By Wu, James In the Department of Smart Systems, Faculty of Engineering, in the second half of the “General Seminar” class, which is a first-year education for new students, new students work on a theme of their choice every year as a collaborative group work. In the past, interesting projects such as the Drone Project and the Gundam Project have been carried out by the first-year students themselves. This year, as a rescue robot simulation, a radio-controlled rescue robot and a simulation field were created and exhibited at the Sanzo Festival held in October. After that, at the 31st Academic Conference of the China Branch of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers held on Saturday, November 26, first-year students volunteered to give a presentation on these efforts. Goga, a member of the President’s Office Blog and a member of the Department of Smart Systems, reports on the status of this project.
At the Sanzo Festival held in October, the “Rescue Robot Contest Seeds” was held in the Faculty of Engineering building by first-year students of the Department of Smart Systems. In the project room, a simulation field was set up made of cork boards and plastic blocks, as shown in the photo below.
Simulation Field
In this simulation field, a commercially available “rescue crawler” was modified to be wirelessly controlled, and a game was exhibited in which the robot was operated by maneuvering it with a remote camera mounted. The first-year students themselves had been working on the modification to wireless control and the creation of the remote camera since before the summer vacation, using class time from the “General Education Seminar” and “Mirai Engineering Project”. They struggled with microcomputer programming and electronic construction, and were seen working after school and during free time between classes, receiving advice from teachers and seniors.
Wirelessly controlled rescue crawler and remote camera
Since 2019, the Sanzo Festival has refrained from holding face-to-face events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but for the first time in a while, local residents came to experience the “Rescue Robot Contest Seeds.” The game of driving a robot through a simulation field was a huge success, with children really liking it. This event was also a great opportunity for the public to evaluate the projects that the first-graders had been working on and to get advice. Comments like “It would be better if we did more of this” and “It would be better if we did this instead of this!” seemed to motivate them to make further improvements.
Your child will love operating the rescue crawler!
Experience the “Rescue Robot Contest Seeds” with your whole family
A group of first-year students summarized their experience of having their creations evaluated and presented their work in the Robotics 2 session of the 31st Academic Conference of the China Branch of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers held at Hiroshima Institute of Technology on Saturday, November 26th, under the title “Development of a Remotely Controlled Rescue Crawler System for Disaster Relief Simulation (Matsumoto Yoshifumi, Wu Yunzheng, Takamitsu Haruki, Fukuhara Takumi, Kaichi Takumi, Goga Masanori)”. First-year student Matsumoto Yoshifumi, who presented the work, actively conducted additional experiments, wrote a manuscript for submission, and prepared for the presentation, and made it to the presentation stage.
During the presentation, he was confused by the sharp questions from the professors from other universities at the venue and had difficulty answering them, but he was able to complete the presentation without any problems. Unlike the online conferences held until last year, face-to-face presentations have a different level of tension and atmosphere. It was a very valuable experience for Matsumoto. I hope he will use this as a great source of inspiration. In addition, a group of first-year students also participated in this conference.
Presenter: First-year student Yoshifumi Matsumoto
First-year students who participated in the conference
(From left: Wu, Kaichi, Matsumoto, Takamitsu, Fukuhara)
In the “Liberal Arts Seminar” for new students, many projects have grown from the flexible ideas and curiosity of first-year students, such as the Gundam Project and the Drone Project. I hope that all of you first-year students will continue to work on research and development and achieve great results during your time at the university.
A word from the president: It is wonderful that you presented the knowledge you gained from creating and operating a rescue robot for disaster relief, which was a group work in the “Liberal Arts Seminar” for first-year students in the Department of Smart Systems, at the conference. Although everyone’s efforts were pooled together, Matsumoto, who presented on behalf of the students, must have been very nervous and honored to make his academic debut as a first-year student. At first glance, it may look like a game for children, but I imagine that the principles and operations are sure to be practical.
Referral Address:https://www.fukuyama-u.ac.jp/blog/75613/