MEDIA, Pa. — This semester, five Penn State Brandywine students collaborated on a unique capstone project for their CMPSC 483W: Software Design Methods class. In this course, students apply scientific knowledge and methods to design and construct software.
When Hunter Becker, Ryan Culbertson, Mohammad Hoque, Remington Navarro and Ian Demartinis began brainstorming ideas, they decided to move away from the standard approach and take on something entirely new.
From the start, their vision was clear: to create a game involving robots.
“We wanted to have a stealth game where we have two robots defending a certain area and then have an intruder robot come in,” Culbertson said.
As expected, this was no easy task. However, through constant collaboration, the team quickly got to work.
“We all adopted flex roles to fill whatever needs there were,” Becker said. “I worked on the user interface and did 3D printing, while Ian handled much of the networking and worked on the robots’ emotes and action groups.”
These were just a few examples of how responsibilities were divided, but one of the most challenging aspects of the project was modifying the robots’ software.
“We literally went in and changed the programs that were already on the robots to get them to do what we wanted for their roles,” Navarro said. He explained that these programs are not designed to be altered, making the process especially difficult.
One unique feature of the robots is their ability to follow color, allowing them to move in specific directions.
“They have a camera on the front of their heads that function as eyes,” Becker said. The team 3D printed a red helmet and calibrated the cameras so the intruder robot could respond accordingly.
To control the robots, the group used a certain online software to adjust settings.
“We used RealVNC to control the robots and modify their programs,” Hoquesaid. He added that the software also allowed them to view the robots’ perspectives in real time.
While the final product was successful, the process was far from seamless. Projects like this involve constant trial and error, troubleshooting and even occasional hardware damage.
“It sometimes felt like we were taking ten steps backward to take one step forward,” Navarro said.
Still, the team's determination kept them moving forward.
“We had a vision and we wanted to finish,” Culbertson said.
With that goal in mind, the team successfully completed their project and presented it at the Student Engagement Expo on April 14.