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Robotics in Education
Chandimal Jayawardena([email protected])
What is a Robot?
• A robot is a device that is built to independently perform actions and interact with its surroundings
What do we need a robot to do?
• Moving: The robot must be able to control some set of actuators to move how and when we want it to. We must be able to reliably place the robot anywhere we want.
• Sensing: The robot must be able to perceive its environment through sensors locate obstacles to avoid, and objects of interest that we want it to interact with.
• Plan/Act: The robot must be able to make decisions using its processor based on it’s sensors and feed them to it’s actuators to be able to move.
From USC Robotics Research Lab – http://http://robotics.usc.edu/
Robotic Trends• The focus is shifting from industrial robotics to service robotics
• The robotic industry is seen by some economic forecasters as the next boom industry, similar to the IT boom in 2000
– Billion dollar investments in developed countries
Personal Robots
Assistant Robots
Care-o-bot
Robot butler &
handles objects
RobodynamicsLuna. Programmable assistant robot.
Toyota Home Assist Robot (HAR). Cleaning.
Gostai Jazz. teleconferencing
Video Conferencing Robots
Giraff Technologies AB
VGo from IVCi
Ava from
iRobot
Willow Garage
Texai
Anybots SB
Mobile video conferencing and telepresence
Healthcare Robots
Remote doctor
(InTouch, Santa Barbara)
Paro the therapeutic baby seal robot companion
Gecko Systems Carebot
Chat and remind
Robosoft's Kompai
Talks, reminds, lists, music, videoconference
Companionable EU project. Oldercare aid.
Healthcare Robots
Panasonic Hospi-Rimo. Telepresence for people with limited mobility.
Fatronik-tecnalia. Older care. Cognitive aid, walking, security.
Robovie 3. Help people walking through crowds. Provide information,
Importance of Robotics in Education
• An ideal platform for teaching– Mathematics– Scientific principles (particularly Physics)– Design & Technology– ICT (computer programming)
• Prepare work force for future demands– Attract more student to engineering and ICT.
• Subconsciously introduces students to possible career paths they may well have never considered– Engineering principles, such as electrical, mechanical, as well as IT skills are
required to successfully complete a robotic project
– Robotics is a perfect way to show students that engineering and IT can be fun
• Develops interpersonal skills– Team work
Educational Robotics
Robotics in Education
• Learning tool
Education in Robotics
• Learning object
Theories Supporting Robotics in
Education
• Constructivist Theory (Piaget)
– individual learners construct mental models to understand the world around them
• Constructionist learning (Papert)
– learning can happen most effectively when people are also active in making tangible
objects in the real world
• Learning by design
• Project-based learning
• Open-ended problem solving
Concepts children learn when they
design, build, and program robots
Understanding Gear Basics
Understanding Sensor Basics
Designing a Robot Chassis
Measuring Force/Torque
Measuring Rotational
Speed
Controlling Rotation
Measuring Distances
Calculating Heading
Writing a Program to Navigate a
Path
Fractions
Decimals
Measurement
Ratios
Units
Velocity
Acceleration
Geometry
Electromagnetic
spectrumLogic
Scientific thinking
Electricity
Building or Programming?
• Students can learn by– Designing robots
– Building robots
– Programming robots
• Depending on the learning outcomes, curricula can be designed
– Engineering
– Computer science
– Mathematics
– Physics
Options for Schools (some examples)
Real robots
• Commercial platforms
– Software is not free
– Good product support (not free)
• Open source platforms
– You can build your own robot or use a commercial robot
– ROS (Robot Operating System) based robots
– Community support
Robot simulators
• Commercial
– Webots
– Robotics tool box for MATLAB
– Microsoft Robotic Developer Studio
• Open source
– Gazebo
– Khepera simulator
– Player/Stage
Options for Schools
iRobi Q – Yujin Robot,
Korea
Bioloid – Robotis
Lego Mindstorms
Nao – Aldebaran Robotics
Khepera
Open Source Robotics
• An open-source robot is a robot whose blueprints, schematics or source code are released under an open-source model.
• Open Source Robotics Foundation– Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc. (OSRF) is an independent non-profit
organization founded by members of the global robotics community. The mission of OSRF is to support the development, distribution, and adoption of open source software for use in robotics research, education, and product development.
• Robot Operating System (ROS)– ROS (Robot Operating System) provides libraries and tools to help software
developers create robot applications. It provides hardware abstraction, device drivers, libraries, visualizers, message-passing, package management, and more.
What is ROS?
• ROS is an open-source, meta-operating system
• It provides the services you would expect from an operating system such as, – hardware abstraction,
– low-level device control,
– implementation of commonly-used functionality,
– message-passing between processes,
– package management.
• It also provides tools and libraries for obtaining, building, writing, and running code across multiple computers.
• Ideal for teaching programming• http://wiki.ros.org/Robots
Demonstration
• Turtlebot and turtlebot arm (ROS powered)
• iRobiQ (a commercial robot used for education)
• Quadruped robot
• Differential drive robot
Summary
• Robotics industry, specially service robotics industry is rapidly growing
• Robotics is an ideal platform for engaging students and teaching several academic
concepts
• Suitable options for schools
• Open-source robotics
Questions?
