This past summer, Sean Underhill, a junior at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and an excellent Java and Linux programmer, served as a student-intern at Smart Robots’ offices in Dalton Massachusetts.

In a fast-moving project-packed several months, Sean took the lead in...

• Reviewing and editing the SR4 Robot’s user manuals
• Developing a general purpose software diagnostic tool for application troubleshooting of the I²C communication capability featured and supported by the SR4 Robot.
• Writing a Java application for the robot’s user panel that adds advanced LCD manipulation and a method to provide an event driven structure to a row of buttons.
• Preparing and testing user software for the experimental position-triangulator board and beacons that are shipped with the SR4-Navigator Robot. This work led directly to the addition of a rotating pan-and-tilt mechanism for the triangulator to facilitate and improve the acquisition of beacon signals by the robot.
• Testing and evaluating the prototype real-time ammeter board currently under development at Smart Robots, Inc. (SRI) for real-time measurement of motor currents on the robot’s two motor-wheel-base’s motors for PC monitoring via wireless data link to the robot.
• Designing and testing scientific-method-based experiments with the robot’s encoder-based-straight-line path execution functionality on the robot. Sean also applied this methodology to the measurement and study of robot-turn accuracy. Sean’s experiments and methodologies associated with the robot’s navigation have become part of documentation accompanying the Navigation Laboratory (SR4-N) version of the SR4 Robot.

The results of all of Sean’s work as an intern are now included with the SR4 Robot and available to our users.

The projects Sean undertook at Smart Robots are not unlike the hundreds of projects which can be undertaken by students using the SR4 Robot. Such projects provide excellent opportunities for students to perfect their programming skills, plus develop their problem-solving, research, communication, team-work, and leadership skills in the classroom and/or at home.

At the end of the summer, Sean prepared an assessment that summarized his internship experiences at SRI.

Sean’s internship at Smart Robots, Inc. this summer was unpaid, but earned him course credits for his computer science studies at MCLA. Sean now continues his work at Smart robots as a part-time employee of the company, while pursuing his studies.

September, 2004