Tuscany Heights Elementary School

Yesterday (Thursday, 11/17/11), I had the pleasure of talking about Space Robots to the Robotics Club at Tuscany Heights Elementary School.  The kids (about 40 of them) were polite and attentive, and they asked very good questions during and after my presentation.  I showed them the "Rat Brain" video, the "Robot Actress" video, and the "Kitchen Robot" video.  After the club meeting was over, I gave Ms Hernandez a copy of my presentation and all the videos.

I'm looking forward to talking again to this fine group of future robotics engineers.

I told Ms Hernandez about "Robotics for Grandparents" and offered to hold the course at Tuscany if there was interest among parents.

Thousand Oaks Elementary School

This morning I had the pleasure of presenting "Space Robots I Have Known" to the 4th and 5th grades at Thousand Oaks Elementary School in San Antonio.  I gave a slide presentation, then showed some interesting video clips.  The kids were very attentive and polite, and asked very good questions.  I think that they will be well prepared to design the next generation of space robots. 

Thanks to Mrs. Jenness Davidson for inviting me, and to the principal and other faculty for making everything go smoothly.

I'm looking forward to telling my story at other schools in the area.

Day 6 - wrapping up

Things have been busy!
Today we had the last class meeting for the 2011 edition of RoboticsForGrandparents.  There was no programming to be done, but I did give the class a challenge - to build the "five minute bot" from nxtprograms.com.  They did fine, except that I left out two pieces from the parts kit.  One student was able to invent a way around that problem, so we had a bot that would run around on the table.  An added bonus was a visit from Mike Henry, a FIRST Senior Mentor who likes to talk up youth robotics.  He identified and compared several robotics programs available in the San Antonio area, and showed us some of his robots.

Interest in "Robots I Have Known"

It appears that the word is getting around about my presentation "Space Robots I Have Known".  I've had e-mail inquiries from three different elementary schools, wanting to know when I can give the talk.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.  SA BEST is in full swing, so Fridays are limited.

Day 2 - Moving!

In this week's lesson, we worked on moving the robot around, combining the MOVE block with things we already knew.  It was interesting to see the different teams' approach to solving the problem.

Day 1 of RFG 2011

Today's class went without a hitch.  All seven students showed up, and I think they had a good time playing with the robots.  Everybody got the bot going and made it beep and talk, which is a great start.  I think they're already having as much fun as the 5th graders!

One thing that's a problem is the lighting in the room.  When we switch from looking at the projection screen to looking at laptops it is a problem for some.  I'm going to close the blinds next time.  I sure wish the Mindstorms brick had louder audio.  Maybe I will do something about that.

Next week we'll try to get the bot to move and turn.

Dextre robot works aboard Space Station

This article,

 http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/dextre-robot-repairs-iss-while-astronauts-sleep,

tells about some recent activity with Dextre, the special purpose end-effector that's now in use on the Space Station.  When I first heard about it in 1977, it was thought to be something more complex than just a gripper, but this is *amazing*!  It can ride around on the tram while the Canadarm2 does other things, and it has small tools that it can use to fix things.  It is also capable of teleoperation from Mission Control!  The only limitation I see is that only one of Dextre's arms can be moved at a time, with the other locked in place.  That's a minor limitation in my opinion.  Good work, ROBO team!