Robots Saturday School Session Curriculum
Robots Part 1:
If something has the ability to think, acquire and apply knowledge and skills, in essence to learn, is it alive? Students figure out their own answer to the ‘robot problem; as they meet ‘I, Robot’ and Mr. Robot-Oh!, learn where and when it all began (it wasn’t as recent as you might think), discover what androids dream about, try and defeat Talos (the first robot in history) at his own game, before using some whim-agination! They’ll figure out what’s a robot and what’s not, assemble some problem solvers, and learn what happened between the Greeks and advent of the Geeks. Finally they turn a mole-hill into a mountain as they create their own complicated answers to a simple 
problem, Rube Goldberg style! Come on and join the fun, it’s time to power up our brains!
Robots Part 2:
In part two of our robotic adventure we explore just what makes a robot tick and where automatons wound up. Discover how old robots can bring modern people together and a dusty broken boy can inspire a tinsel town hit! Then it’s time to set our own ideas in motion as we tinker and tweak, twist and turn, and go round and round and up and down! We think we ‘cam!’… We think we ‘cam!’
Robots Part 3:
Be ye man or machine? Did you know that humans and robots have a lot in common? And that there’s a test to see just how human-like a machine can be? In this fun exploration of just what it means to be ‘real’ students find out who is on the other side of the line when the phone goes Ringy Dingy! We’ll see what it takes to build trust between mankind and machines, get some feedback, catch the wind and find out if intelligence can be artificial. Finally, we’ll harness some power, fluid power that is, and build the CLAW! Will it choose who will go and who will stay? There’s only one way to find out.
Robots Part 4:
It’s not a revolution, it’s a robot evolution! From just for entertainment and stuck to the factory floor, robots have moved up and on to so many more uses than before. They’re partnering with painters (‘an artist in the shaking?’) and creating works of art (hmm, what is it that it’s making?) While they’ve moved up, they’ve run into a valley, where they aren’t quite real enough (you don’t want to see that in an alley!) So it’s time to figure out just what’s up with robot skin and Albert Einstein is always a great place to begin. Then when we’ve got that part, there’s another task to start…it’s time for us to train and learn to speak to our robot’s brain! And we’ll finally shed some light on just what makes robots tick and see if we can figure out a place where that light will stick.
Robots Part 5:
Robots like to move it! And in this fascinating unit, we find out how brainless robots can act pretty smart, and then get our very own swarm to start. We learn how the sun can give some good vibrations and that Scotty isn’t the only one that can BEAM you up! We play a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Swarm that will have kids giggling up a storm! Then we make some bots, lots and lots and lots and lots [of wibbly wobbly vibrobots!] And we wind up discovering a new form of life, kinetic creatures that swallow the wind, made by a man who envisioned their kind, a vision he found deep inside of his mind. So come on, get moving, you don’t want to miss out…it’s time to get your [bot’s] wiggles and jiggles on out.
Robots Part 6:
It’s time for a challenge, it’s time to start because robotics is both a science and art. And here is the challenge, here’s what to do…put your notions in motion...it’s all up to you!
Relevant Links for Part One
Or, if BURN-E (a welding robot) had known how much trouble he'd be caused by WALL-E's pursuit of EVE, then he'd have taken the day off! [on the WALL-E dvd, at Amazon.com (sound cuts out partway through.)
Pipe Dream: Robot controlled Orchestra
“Pipe Dream.” [Voted one of the 50 best 3D animation projects ever. Most of the other winners were big-budget movies (The Matrix, Toy Story, Star Wars) and a few video/computer games (Doom, Tomb Raider, Myst).] Watch here:
Intel was so inspired they built an equally as awesome real world version of it, check out this video to see it in action.
Rube Goldberg Machines:
Watch Isaac Newton vs. Rube Goldberg or Nat Geo’s giant 4 ton machine (a massive machine with 38 triggers and 71 moving pieces, including a few staff members themselves and a car)
Get students’ creative juices flowing by having them watch clips from the following and seeing how and what others used to make their Rube Goldberg Inspired Machines:
- Rube Goldberg TV
- Sesame Street: Rube Goldberg Machines (which also does an excellent job of reinforcing concepts about simple machines and how they can all work together.)
