David Cole, Ph.D. Chair/Physical Science Steve Cooper, M.S. Inst.lBiology Ronald Doran, Ed.D. ProUBiology Don England, Ph.D. Dist inguished ProUChemisuy Jo Goy, M.S. Insr.lBiology Joe Goy, Ph.D. Ass'r. ProUBiology James Mackey, Ph.D. ProUPhysical Science John Moon, Ph.D. Asso. Prof. & Asso . Prof. & Chair/Biology Steven Moore, Ph.D. Asso. ProUBiology Lambert Murray, Ph.D. ProUPhysics April Palmer, B.S. Asso. Inst.lPhysical Science Mike Plummer, Ph.D. ProUBiology Dennis Province, Ph.D. Ass'c ProUPhysical Science Bryce Roberson, Ph.D. ProUBiology William Ryan, Ph.D. ProUCompmer Info. Systems & Physical Science Keith Schramm, M.S.E. Ass't. ProUPhysical Science Ed Wilson, Ph.D. ProUChemi;;ry Science Research Team Receives Grant from NASA Faculty Members, Students Work to Construct a Trackable Robot A group of Harding Uni vers ity students and professors spent the school year testing thei r scien tifi c knowledge wh il e constructing a robot. The team worked [Ogerher ro crea te a robot t hat can be tracked within 50 squar e feet of irs location at any given time, acco rding [0 Dr. Bi ll Ryan, assoc iat e professor of ph ys ica l SCIence . "I t 's a rea l team effort," sai d Ryan, who initiated the projec t in 1997 and was a member of the team th at con struc t ed thi s year 's robot. The team also included Dr. Ed Wi lson , professo r of chemis - try, and Jared Hodge, Jeremi ah Palmer, Ben O sborne, se niors, and Nathan Masters, sophoRyan first became involved in th e robot project aft er a co lleague at another unive rsity challenged that a robot could nOt be crea ted that could be tracked effic ientl y. Withi n six months , Rya n had applied for the grant and set out to prove hi s coll eague wrong. The process of creating a proj ec t of such magnirude was extremel y in-depth , according [0 Ryan. "Dreaming is the fir st stage, then we put the dreams on paper and begin sketching out designs," he said. Accord ing to Rya n, the gro up completed two or three designs before coming up with the final des ign rhey ultimately chose to use . mor e. "It has been an The ream used a ser ies of small er st eps and goa ls to create the robot, Ryan sa id. According ro Ryan, the students who work on the project each yea r typ ically have an electronic or computer sc ience inclinat ion. This year was no d ifferent. Hodge d id much of the wiring and Palmer was responsibl e for the des ign and assembly of the framework, Ryan sa id. " I t has bee n an exc it ing projec t to work on. I t has also been an honor ro work with such a di sri ngui shed team," Masters sai d. "We ar e di scove ring endless poss ibil ities." Ryan sa id the project is made possible th ro ugh a grant from t he Arkansas Space Conexciting project to work on. It has also been an honor to work with such a distinguished team. We are discovering end less possibili- . " tIes. -Nathan Masters In the end , the robot was abl e [0 move around a building by followin g a programmed path. The COSt of the robo t was relati ve ly cheap - between $3 00 to $400, Ryan sa id. Whil e much of rhe framework for the robot was made of sc raps from the va rious construct ion proj ec ts that [Ook place around campus, the expenses came in purchasing a new motor and wheels for the robot. Ryan sa id he beli eves t he proj ect will continue aft er t he graD[ expires . " I t will neve r end ," he sa id. "We will co ntinue [0 find other things [0 make it do ." so nium, whi ch is fund ed by NASA and (h e state of Arkansas. The team is currentl y in the seco nd year of a three year grant, whi ch wi ll expi re Feb. 28, 2001. Grant money is used for both the expenses of the project as well as scholarships for the students invo lved . In th e future, Ryan hopes [0 add a speech processo r and speed control to the robo t's list of fun ctions. "We couldn ' t have don e thi s pro ject without t he grant ," sa id Ryan, who had no experience working with robots prior to this project. "There all kinds of possibilities of things it can do," he sa id . The robot was used in the classroom as we ll as a recruiting too l, according to Ryan. H e said a number of prospec tive st udents have shown a great deal of in terest in wo rking on the proj ec t. -Sarah Terry Physical Science & Biology 73
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