Webhunt 1    

        I recommend that you work with another student on this. If you do not have web access at home, most public libraries will give you that access, and the librarians can help you get to the sites. You can also use computers here at school if you have a tech pass.  If you do this worksheet online, you might want to open two browser windows so that you can use one for the questions and the other to navigate to sites.

Go to the Solarbotics website.   This company makes several robot kits.

1.  Tell me a little bit about the Photopopper. What does it do? How much does it cost, etc.?

Click on the link back to the Solarbotics homepage. Spend at least 10 minutes looking around. Make sure to check out the walking robots for when we watch the robots video. (You can enlarge most images on this page by clicking on them.)

2.  What is BEAM and the BEAM philosophy?

3.  What do you think about this design philosophy?

4.  Name a few people who designed some of these robots.

5.  What type of robotic creatures might you like to build? Why?

Go to the site: robotics.com/md2.html

6.  What is a stepper motor?

Go to the Digi-key website.  They are a company that sells many electronic components.

Enter the part LM18293 for your search.

7.  What kind of component is it?

8.  How much does one cost?

9.  How much do 25 of them cost?   What is the unit cost at this level?

10.  What is the unit cost when you purchase 100 of them?

11.  What is the unit cost when you purchase 250?

12.  Who is the manufacturer (vendor)?

Go to the National Semiconductor website.   They are a manufacturer of integrated circuits-- circuits that contain many transistors in a small, single electronic package to perform a certain task.

Find the Data Sheet for the CD4081 using the search box. (You may have to load Adobe Acrobat Reader. Don’t worry, it’s free and really useful.)

13.  What kind of component is the CD4081?

14.  Copy the connections diagram by hand.

15.  What is the supply voltage range?

16.  What is the operating temperature range?

17.  What is the Typical high level input voltage at 25�C when VDD=10 Volts?

Finally, another really cool site is the Mars Rover web page.  Here you can learn about a real robot at work:

Tell me the solar array type and power output for 1 point extra credit. (More points if fewer people have the information.)

 

 

 

 

Copyright � 1998 Richard Taylor
Last modified: September 12, 1998