Plant in Great Lakes area is having

problems with zebra mussels. The mussels are forming a thick layer inside the cooling intake and reducing flow rate resulting serious problems in the plant. Since they are not a native species to the area there are no natural predators.

How can we reduce the impact of the mussels?Also, how can they be economically dispose of

once they are removed?

Team Assignment

• Lab 1: Cat-a-pult!– Intro to Robot Kit– Working as a Team– Thinking Creatively– Writing lab reports

• Movie Clip