Tag Archive - robotics

Tech Heroes

February 15, 2011 in Evansville, Technology with 3 Comments

Josh at Tech's laser tag party

This blog is a salute to my 4H Tech Club heroes – the leaders. Who are they, and what do they do?  

Five years ago, my son started robotics. Robotics held such potential I asked our county’s 4-H program to offer a robotics project. Some areas had robotics clubs, but I wanted more.  

In Thomas Edison’s time, there weren’t light bulb clubs. I saw a vision of a 4-H Technology Club, where youth encounter technologies, build skills, and ignite passions.  

Challenge: it takes two leaders to begin a club. I am not a scientist. We needed  a second leader with a science background. A friend introduced me to Josh Weiland, a web designer. At our first meeting, Josh was friendly.  I knew he was the right guy when I told him, “I don’t know much about science, but can organize my way out of a paper bag. If you help with the science, it would work, ” and he laughed.    

4-H began a push to cultivate 1 million new American scientists. Our club could help that happen in Evansville, Indiana.

So our Tech Club began 4 years ago. Since then, Dana Nelson (a social media strategist) and Mark Keller (an engineer) have joined our team of leaders.  They all share their unique strengths with the club.

Each year, we host workshops in computers, electricity, aerospace, and robotics. We’ve brought in guest speakers including a brain surgeon, toured an airport, and practiced hands-on robotics programming as guests of a college programming class.

Josh is the fun leader who adds zing. Each year, we’ve played laser tag at our completion party.  Josh loves it, and club members conspire to ”get Josh.”

Computer Hardware workshop

 Josh, Dana, and Mark give workshops in their areas of expertise. Mark has taught physics and application of the scientific method.  Dana and Josh have led members in web design exercises.Last night, Dana loaned Josh a webcam for a computer hardware workshop. Because of their many questions, the 30 minute workshop stretched to an hour. With each question, Josh answered patiently as his enthusiasm lit the crowd. 

Club members divided into teams that took apart computers and put them back together. Learning by doing sometimes means learning by taking apart. Dana, Dan Nelson (Dana’s husband, an IT pro), and Josh helped the groups.

Thanks to Josh, Dana, Mark, and all the families of our club who worked hard and built it into a success.

Oil Spill Cleanup Robotics Contest

July 13, 2010 in Education with 0 Comments

Competitors arrived at 5 p.m. and learned what the contest was about.  They had until 6:30 p.m. to design and put together their robot for the contest.  During their experiment time, they could test the course.

This is what they were given:

A terrible oil spill has happened this summer in the Gulf of Mexico.  Robots are being used to assist in the cleanup.  You must decide how your robot is going to improve the situation.  You will have 2 runs during the contest.  You can practice run before the contest. You have 5 minutes maximum for each run.

  1. Swap containment cap: Remove cap from pipe and replace it with another one. (10 points, for removal of the first cap and 20 more points, for placing the other cap on it.
  2. Move berms off the shore and into the ocean to try to prevent the oil from coming ashore. (5 points per berm that reaches the new goal.)
  3. Pick up tar balls from distant shore. (1 point per tar ball)
  4. Caution: avoid hitting the 2 oil skimmers. (robot dogs) (3 point deduction per hit)
  5. Avoid hitting the hydro fire oil boom (10 point deduction per hit)

As an added bonus, since this related to a real life scenario, each team could try for bonus points in Internet research. A laptop with Internet access was provided if they wanted to use it.

Bonus Questions (1 point each):

You may use the Internet to find answers to these questions.

  1. When did the oil spill begin?
  2. What is the name of the oil company that had the oil spill?
  3. Which of these challenges listed has a robot really been doing this weekend?
  4. How is a new containment cap supposed to help with oil spill cleanup?
  5. What do the berms do?
  6. What are tar balls, and where are they?
  7. What is the job of the oil skimmers?
  8. How has the Jones Act, or Merchant Marine Act of 1920, impacted oil spill cleanup?
  9. What is a species of animal impacted by the spill and how does it impacts them?
  10. What is a business or industry hurt by the oil spill and how?
  11. What does a hydro fire oil boom do?
  12. The largest maker of oil spill equipment in the U.S. is in Carmi, Illinois. What is its name?

I hoped the contest would help the participants better understand different problems and solutions with the oil spill, so they could better follow future updates on it. 

Our contest this year experimented with new features we had never seen tried.  We changed the judging with individual judging plus team judging.  We added an impromptu Internet research unit.

How did our changes work? That’s tomorrow’s blog.

A 4-H Robotics Contest with a Twist

July 12, 2010 in Education with 1 Comment

My kids have been involved in robotics contests the past 4 years.  They enjoy them, and I love the varied skills learned in a single contest.  First, there are the technical skills: a problem is presented, and a whole team has to work to solve it.  Physics, mechanics, engineering ingenuity, and computer programming are all key elements.  Second, there are team building skills: team members must learn to communicate and work together.

Besides being a parent, I’m a 4-H leader in Evansville, Indiana.  4-H has a major emphasis towards science, engineering, and technology and has a national goal of inspiring 1 million new scientists for our new century.  I began the process to have a robotics project in our county. 

A robotics project wasn’t enough, however.  We needed a club that focused on technology.  I didn’t want a robotics club; when Edison invented the light bulb, were there light bulb clubs? It’s more than robotics.  Our information revolution is the biggest transformer of world culture since the Industrial Revolution, and I wanted our kids to be ready to be the best riders in the world Technological Rodeo.

So we began a Technology Club.  (Actually, the kids in the club voted they didn’t like that name and renamed it Tech Club.)  At each monthly meeting, we have a different workshop topic in engineering, electrical science, aerospace, computers, and physics.  Each member tackles a 4-H project in one of those areas and gives a demonstration each year in one of those areas.

Our county sends several teen 4-H members every summer to participate in science and engineering workshops.  I hope, with our club, we raise the interest in those workshops and the knowledge base of those who participate.

We also organize our county’s robotics contest. The last 2 years, the contest has mirrored other contests in which my kids participate, with teams competing against one another.  Our contest is an impromptu design contest;  kids don’t know until they arrive what the challenge is and have limited time in which to complete it.

This year’s contest adds an element almost out of a reality show.  In addition to the team contest, we will have judges observing the competitors individually.  They will evaluate the competitors both in problem solving and team building skills.  And they will award an individual champion in each of 3 age divisions. I have not seen another robotics contest try this twist and am curious to see how the experiment works.

Problem Solving:

  1. Understands challenges presented and develops strategies to overcome them.
  2. Develops a good robotics design for the challenge.
  3. Assists in robotic programming to meet the challenge.
  4. Demonstrates strong troubleshooting skills.
  5. Is able to make needed adjustments to robotic design or problem solving.

 Team Building: 

  1. Participates on the team.
  2. Communicates constructively with other team members, actively listening to them.
  3. Encourages participation of all team members; pulls strengths from individuals to build a better team.
  4. Takes good care of robot and its parts.
  5. Treats everyone in the robotics contest in a respectful and supportive manner.

My goal is to teach the 4-H members to not only strive to win but to strive to win well.  We’ll know later tonight whether my experiment to mix up the contest is a success or an epic fail.

Either way, our leaders and our club will learn by doing.