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Robotics
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Thanks to All for a Great Day!
And what a day it was! From the beginning to the end, there was a great energy in
the room due in no small part to a fantastic mix of presenters and participants.
Thanks to Brad, Julie, Jen, and Sheri for providing fantastic content, educational
resources and activities, passion, and humor throughout the day. However, the presenters
were only half of the equation. Thanks also to all the participants for taking time
to join us for the day. Having an engaged group of participants giving back to the
presenters really completed the picture. It really is great when things just work,
and the NASA Robotics Symposium just worked. Again, thanks to all.
After an introductory administrative session during which participants were familiarized
with their folders (including agendas, college credit forms, and pre- and post-assessments),
Dr. Brad Blue and Ms. Julie Ferriss led an activity designed to show the importance
of a common language in science and engineering. In this activity, small groups
of participants were given a group of Lego components and tasked with creating something
from them. The catch was that only half of the group was allowed to see what was
being created. The second half of the group was then tasked with recreating the
structure without seeing it! This had to be accomplished through communication only.
This activity was very successful in showing why a common language is important
for scientists and engineers.
After this opening activity, Dr. Jennifer Rochlis presented an overview of NASA's
robotics program. She was able to pass along information about what NASA had done
in the past and where NASA was going in the future with robotic technology. She
showed the participants robots ranging from the very simple (the heavy load lifter)
to the complex (Robonaut). This valuable presentation illustrated a variety of "robots"
and how they differ based on their functions.
Dr. Blue and Ms. Ferriss followed Dr. Rochlis with a session focused on developing
a common language for the Lego robots. They were able to do this by having all the
robots run a short program while the participants observed and recorded what was
happening. After sharing observations and establishing a rudimentary common language,
the participants were introduced to the iconic language that the Lego rovers use
to perform their duties. For the elementary classroom, Ferriss developed a set of
stamps and magnets to assist students in developing the program for the Lego "brick"
to follow. In developing this iconic language, all students successfully learned
the language needed to communicate with the Lego brick.
After lunch, Rochlis continued her presentation from the morning, this time focusing
more on Robonaut and how astronauts and robots will be working together in space.
In essence, robots will assist humans in several ways. First, by completing repetitive
tasks, robots will be used much the same way on Earth now (welding machines, C in
C machines, etc.). Second, they will assist humans with tasks that will save the
astronauts' resources. For example there is no need for an astronaut to carry a
load of rocks for a sample return mission when a robotic assistant can carry the
load and save life support systems. Another way a robot could assist a human is
in the construction of equipment. Why have a human hold a component or pass a tool
when a robotic assistant could do it just as well? As Rochlis put it, by sending
three humans and six Robonauts to Mars, imagine how much more productive the humans
could be with the robotic assistance! In this session, Rochlis also stressed the
importance of communicating with the robotic assistants and developing the common
language being explored by Blue and Ferriss.
This provided a great segue to Blue and Ferriss's last session of the day. In this
session, participants put all they had learned about programming and the language
of Lego programming to the test. Ferriss and Blue put out a large map simulating
the surface of Mars and announced several challenges from the Exploration Mars!
curriculum. At this point the participants were turned loose to program their rovers
to complete at least one of the tasks. This session was very interactive and is
very difficult to describe here because of the individual nature of the activities.
That being said, there was a great deal of energy in the room stemming from the
highly interactive nature of the task at hand. It was like a classroom with groups
learning from individuals inside and outside of the group.
Sheri Klug presented the final session of the day. The participants got very involved
and wound up with an overview of NASA's current missions to Mars and how invaluable
the robotic rovers have proven to be. This overview traced the history of the rovers
from the beginning of the mission through the present. Sheri then had the participants
work on a classroom activity called Marsbound! In this activity the participants
designed a mission to Mars that had to stay within budget and produce the most scientific
gain. This provided a glimpse into how NASA conducts its mission planning and makes
the decisions about what will be on a mission. At the conclusion of the activity,
the team with the highest number for scientific gain, lowest costs, and a successful
mission (determined by the roll of a die) wins.
Overall, the day was very successful, with participants and presenters alike sharing
their passion for science and education.
For more information contact symposia@nsta.org
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