The Robot Underground

My name’s Parker (she/her), and I’m an ECE senior who’s bringing to life an expansive and fresher-than-cilantro vision for an immersive virtual game that breaks open robotics education for middle and high schoolers—particularly girls—in lands near and far. I call this game The Robot Underground (TM), and I'm building a short, playable demo in the Unreal Game Engine this year. This project is not for the faint of heart. We’ll need to break out our machetes and slice through the jungle of technical learning curves in order to build this immersive, story-driven, robotics-skill-buildin’ game. But if you want the thrill of building a game unlike any other, of racing up learning curves and leveling the playing field for girls and other kids everywhere, then shake my virtual hand and read on. Welcome to the ranks. 

See the full project proposal here

Objectives


For the past year, I have been working to transform my zero-to-mastery robotics curriculum into an immersive virtual game called The Robot Underground (TM)—a game that catapults middle and high school students into a new universe of building, wiring, programming, and battling robots. For this Senior Capstone Project, I propose building a playable demonstration of the electrical simulation elements of the game, front-end and back-end, featuring a combination of analog- and digital-level simulations of relevant circuit boards, and step-by-step wiring guidance for the player. Ultimately, the player would get to wire a virtual Arduino-centric robot, upload some code to bring it to life, and, with the help of this new bot friend, unravel a mystery.

Motivations


I have been sprinting to build a new pipeline into technical majors for kids in underserved areas since 2017. At the core of this work has been the development of what I believe is the most comprehensive robotics curriculum for middle and high school students in existence. Students can start with no experience, and walk away with the skills necessary to enter college totally prepared for a technical degree.

Pre-pandemic, my sister and I designed and assembled physical robotics kits and began producing a library of YouTube tutorials stepping students through the building, wiring, and programming of each of the 23 increasingly advanced robots that comprise the curriculum. We also began beta testing the curriculum on what was ultimately hundreds of students in our rural Washington community. Then the pandemic descended, students checked out, and our ambitious plans to bring robotics to the masses went up in flames. We knew that we were thinking too inside-the-box, and it was going to take a big bold vision to get around geographic and physical constraints in order to bring technical education to students everywhere.

Now, I am sprinting to execute the next iteration of our vision: a transformation of our comprehensive robotics curriculum to the virtual space. Taking creative approaches to simulation, I believe that I can develop not just a virtual workbench to build, wire, program, and battle realistic robots, but to create an engaging, immersive game that hooks students by requiring them to use their robots to tackle missions and compete. I have started developing this game, and for my Senior Capstone Project, hope to construct a realistic simulation of the electronics of an Arduino-based system. I have plans for the technical execution, the team, and the timing, and even as we speak I continue to build.

Qualifications


Minimum Qualifications:

I am looking for collaborators to fill two roles (more than one person can fill a role!):

  1. A Front-End Game Developer
    • Role Description:
      1. Development of the UI of the game (creating the virtual model of the robot, environment, circuit components, etc) such that they can smoothly and modularly integrate with Unreal.
      2. Programming the game functionality as it relates to interaction with the environment, such as player interaction with the robot, GUIs, etc.
    • Skills Needed:
      1. Designing highly stylized 3D and 2D game visuals, then creating/sourcing designs (in Blender/Adobe Suite/etc) that fits the vibe of the game (see linked project proposal for an idea of the vibe). 
      2. Some experience with the Unreal Game Engine or an interest in learning it!
      3. Some comfort with C++ or the Unreal Blueprints language.
  2. A Back-End Game Developer
    • Role Description:
      1. The programming of the back-end of the game. Aside from working with me on simulation engine integration (Arduino/digital logic simulator and assembly parser), the programming would largely relate to game logic, “level” progression and functionality, as well as preparing the demo for playability on at least one OS.
    • Skills Needed:
      1. Comfort programming in (or Googling how to program in) C++. The bulk of this game will be built in the Unreal Game Engine, and I think we both will be writing a lot of C++ in Unreal. 
      2. Some experience with the Unreal Game Engine or an interest in learning it!

More than anything (more than C++) I care about whether the project and the mission behind it resonates with you. If you are interested in working on this project, but are hesitating because you’re not sure about skills, then definitely reach out! [My email: mayerpa@oregonstate.edu]

Preferred Qualifications:
None Listed


Details


Project Partner:

Parker Mayer

NDA/IPA:

NDA/IP Required

Number Groups:

1

Project Status:

Accepting Applicants

Website:
https://robotunderground.party/
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65zLHmnLVUU
Keywords:
CGamingArduinoRoboticsComputer ArchitectureAssemblyUnreal EngineBlender
Card Image Capstone