Learning & Leading Through Technology

Company

Innovation First International

vexrobotics.com

K’NEX

knex.com

Lego

legoeducation.us

Parallax

parallax.com

Qupiron Technology

hummingbirdkit.com

Romotive

romotive.com

Seymour Papert, author of Mindstorms, believed the role of the teacher is to “create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge.” Papert studied children who used the Logo programming language to control both triangles, or “turtles,” on screen and robots on the floor. The trial-and-error process, with informed revisions and instant feedback, encouraged experimentation.

The recent resurgence of interest in robotics addresses the engineering part of education’s emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). It is evident in classroom curricula, robotics competitions, technology clubs, and programming classes. Robotics skills equip students to design the types of robots used in factories, operating rooms, research labs, and applications we cannot even imagine yet. Robot “proxies” are even used to stand in for homebound students in some schools.

Robotics for Students

Some robots for students come assembled and ready for remote control commands. Other robots are prebuilt but require programming.

Many educators, however, believe that assembling a robot is an essential part of the learning experience. Kits are available with all of the necessary parts for building programmable robots, including motors, sensors, controllers, and LEDs.

Lego has been at the forefront of robotics since the company added interactivity to its interlocking pieces with motors, sensors, and computers. Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 Core Set is the third generation of the platform (“EV” stands for evolution).

BUYER’Sguide

Vex Robotics and K’NEX also offer large-scale kits for school and district-wide robotics programs.

The Hummingbird Robotics Kit embodies STEM with the arts, known as STEAM. Children build robots, kinetic sculptures, and animatronics with craft materials, such as cardboard and Popsicle sticks, along with motors, sensors, controllers, and LEDs. The Hummingbird kit is a product of Carnegie Mellon’s CREATE ( Community Robotics, Education, and Technology Empowerment) lab.

The Romo docking base and Romo app turns an iPhone into a robot. It comes with preprogrammed tricks and can be easily programmed to navigate obstacles and respond to human gestures.

Robotics Competitions

In addition to the curricular goals and STEM initiatives that classroom robotics addresses, the hands-on activities are engaging and effective uses of technology. Advanced robotics involves challenges, such as building and programming a lightweight and sturdy robot to perform multiple, complex tasks.

At the NASA-sponsored FIRST Robotics Competition, the 2013 theme was “ultimate ascent.” More than 2,500 teams were challenged to build a robot that could toss flying discs into goals and then climb a 90-inch pyramid. The NASA Robotics Alliance Project provides grants to high school teams and sponsors regional competitions. The 2013 National Vex Robotics Competition attracted teams from 20 countries with both autonomous and driver-controlled robot challenges.