STEM Robotics Doug Porter Saint Ursula Academy Cincinnati ,Ohio 45206 dporter@saintursula.org 20 Years as a teacher 6th Grade Life Science 7th Grade Earth and Space Science 8th Grade Physical Science Tech Prep General Biology CP Biology Honors Biology AP Biology Anatomy and Physiology Forensics Robotics: Coach, Competition director Instructor, Writer

What is a robot?

Characteristics Robots are… Tools (make work easier, safer in some way) Mechanical (move, or manipulate objects) Sensors (respond to, or detect changes) Autonomous/Remote Control Programmable ? Yes Yes/No No Yes Yes Yes

What is the purpose of your robotics program? Develop Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math skills (STEM). Develop critical thinking, problem solving skills Develop team work Tie STEM activities to existing courses/programs

Getting Started Cheaply Junkbots Motors Battery Holders Switches Electronics The art of creative dumpster diving

Classroom Challenges Junkbots Make an electric car that runs. Make it stop before it hits the wall. Think outside the box, what do the rules allow, limit? Make a mechanical sensor that stops the car before it hits the wall. (Let the students modify the rules) Repeat: Learn from others, modify, improve. After the first few examples let the students choose the challenge and let them make the rules. EX: Stop at the edge of a table, sumo bots http://www.kelvin.com/

BEAM Robotics “Mark Tilden” BEAM = Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, Mechanics: Biology -- It's tough to beat 4 billion years of evolution; the world around us is a wonderful source of inspiration and education. Bear in mind, of course, that unlike Mother Nature, you also have the advantage of gears, motors, bearings, and good glues! Bioengineering Electronics -- It kind of goes without saying, but this is what we'll use to drive our creations. BEAM robotics, though, strives for rich behaviors from simple circuits. Here's the key: simple and understandable circuits, surprisingly complex in behavior. Physics Aesthetics -- This just means your creations should look good. I'm an engineer, but even I appreciate a good-looking design. Besides, if a design looks "clean," it's more likely to work (and easier to test / debug) than a design that's tangled and unruly. Engineering, Art, Design Mechanics -- This is the less-than-obvious secret of many successful BEAMbots -- with a clever mechanical design, you can reduce the complexity of the rest of your robot (reducing the number of motors and sensors, for example). Physics, Engineering BEAM

Biology Sensing and Responding to the environment Solarbotics parts and network http://www.solarbotics.com/ http://www.solarbotics.net/ Make Magazine Project Ideas http://makezine.com/

Educational Robotics Lego Robotics: RCX: Programmable Autonomous http://robomatter.com/Shop-By-Robot RCX: Programmable Autonomous http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/search/RCX NXT: Programmable or Remote http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/categories/products/middle-school/lego-mindstorms-education/_/characteristics/productType~LEGO%20Sets Tetrix: Programmable or Remote http://www.pitsco.com/store/default.aspx?CategoryID=62&searchtype=0&c=8-1|62-2&t=0&l=0&loc=mm1 First Competitions

VEX Robotics: Programmable or Remote http://www.vexrobotics.com/ VEX World Competition: http://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition

Programming Mindstorms Robolab RCX Robots Robot C NXT, Tetrix Robots VEX

Other Competitions BEST Robotics BotBall Botball Store

Links and Resources Parts/Kits Junkbots/BEAM Educational Kits http://www.kelvin.com/ http://www.solarbotics.com/ Educational Kits http://robomatter.com/ http://robomatter.com/Shop-By-Robot http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/search/RCX http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/categories/products/middle-school/lego-mindstorms-education/_/characteristics/productType~LEGO%20Sets http://www.pitsco.com/store/default.aspx?CategoryID=62&searchtype=0&c=8-1%7C62-2&t=0&l=0&loc=mm1&bhcp=1 http://www.vexrobotics.com/

Links and Resources cont. Books/Magazines http://makezine.com/ http://find.botmag.com/ http://www.servomagazine.com/ Davids Cooks Robot Guides http://www.robotroom.com/ Software RobotC http://www.robotc.net/ Tutorials, Teacher Materials, Workshops and Software Training Carnegie Mellon University http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/roboticscurriculum/ Robot C Virtual Worlds http://www.robotc.net/download/rvw/