Comments and Conclusions

• The MIT 6.270 robot kit provides a interesting and stimulating learning tool that is well suited for an introductory engineering lab course. While being fun, the kit involves the student in the technical design concepts and issues of control systems, programming, circuits, mechanics, and various other hardware and software issues. Futhermore, the skill of problem solving is tackled in a direct and forward manner through the process of designing, building, programming, testing, and revising the design.
  
• The kit is very well documented and has many useful sensors and devices. The kit is autonomous, in that once its program has been downloaded, it can operate without being connected to a computer. This is a very nice feature. One disadvantage, however, is that there is no easy way to make a graphical user interface to control the design.
  
• A difficulty we foresee without the bend sensors, is in the implementation of a closed-loop control system to enable the design vehicle to walk and avoid walls or obstacles.