LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 TRANSFORMERS Guofu Huang, Jared Wood, Elvis De Abreu, and David Fink Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yu Sun University of Central Arkansas Department of Computer Science Programming Environment ABSTRACT Ev3rstorm In this project, we investigate this educational robot kit by making robots with sensors and motors. The purpose of this project is to use Lego MINDSTORMS series as an educational tool to spark kids’ curiosity and stimulate their learning interest in science and engineering. So far, our group has built several different robots in different shapes, like Gripper, Spider and Ev3rstorms. Basically, the functions we have developed for our Lego robots include object avoidance using infrared sensor, remote control using wireless phones, voice control with app, following a colorful path achieved with a color senor. In our outreach activities, like CNSM science nights, we demonstrated our Lego EV3 to kids. It turns out that Lego EV3 is an excellent education tool in educating young kids. Can ship different weapons to make an attack, like shooting a red ball. Voice Control using developed app. Walk like a human, very fun to play with. Programming is simple, use blocks to program instead of coding. Very friendly environment for young kids, start easily. Loop Block Move Steering Block Ev3rstorm Easy program example Gripper Conclusion Object avoidance using infrared sensor based on detecting proximity and read signals emitted by the infrared Beacon Have big claw to grip big stuff even a coca can. Switch Block Why Transformers ? It’s a lot of fun to play with LEGO MINDSTORM EV3, and very easy for young students to learn, can be used as a good educational tool to teach young students how to develop a robot. Can be assembled into lots of different cool shapes. Programmable functions using block programming. Future Work We will design more different shapes Lego robot, and we may buy more LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. With more motors and more sensors, we can build bigger Lego Ev3 robot with more functions within it. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was partially supported by NASA EPSCoR 2012 Award # NNX13AD32A Gripper