Untitled Document

Introduction

Recently, I have taken on the project of starting a Robotics Club at my school. The goal of this website will be to share some of the resources I have collected and created to help other teachers who have ambition to reach the same goal.

Why your school needs a Robotics Club

Computers and related technologies have been getting smaller and faster for decades. This trend towards miniaturization has created the powerful desktop computers we are all familiar with but it has also given us very small, specific purpose computers on a single chip. These integrated circuit computers may not have the processing power to play the latest games, or surf the internet, but they make up for their lack of computing power with their greatly reduced size. These are the computers that run our cars, keep our homes evenly heated and control out traffic lights. They are called embedded processors and they can be found in most of the electronic equipment found around your home.

Since these processors are so ubiquitious and they manage so many functions in our modern lifestyle, students who have experience working with these small processors will be better equiped to design and create new applications as technologies improve as well as develop soloutions to work around technologies that have failed.

Using Embedded Processor Technologies

Embedded processors have characteristics that make them ideal for student use, namely that they are relatively cheap and can easily be found just about anywhere electronics are sold. They also can be powered with very low voltages, making them safer for students to work with. The benefit to students is that it is reasonable for everyone to have a hands on experience building and programming a robot based on cheap embedded processors. By using cheaper equipment, more students can become an intimate part of the robot building process.

Another benefit to using embedded processors is that many developers have starting using high level symbolic programming languages, like BASIC. The BASIC language is great for beginners because it provides all of the code structures found in more sophisticated programming languages with easy to use, almost English like syntax. Also, students have been learning BASIC for decades, so there are a wealth of good books on the subject that provide easy entry for even the most novice learner.

From Embedded Processors to Robots

Cheap, easy to find and easy to use, embedded processors make an almost perfect tool for students to study computer science concepts. Most teachers get to this point with growing interest only to stop because they feel like they couldn't pull everything together into a structured class. If only someone else had just written down a few helpful notes to help them get started, right? Well, good news. There are a number of companies who cater to educators like Parallax, INC. that not only sells embedded processors to educators, but has also developed a complete curriculum for working with their products in the classroom. With a variety of vendors, most of the time all of the teaching materials are free and the equipment they sell is reasonable priced with educators in mind, making the goal of a Robotics Club much more reachable for teachers with limited technical experience.

It's the 1980's All Over Again

If your still not completely convinced that you need to start a Robotics Club, consider some recent history. Looking back at the 1980’s, it is easy to see that students who had hands on exposure to computer hardware and software development early on often had an advantage as systems became more complex. Today, single chip embedded processors are at a level that is equal or exceeds the processing power of entire computers during that time period. The idea for using embedded processors and simple robots in class is that by providing our students with opportunities to learn about these systems while they are still relativly simple, we may be able to help them to ride on the top of this next wave of smaller, embedded technology.

I have provided resources and materials in these pages to help others who are interested in learning more about using robotics and embedded processors in the classroom. Please follow the navigation links to the resource materials and feel free to email me if you have any further questions.