Materials

Untitled

Prerequisites

Basic biology course, some understanding of algorithmic thinking.

Investigating / Essential Questions

• How does the human eye identify color?
• How can a robot be made to detect color?

Educational Standards

The national and state educational standards applicable to this lesson plan are listed on the following page:

Educational Standards

Learning Objectives

1. Explain how the human eye discriminates wavelengths of light.
2. Explain how a computer screen can fool you into seeing yellow when all it produces are red, green, and blue wavelengths of light.
3. Develop a computer algorithm based on an analysis of sensor comparisons to guide robot behavior and explain its parallels to human color discrimination.
4. Explain the advantage of using multiple sensors in biological and robotic color discrimination
5. Develop and test a robot that navigates using sensor comparisons.

Introduction

Sensory biology as a field of study is concerned with how organisms obtain information about their environment. Specifically, how sense organs transduce energy from external stimuli to neural electrical signals. This unit examines the sense of color vision. Many animals have evolved color vision, which is the ability to discriminate between things based solely on the wavelengths of light they either emit or reflect. The mechanisms underlying color vision are well understood. Studies across organisms have led to a rich understanding of how animals vary in color perception ability and its importance in their daily behavior (Cronin et al., 2014). There are many examples of color used to evoke desired behaviors, such as human-made media advertisements that use color to get consumer attention and the development of artificial lures colored to attract different species of fish. The biological principles behind the detection of color have also been applied to engineering problems. For example, color sensors are used to check the colors of products in factories, allowing products to be automatically sorted and assessed for their type or quality.

This challenge-based unit aims to introduce students to the biological principles underlying color vision in animals and use engineering design to reinforce the principles learned. The unit also demonstrates to students how the working principles of color vision can be applied to autonomous robots. Groups of students participate in two activities that build foundational knowledge of how humans perceive color and how robots discriminate color to meet their engineering challenges.