Here’s another report of the fun of robotic camps for kids going on this summer at Lenoir County Robotics Camp which kicks off Monday.

There are 26 campers divided into teams to create a simple robot from Legos and a small electronic box that controlled it.

Each robot will be designed and programmed to meet the day’s challenge, White said — he explained that the main focus is on design, which he said is used by engineers to solve problems.

The school system held its fourth annual GADGET (Global Activities Designed to get you Excited about Technology) Camp in June and its first annual Tech-Savvy Girlz Camp, which is designed to get more girls interested in science and technology, earlier this month.  I’ve written about the importance of getting girls interested in technology before.

About half of the students at the Robotics Camp were female.  – Great!!

That’s one of our big pushes right now, because there’s just as big of an interest in robotics from our girls as there is for our guys,” said Melissa Lynch, a first-grade teacher at Moss Hill Elementary School who was one of three camp staffers present Monday — Lynch also staffed the Tech-Savvy Girlz Camp.

Overall, I was disappointed by their assessment this quote:

The children could then be guided into a career with companies that emphasize engineering and technology, such as Spirit AeroSystems.

I would have hoped they would think higher than working for a yet another big company.  Let’s encourage these kids to become more business-minded job creators rather than just another cog in the corporate wheel.

“You really get to see the kids think and figure out the best way to do something, and it’s awesome,” Hood said.

Indeed.

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Sick of your robot’s batteries running out and want a longer-lived power source? Here’s a unique robotic power source, food.

This robot consume organic matter and produces energy from it with the aid of microbial fuel cells.

Cleverly named ENERGETICALLY AUTONOMOUS TACTICAL ROBOT or EATR for short,  (Who comes up with these names?!) this robot is “an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling[...].

The specification claims:

It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable. For example, about 150 lbs of vegetation could provide sufficient energy for 100 miles of driving, depending on circumstances.

Similar to human, it’s eating and digestion process produces waste so it does what humans also do, it goes the bathroom. To be exact, it emits waste in a stream of liquid waste like diarrhea. It may sound disgusting but it is a big step towards autonomous robots which can feed themselves, which has the potential to be pretty revolutionary, or evolutionary if you prefer.

The food it eats isn’t exactly

The idea behind it’s need for going to the bathroom is exactly the same has for humans, to give the toxic byproducts of the digestion and energy producing process a way to exit the system.  If it were to contain this toxic waste it would poison the bacteria used in the digestion process.  It also keeps its fuel cells from filling up and becoming clogged.

I’m not sure if this robot will ever see the light of day as it is a government/military project.  But it may be a solution for waste and oil clean up of our oceans in the future if they can configure the robot to eat these types of “foods”.  We can hope it will be used for good as a robot with diarrhea unleashed on the world needs to be closely monitored or the results could be… uh,  somewhat messy.

You can read the project overview brief here. It’s in plain English for a change, so it’s pretty easy to read.

Now the robot will just need to be potty trained and we’ll be in great shape!

Image Via Flickr [CC License]

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Link: New York Times: Five Robots to Watch

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I’ve decided to start prepping for the 2011 Robogames and want to compete, of course, in the mech robots competition.

This is just a little foreshadowing of what’s going on, nothing solid yet, but based on last years results it seems like a 4-legged walker is a good idea for stability.

Expect updates and photos and videos coming soon.

For now, here’s a good explanation of the games from the 2009 competition, enjoy!

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Photo Credit: Philadelphia Enquirer

Here is an article about a summer program in Philadelphia that should be duplicated around the country.

A summer program to encourage female students in technology. It has a variety of activities in different fields:

The two-week summer camp … introduces girls entering fourth through eighth grades to robotics, digital photography, programming, gaming, animation, and Web design.

As the parent of a young girl, I am interested in supporting these type of programs whenever possible. I hope this garners more attention and is recreated in other regions of the country.

We know from academic profiles in math and science that girls are just as capable, so there’s a disconnect between capability and involvement.

Supporting girls and getting them involved in technology can help avoid the peer pressure’s starting in junior high-school that keep them from continuing in technology.

More importantly the course teachers are not all male either, they included several women instructors as well which is important in these (currently) male-dominated fields.

Great work Montgomery County, please keep it up.

If you know of any other female technology camps, please add a comment below and show your support!

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I’d like to know more about the interface. I’m presuming this is a jailbroken iPad, but there aren’t enough details to be sure. I’ll update this post if I find out.

Enjoy this iPad Walking Robot video:

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Rather than simply create a robot to move your chess pieces, they designed each chess piece itself as a robot which allows for some interesting interactions. It certainly is fun to watch. This would be great to build at home as long as you have the room in your house for a 12 foot square chess board. :)

Fortunately they were sponsored by the LEGO company who could foot the bill for this beauty.  If you haven’t experimented with Lego robots yet, you should check out the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit. Don’t worry, the Mindstorms kit is much more affordable. :)

This video shows the basic concepts and demonstrates it in action.

Here are some of the stats for this project:

• Over 100,000 LEGO® pieces
• Total retail cost: around $30,000
• Size of board: 156ft2
• Took 4 people about a year to create

You can play on this board as:

• Human vs Human
• Human vs Computer
• Computer vs Computer

Great work to Team Hassenplug. See their chess board site here.

To find out more about the Lego robots they used to build this kit go here.

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From Trossen:

The Viper kit comes with everything you need to get started in combat robotics. The custom-formed aluminum chassis has plenty of strength and space for additional components and upgrades. A 6-Channel radio transmitter and receiver pair leaves four channels free to add any active weapons or devices you desire. 50:1 ratio gearmotors with 2″ Lite Flite wheels provide both speed and pushing power. Two FingerTech ‘tinyESC’ speed controllers translate the radio receiver commands into motor movement and provide 5V power to the radio. A sporty vacuum-formed lid keeps all the guts inside during a match. The Viper kit is fully intended to be sawed, drilled, modified, and upgraded. Its base weight is only 325grams (11.46oz) leaving 129grams (4.55oz) for additional parts if entering the Antweight (1lb) weight class, or 675g (23.81oz) free if entering the Kilobot (1kg) weight class. (Weighed with 2x 9V batteries.)

Difficulty: Unassembled version requires soldering of a dozen wires (to motors and switch, no circuit boards), plugging in connectors, and screwing wheels and lid in place (hex keys included). Recommended for ages 10+ (6+ with a parent).
“Unassembled” comes as parts. Everything is drilled and tapped for screws but needs to be soldered and connected (includes instructions).

More technical information and details can be found on their website here.

If you create a cool robot project with this kit, please considering adding your project details and a photo at our Robot Gallery.

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School’s Out!  Well, close enough.

Either way, you can take advantage of the end of school sale at Trossen Robotics.  Right now they’re giving 10% off everything they stock. Perty cool! I’m glad I’ve been saving my milk money. Time to get myself an updated robot.

If you’ve been doing your homework (sorry for all the puns), that 10% off works out to $120 savings on the Bioloid Premium kit. If you’ve been waiting for a good time to buy this amazing humanoid bot, now’s a great time.

Be sure to remember the Trossen Robotics coupon code SCULZOUT10 and march on over to Trossen Robotics for your end of school deal.

Don’t wait too long to decide, this sale ends on 5/21/2010!

Let the summer begin! W00t!

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They continue to maintain their primary site here and still offer the same great products.

There has been a great deal of interest in robotics toys lately and this is due in part to the lowered cost of technology manufacturing and the design of great products from companies like LEGO, WowWee, and Innovation First.  The FIRST robotics competitions are also driving an interest for kids who want to get into technology and robotics.

It seems like the time is right for anyone interested in robotics toys to get started.

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