DESIGN NAME: Alpy
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Educational Robot
INSPIRATION: Inspired by the idea of making an educational robot which will be an abstract perception in order to give more free space for being creative.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Alpy presents a novel approach and combines the functionalities of a complete STEAM kit with the attraction of a robot. The product can easily be transformed from a basic physically programmed robot towards an autonomous intelligent robot. The platform customization is handled through opaque, transparent, rigid or function specific modules with common interfaces. The components can easily be altered via the user due the robust inherent design and requires no soldering or special tools.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: Alpy is working in coordination with the mobile application and a two-sided board. There are two main options in the mobile application to program and control Alpy. The first option consists of scenarios. These scenarios have levels which become challenging incrementally. Children program Alpy trough mobile application to complete each scenario with basic movement commands. When Alpy completes the task successfully or fails, it gives feedback with sounds and lights to inform children about the result. The second option is giving more free space for children. They are allowed to make Alpy draw shapes on the board or make free movements with sounds and lights. Children can also experience sensors which are embedded in Alpy in free exploring mode and can program the robot using sensors.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started in March 2018 in Ankara and finished in December 2018 in Ankara.
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: Outer plates of Alpy are made of acrylic plates, which are made by CNC laser cutting. Inner chassis is made of two identical aluminum parts.
Communication of Alpy and mobile device is via Bluetooth.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Dimensions: 135 x 110 x 110mm
Weight: 530 gr.
TAGS: Robot, educational robot, stem, steam, coding
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: Introducing the coding and STEM applications to the children as early as possible is becoming vital. Not many teaching tools are present in the market and available products lack customization and can only meet specific functionalities for the learning outcomes.
CHALLENGE: The main challenge was optimizing the dimensions and weight of Alpy, because it should be easy to hold by children safely. Customization without changing inner chassis was very tough.
ADDED DATE: 2019-02-05 08:38:23
TEAM MEMBERS (3) : Alp Erdener, Anıl Özfuttu and Doğuhan Pala
IMAGE CREDITS: All photos are taken by Mithat Tekin, 2018
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