- 75 Rube Goldberg Ideas & Inventions [This video is split up into 3 sets of 25 ideas by 3 different youtubers. These short screen linked clips can help you with school projects or making your own chain reaction. This video is intended to help individuals obtain ideas and/or inspiration for building their own Rube Goldberg Machine. It is not meant to look like one actual machine. It is simply screenlinked to give more flow and continuity to the video.]
- Find videos and images at http://rubegoldberg.com/ , such as A-Trak & Tommy Trash - Tuna Melt [also at https://vimeo.com/62846755] and Tinkering with Monks [Tinkering with monks: Chain Reaction Contraption from The Tinkering Studio on Vimeo.
Relevant Links & Resources for Part 2
The Tinkering Studio
Dogs Chasing their Tails: http://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/2014/08/20/automata-examples
Relevant Links & Resources for Part 3
Have students listen to the audio recordings…Do Students Think Samantha is Real? http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/10/meet-the-robot-telemarketer-who-denies-shes-a-robot/
Watch: Artificially Intelligent Phone Operator. Meet Amelia.: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-artificially-intelligent-call-center-operator
And just for fun, and comparison. Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the Telephone Operator, “One Ringy Dingy!” Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?”
- Good Afternoon Mr. Veedul! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvesMBkduQo
- We Don’t Care: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHgUN_95UAw
Changing Batteries by Sunnyside Up Productions. http://www.bang- awards.com/en/movie/189-changing-batteries
Relevant Links & Resources for Part 4
For a starting price of $199 dollars (in January of 2015) hobbyists can program their Create robots to do stuff like play laser tag; sumo wrestle; draw on the floor with paintbrushes, pens, or markers; dance, and even be steered by a hamster in a ball attached to the top. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doQvWsJRCPs
See projects people have create here: http://www.irobot.com/hrd_right_rail/create_rr/create_fam/createFam_rr_projects.html
Einstein Robot - UCSD Machine Perception Laboratory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkpWCu1k0ZI
There’s a very helpful and informative video that takes you step by step through the throwie construction process here: http://makezine.com/projects/extreme-led-throwies/
Relevant Links & Resources for Part 5
Swarming Behaviors
An interesting short explanatory video of the swarming tendency and scientific study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uqsRGFLM20
View fascinating images and some gorgeous footage of birds exhibiting swarming behavior here: http://io9.com/you-wont-believe-the-patterns-created-by-flocks-of-bir-1469575403
Vibrobots
Tip: check out the original bristlebot how-to on the Evil Mad Scientist website for inspiration and building tips. http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2007/bristlebot-a-tiny-directional-vibrobot/
BEAM type Solar Wobblebot
This very primitive BEAM-type robot has no “brain,” but it does react unpredictably to intense light by wobbling around on its one foot. It uses a solar panel to directly power a motor that makes the robot move in unpredictable ways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH8-A7wNZrI
Instructions and images via: Kathy Ceceri at http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-WobbleBot/#step1 See a video of one in action:. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH8-A7wNZrI
Strandbeests
Watch the incredible video Theo Jansen's Strandbeests - Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention Episode 1 Preview - BBC One here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSKyHmjyrkA
Theo Jansen
Watch his TED talk here. http://www.ted.com/talks/theo_jansen_creates_new_creatures?language=en Explore more (shockingly lifelike) video, photos, and history at http://www.strandbeest.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYGJ9jrbpvg
Small Scale Passive-Dynamic Walker
Watch it walk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwrrzOBtpTc Instructions & images via: http://nomadpress.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NP_ActivityPrintOut_Mini-Walker-Robotics.pdf
Relevant Links & Resources for Part 6
Instructions and images for legs and crankshaft disks via: by CreativLiMade http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Motorized-Walking-Machine-Sculpture/?ALLSTEPS Go there to be able to see the pictures enlarged and for complete instructions for his model.
