Free Handy Board Robots and Free Classes for High School RoboFest Teams


Photos from the first day of class



The Handy Board developed at MIT (www.handyboard.com or http://el.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/handy-board/) is a hand-held microprocessor board ideal for educational autonomous robotics projects. Based on Motorola 68HC11 processor, the Handy Board includes 32K RAM, outputs for four DC motors, and inputs for a variety of sensors. The Handy Board runs Interactive C, a cross-platform, multi-tasking version of the C programming language. Lawrence Technological University is proud to announce free Handy Board classes for RoboFest High School Teams sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Information about the free classes and and Handy Boards as follows:

Eligible Person to Apply: High-school math/science/computer teacher (or administrator) in Michigan who will be responsible for sending high school students (2-5) to Lawrence Tech. 

Application Deadline: Tue. Feb. 20, noon

How to Apply: Email to [email protected]. The email must include the following (you may attach a Word file): Name, School mail address, School phone number, Email address, School administrator's name and phone number (and/or email address) - we may contact him/her. Include the the reason why you want to be a coach for a Handy Board team, and previous robotics team experience, if any.

Instructor: Mr. Barry Brouillette

Coach of the Harrison High School Team, Farmington Hills, who won the 1st place in International Fire Fighting Contest at Trinity College in Connecticut in 1999 and came in 3rd place in National BotBall Contest in Austin, Texas last year.

Class Date and Time:

Session Date Time Topics
1 Thu. March 1 4:30pm - 7:30pm Introduction to robotics and robot contests.  Short history of both subjects and basic concepts such as feedback, sensors, motors, and actuators. The HandyBoard and IC programming will be introduced as well.
2 Sat. March 3 9:00am - Noon Introduction to 'C' programming using Interactive C on the HandyBoard.  This session will concentrate on programming fundamentals such as program structure, variables, and input-output operations.  It will be specifically aimed at robot programming and the class exercises will be actual robot programming challenges.
3 Thu. March 8 4:30pm - 7:30pm 'C' Programming continued.  More advanced concepts such as arrays and functions will be emphasized.  In this session we will start using various types of sensors to let the robot know what's going on around it.
 4 Sat. March 10 9:00am - Noon Robot construction techniques. DC motors, Servo motors, Differential steering techniques and LEGO construction tips.  Lots of hands-on activity in this session. 
 5 Thu. March 15 4:30pm - 7:30pm Program debugging. Techniques using a PC as a debugging console will be demonstrated.  A Visual Basic program to accept and display debugging information from a HandyBoard will be supplied (with source code).
 6 Sat. March 17 9:00am - Noon 'Where do I go from here?' This session will discuss Internet Resources, Parts suppliers, books, and other places to get ideas and help.

Benefits: Each team of up to five members will be given free instruction outlined above. Also one Handy Board set to be used in classes will be donated to each school by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Number of Teams to be Awarded: up to five teams. (It depends on your interest and number of applications decided by Blue Cross Blue Shield and LTU.)

Obligation:  The team must register and participate in RoboFest 2001 Handy Board Division on April 28. Please check out www.robofest.net (If your team cannot participate in RoboFest, you must return the Handy Board Kit to Lawrence Tech.)

Location of the Class: Lawrence Tech University, 21000 West 10 Mile Rd., Southfield, MI  48075

For more information, please contact Dr. Chan-Jin Chung, Math/Computer Science Department, Lawrence Tech University, [email protected], 248-204-3504