ITECH1101-IT Problem Solving

Overview

This assignment requires you to identify a challenging problem and attempt to solve it using a robot. You will design a possible solution, attempt to implement that solution and then present an aspect of your work to your peers. There are three separate parts to this assignment, coinciding with the stages of developing your solution:

Part 1: Initial Design Documentation (group) and Peer Review (individual)

Part 2: Hackathon Report (individual)

Part 3: Hackathon Presentation

Assessment Details 

Part 1: Design Documentation and Peer Review

This stage requires you (as a group) to select a problem to solve using one of the available Mindstorms Robots, design a possible solution to this problem and submit this solution design for peer review. You individually are required to peer review the designs of two other students not in your group. The design documentation is to be completed in groups of 2-3 students. Your team will be allocated from your lab group. 

Problem Selection 

Identify a problem to solve as a team. This assignment requires the team to program a robot to solve the identified problem. You can come up with a problem of interest that you want the robot to solve (perhaps a design thinking workshop could help generate ideas), or use the ideas below as suggestions. Your problem must: 

1.Be challenging for you. You are being assessed on your application of problem solving skills, so any problem that is too easy will not give you the opportunity to demonstrate this.

2.Require you to use a variety of problem solving strategies / techniques to complete

3.Be creative. Fun is a huge element of a hackathon, so you want to select something that you will enjoy.

4.Require you to code the behaviour. Controlling the robot’s movements through a remote is not permittedn(although a limited amount of this may be done in support of coded behaviours)

5.Work within the capabilities of your robot. You are not permitted to modify the robot builds, other than to switch between the available attachments as appropriate. You may add temporary enhancements, such as using glad wrap, putting on temporary decorative clothing or applying a rubber band, provided the changes do not affect the structure of the robot, do not impair its capacity to function, do not leave any mark or residue on the robot and can be quickly applied and removed. 

Part 2: Hackathon Report 

This part of the hackathon assignment requires you to discuss, analyse and reflect upon the problem solving techniques you use during the hackathon. This will occur through a work journal to be documented in Microsoft Word or compatible text editing program (saved as a .pdf file for cross-system compatibility). This task is to be completed individually. 

You will update and maintain your work journal on a frequent basis throughout the hackathon, documenting: 

1.an overview of the work you have been attempting 

2.challenges or problems you encounter

3.the output of your work

Throughout these journal entries, you will make and analyse connections between the work you are performing and the course concepts reviewed throughout the semester. For example, if you attempt to solve a problem using a graphical model, your entry would identify the problem you were trying to solve, discuss the use of the graphical model and the reason for its use and analyse how effective the graphical model was in helping you resolve the problem. 

Part 3: Hackathon Presentation 

At the conclusion of the hackathon, each person must provide a short individual presentation about their hackathon experiences in their scheduled laboratory.

This presentation will:

1.introduce the main problem that the team attempted to solve for the hackathon.

2.identify a personally-significant moment experienced during the hackathon and discuss what made this significant. A significant moment may include events that were challenging, particularly emotive (satisfying, frustrating, etc) or that had a large impact on the work performed during the hackathon.

3.identify ONE problem personally encountered during the hackathon, and discuss the problem solving techniques or strategies used personally to address this problem and how (and why) these were used. Note: team members must not choose the same problem to discuss. You will need to coordinate with your team to ensure different problems are selected.

4.reflect on personal learning and responses to challenges encountered during the hackathon, including understanding of course concepts, personal skills in problem solving and the role of mindset. Each presentation should not exceed 5 minutes. Any presentation aids readily available to students may be used, but students are responsible for ensuring these will work in the labs and having a backup available in the event of an issue.