The TI-Innovator is a new coding platform from Texas Instruments, that allows you to use compatible TI calculators to create programs. The platform includes the “Rover”, an all-in-one robot that uses the Innovator hub to control its actions.
My group and I worked for many weeks on getting the TI-Innovator Rover to demonstrate Newtons Method as a part of our math and computer science classes final project. We faced a number a number of challenges, such as drawing the graph, drawing the tangent lines, and lifting the pen up and down.
Our main challenge was designing a mechanism to have the robot lift a pen off of the ground and place it back on the ground so that we could re-position the robot without drawing a line. This was very challenging because the robot system had no way to mount a servo motor. So we made measurements and used CAD software to make a 3D-printed piece to mount the servo.
In addition to the problem of lifting the pen up and placing it down, the rover system had almost no documentation on how to accomplish any of the small tasks that are required in order to demonstrate Newton’s Method. Using trial and error we were able to find decent ways of drawing tangent lines, plotting curves and other operations. Overall, the most challenging aspect overall was the fact that we were working on a problem that had never been attempted before. Every little success we had was a small breakthrough, since this platform was so young and there was little documentation.
Here, you can find links to the code, a few videos of demonstrations and explanations, and a folder with the CAD file and images for the servo mounting piece. If you have any interest in discussing this project, feel free to contact me!
Code – Click here
Demo Video – Click here
Explanation of Servo Mounting – Click here
CAD File and Images – Click here