HW 25: Robot Show and Tell

Alas!  Our class has come down to it's final homework!  Well I couldn't decide what robot to ask you to read and write about for our last day of class, so I decided I would let you choose.

Tonight, I want YOU to go out and find a cool new robot.  I want YOU to write about why the robot you chose could be important for the future.  This is a free write exercise, but your response must be at least 200 words.

To make things easier, why don't you guys use any one of these blogs/websites to find your robot.  Now, just so I've said it, you can't pick to write about any robot we have already done for homework.

Try finding a cool robot of the future from one of these places, or feel free to find your own source:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics
http://www.hizook.com/
http://techland.time.com/category/reviews-features/robotics-reviews-features/
http://phys.org/electronics-news/robotics/
http://www.engadget.com/topics/robots/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/robotics/

Woa, that's a lot of choices...peruse those sites until you find one you really really want to write about, and talk about in class tomorrow.

This is our LAST homework, so make this one represent your BEST writing and ideas!

Good luck!

HW 24: Respond to Should we stop killer Robots?

"UN Expert Calls For Moratorium On 'Killer Robots' "

"Stop producing "killer robots," UN expert warns"

"UN Expert Calls for Halt in Military Robot Development"

These are some of the headlines I found all over the web yesterday.  They UN made an announcement saying that the world really needs to scale back it's use of robots that kill.  Your job this weekend is to read about it, and write about if you agree or disagree.

So here is the article I would like you to read over, from Huffington Post.  You will find three things on that page: the written article, a slideshow of current drones and robots used for lethal and military purposes, and a short video accompanying the article.

This weekend, I want you to write a 200 word response, telling me if you agree or disagree with the UN's statement.

REMEMBER: In our current state of the world, it would create a lot of problems if we 'stopped war' all together.  We can talk about this in class, but for purposes of your response, assume that at some level, we still need military action.  So you must consider this in your response.

About 150 words should be your opinion on this issue, then I would like you to also write 50 words highlighting one of the robots from the slideshow.

Good luck!

HW 23: Robotic Inchworm

The title is what grabbed my attention...'can be printed out' whaaaat??

Check this one out tonight.  I am not asking for a standard response necessarily.  You job tonight is to simply wright 200 word about your impressions of this robot.

Who would use it?  How?  Kids?  Professionals?  Could we use these ideas to replicate other animals?
Those are just some ideas you could write about, really this is one of the most open ended responses.

Your response should be between 150 and 200 words.

HW 22: (Robo)Squirrel!

So this is an interesting one.  We have seen a lot of examples in this class about robots built to achieve certain feats, perhaps ones we can't do with our human-selves.  But tonight, I want you to check out this slightly different use of robotics...to study.



A team of researchers has made a robotic squirrel, specifically one that can 'tail wag' with the specific purpose of studying how rattle snakes interact with their environment.

You can find the article, and collection of videos here.

So tonight, I want you to write about this robot, and what it is used for.  You can use the standard response to guide you through the basics.

I would like you to add in one other thing though.  This is an example of robots being used to study nature, so try and answer this question in your response as well:  How else might we be able to use robots to help us study some aspect of our environment?

Good luck!

HW 21: Robo-Disney

Well as you may or may-not be aware, Disney itself is fairly well known for it's development in robotics, and specifically in the area of movement and animatronics.  For homework tonight, there are two things I want you to check out:

The first, is a project Disney completed a few years ago.  They made President Barak Obama.  (Well, sort of).  Check this video out, how real or not does Obama seem to you?

Then, I want you to check out what Disney is working on currently.  Handing an object to a robot, and vice versa, is turning out to be more difficult than you might have thought.  Well that's what they are trying to perfect down there at Disney.  I want you to check out this short video showing what they are working towards now.

For your response, I want you to focus on your reaction to the robots.  Write at least 150 words about how real (or not) these robot movements seem to you.  If they had a 'skin' would they fool you?  Why or why not.

Oh, and ONE LAST THING
 - Not that you need to understand a lot of it, but I also want you to explore a little bit on Disney's robotics page.  http://www.disneyresearch.com/research-areas/robotics/.  They have a lot of projects going on right now.

Watch/take a look at any one of the other videos/projects on that page.  Add two sentences about what you saw to you response.

Good luck

HW 20: (Insect) Eye See You

So a few weeks ago a team announced they had developed a new type of camera, specifically one that could be used with robots, that is modeled after the eye of an insect.

Yesterday, a totally DIFFERENT team announced they had developed a very similar item.

Tonight I want you to read about both, and compare and contrast the two new camera devices.

Here is the first announcement, from about a week ago.

Here is the more recent announcement, from a day or so ago.

You need to READ both articles CAREFULLY.  (No video for this one sorry!)  For your paragraph response:

• You should include the 'basics' from the standard response
• Be sure to cite the two different teams and give credit for their work
• Compare AND contrast the two camera eyes: how are they similar, how are the different?
• How could this technology be used to improve robotics.

Remember, you are shooting for about a half-a-page response (typed etc), good luck!

HW 19: The Efficient Cheetah Robot

So this is an interesting one.  We have seen several robots that are made to look and act like animals in the real world.  This one is similar in that sense.  However, there is something that makes this one special.

This one is more efficient than most robots we've seen.  This article will tell you all about how it's made, what it uses, and most importantly, how it is able to conserve so much energy.

The article has a video which you should definitely watch.  And afterwards, you can go to the MIT page and check out their video section to see more.

In your paragraph, use the standard response to guide you through your writing.  I also want you to write about at least two ways this robot is saving/conserving energy.  You can even use the diagram (pictured above) to help you with that.

Remember, we are writing in complete-sentence paragraphs.  Re-reading and editing our work before we are done, and holding ourselves to the highest writing standards!

Good luck!