Finding new ways to teach electrical circuits: Robot Basketball

Alfred University engineering students studying electrical circuitry are learning the ups and downs of radio frequencies through the use of miniature robots acquired recently by the Inamori School of Engineering.

The students, studying in Professor Xingwu Wang’s “Introduction to Circuits” class, gathered last week in the Connors Learning Commons, in Connors Hall, to test their robots against each other in an old-fashion game of robot basketball.

Through the semester, the students had assembled the robots, then programmed each digital operating system to respond to commands issued from the students’ cell phones through a Bluetooth remote connection.

The level of basketball may not have qualified the robots for NBA action; however, in preparing their robots for competition, the student teams had to absorb a wide range of knowledge related to radio waves, electricity, and computer coding, according to Wang.

He noted Bluetooth connections operate at higher frequencies (with shorter wavelengths) than the radio signals emitted by traditional RC systems used for toy-size vehicles such as model airplanes. The shorter wavelengths generate clearer lines of communication, Wang said. They also require a clear and open field between the cell phone and its robot.

The robots, Wang added, provide an engaging way of teaching the physics behind Bluetooth operating systems. “The goal is to make the learning experience interactive,” he said. “And fun.”