Summer School on "ROBOTICS"

17th June - 11th July 2024

The Department of ECE and EEE at Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurugram organized the Robotics Summer School 2024 under the banner of the IEEE Student Chapter from 17^th June – 11^th July 2024. Dr. R. Dheivanai, Faculty, EEE and Ms. Sonia, Faculty, ECE were the mentors of the summer school. 14 students participated in the Summer School. The summer school activities were mixture of theoretical lessons, practical workshops, and project-based learning experiences.

Week 1

The session began with a warm welcome by the Mentors Dr. R. Dheivanai, and Ms. Sonia They outlined the Robotics Summer School’s objectives, emphasized the importance of hands-on learning, creativity, and teamwork.

Dr. Dheivanai, gave introduction about fundamental robotics concepts, programming basics, and the use of various types of robotics kits and highlighted the real-world applications of robotics, that sparked curiosity and excitement among the participants. Then, she introduced the Firebird V, which is a versatile robust and user-friendly robotic platform widely used in education and research. It is equipped with a variety of sensors, actuators, and interfaces, making it an ideal tool for learning and experimentation in robotics. The session aimed to familiarize participants with the features, capabilities, and applications of Firebird V & also highlighted the importance of understanding the control logic and flow of commands to effectively program the kit. Students were asked to work in team size of 3-4 members. All the students were instructed to install Atmel Studio 6.0 and AVR Dude software for practicing the programming on Firebird V robot.  Next they learnt about the programming environment and the basics of writing codes in C- language and uploading code to the firebird V bot using STK Cable and commands. By the end of first week, they learnt about Buzzer Programming, Motion control, velocity control, LCD Interfacing, White line follower etc.

Week 2

During 2^nd week of the Robotics Summer School, students had the opportunity to work on the Buzzer Program, velocity control, LCD interfacing and white line follower etc., using the Firebird V robotic platform. The session aimed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to program the robot's movements accurately, focusing on controlling its speed and direction.

The programs taught participants how to control the firebird kit, enabled them to produce various ON/OFF time and different kinds of motion like forward, left, right, backward and stop of motors. The exercises not only introduced them to hardware control but also reinforced their programming skills.  Students explored the critical concepts of motion and velocity control using the Firebird V robotic platform.

The primary objective of the Motion and Velocity Control session was to teach participants how to program the Firebird V robot to move with precise control over its velocity and direction using PWM Techniques. This involved understanding the mechanics of robot’s movement, the role of its motors, and how to write effective code to control these elements.

As part of the Robotics Summer school, participants explored the use of  Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) on the Firebird V robotic platform. The session aimed to teach participants how to utilize the LCD to display information, which is crucial for debugging, monitoring robot status, and enhancing user interaction. The main objective of the LCD session was to introduce participants to the functionality and programming of the LCD on the Firebird V robot. Participants learned how to display text and numerical data, which is essential for providing real-time feedback and information about the robot's operations. Students also explored work on White Line sensors  which are integral components in the Firebird V robotic platform, designed to detect and follow white lines on surfaces.

Week 3

As a part of the Robotics Summer School, students explored the use of  Pspice software under the guidance of Mentor Ms. Sonia Arora. This is a strong and adaptable software tool and stands for Personal Simulation Programme with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (P-Spice), and is extensively utilised in the field of electrical and electronic engineering. Students had access to a full environment for designing, simulating, and analysing electronic circuits with PSpice, developed by Cadence Design Systems. Students got the opportunity to learn that using this software anyone studying electrical and electronic engineering will succeed in their academic and professional endeavours by bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application.

Students learnt to draw some basic circuits such as Half and Full wave Rectifier, Clippers, Clampers, Bi -polar Junction transistors etc. Students designed and got output of their designed circuits successfully.

Week 4

During fourth week students learnt about Firebird-Blockly, which is a visual programming interface where anyone can plug the blocks together to program the robot. Blocks represents programming constructs - if, while, buzzer on, buzzer off, type cast, break, variable etc.

Students learnt that Blockly is an open source Google product which can be used to develop games, program robots, learn basic programming skills etc. Firebird-Blockly can be run in a web browser on almost any device that has an internet connection. Suitable browsers are Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.  Then students had an insightful discussion with their team about their project. Mentors provided valuable guidance, helping them to collect more information on the necessary components, including sensors, motors, and other essential robotics parts.

During the session students were explained the functioning and integration of the components in detail which enhanced their understanding significantly. With Mentor’s support, they began assembling the project, ensuring each part was correctly placed and operational. Additionally, students worked in refining their presentation, incorporating the new knowledge and practical insights gained. The collaborative effort greatly advanced their project's progress and prepared them for future presentations and implementations for participating in different competitions.

Benefit/Outcome: The program provided a comprehensive learning experience in robotics and automation for students in advancing their knowledge and skills in the cutting-edge field.