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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, Sheri, and Keith 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 Symposia just worked. Again, thanks to all.
After an introductory administrative session during which Mark took participants
through their folders (including agendas, college credit forms, and pre- and post-assessments),
Drs. Brad Blue and 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. 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 from the very simple (the heavy load lifter) to the complex
(Robonaut). This valuable presentation showed 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 used
to perform their duties. In 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 a great 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.
The first is by completing repetitive tasks. Robots are 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 holding
a component or passing a tool when a robotic assistant can 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 and Keith Watt 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
and Keith then had the participants work on a classroom activity called Marsbound!
(which was developed by Keith). 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 fantastic glimpse into how NASA conducts its mission planning and makes
the decisions about what will be on a mission. At the conclusion of Marsbound! 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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Underwritten in part by NASA
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