In addition
to the annual
Summer Robotics Camp for junior high school
girls, the ISL is involved in outreach activities such as
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ON-SITE WORKSHOPS / SEMINARS
- Quincy Junior High GATE Kids
Nine GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) kids in the 8th grade from Quincy Junior High School
came to Chico State for a three-hour robotics workshop hosted by the ISL last May 26, 2005.
The workshop covered robot design, sensors, and programming.
Students applied robotics knowledge learned at the workshop by exhibiting their know-how in a timed
maze competition.
(Click photos to enlarge)
ISL Research Team members present were Matt Bauer, Noah Everett, Dan Hirschmuller-Counts, Joel Stepanek,
Dr. J, and Dr. Renner.
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- Girl Scouts' Day
Twenty girl scouts came to the ISL last April 24, 2005 to earn their technology badges.
Various student organizations of the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and
Construction Management kept the girls busy
by getting them involved with a number of lectures, workshops, and demonstrations.
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ISL hosted a 45-minute workshop that engaged the girls in building and programming a Fan-Bot, a programmable
fan that could exhibit several interesting behaviors.
(Click photos to enlarge)
ISL Research Team members present were Matt Bauer, Noah Everett, Dan Hirschmuller-Counts, Joel Stepanek,
Dr. J, and Dr. Renner.
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- Richvale Elementary School
Last May 28,
2004 the ISL Research Team sponsored an “Introduction
to Robotics” seminar for thirty GATE (Gifted And
Talented Education) kids in grades 6-8 from Richvale Elementary
School (300 B St., Richvale, CA 95917).
The ISL Research Team provided these kids with a two hour
long mini-seminar that was hosted in OCNL 431 at the CSU,
Chico campus. The main objective was to teach the kids
(and due to interest, the teachers and parent chaperons
as well) about robotics.
Felipe Jauregui delivered the materials and the rest of
the Team monitored kids as coaches.
The platform
used in the seminar was the ISL Lego Mindstorms Robotics
Invention System 2.0 kits.
This platform was exciting for the kids, as well a great
learning aid.
The seminar began with an introductory lecture about existing
robots and robots they may have seen on television and/or
the movies.
Robot navigation through sensors and actuators was also
presented.
This part of the presentation led to the focus of how a
robot could “find” its way out of a maze. This
was demonstrated with coding principles. Participants were
grouped into teams of two and were given the challenge
of programming their robot to solve two different walled
mazes: a simpler maze and a more difficult maze.
Due to time limitations, pre-built Tankbots were made available
for the participants to use.
(These robots are based on the Tankbot from Dave Baum's Definitive
Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS, Springer-Verlag, New
York, 2000.) We recognized the fact that building the robot
is half the fun; therefore, we had the participants build
the touch sensor whiskers that would allow them to program
their robot to “bump” its way through a maze.
Although a tutorial on programming was given, the students
were given a template RIS drag-and-drop GUI program that
could be modified to solve the maze. This template had
to be modified in terms of deciding the direction and speed
of the two motors given a particular sensor input. This
modification was made using the ideas presented in the
lecture, as well as a trial and error process.
The kids were
able to navigate the “easy” maze
and two groups were able to solve the “difficult” maze.
Overall, the students were very pleased with the seminar.
The contact instructor immediately asked if it would be
possible to return next semester with a different group
of kids for the same presentation, as well as the same
group for an advanced seminar.
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Career Workshop for Hamilton Union High School
Last April 30,
2004 Felipe Jauregui gave a short forty-five minute presentation
to high school students at Hamilton
Union High School (Hwy. 32 And Canal St., Hamilton City,
CA 95951).
The robotic presentation was a part of a larger seminar
geared toward promoting a college education.
The students present were of Hispanic descent and would
all be first generation college students.
Thus, the main focus was to show them what they could learn
in college and the benefits of a higher education.
The presentation focused on what they could do in college
with robotics, how a robot works, real versus television
robots, majors related to robots and careers in robotics.
The learning experience was enhanced by demonstrating four
robotic platforms: LEGO Mindstorms, Tab Electronics BYORKs,
Parallax Boe-Bots, and the TAB Electronics Sumobot.
The students were very excited about seeing a real robot
interact with a new environment.
They had several questions and asked about how to start
learning about robotics in High School.
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OFF-SITE DEMONSTRATIONS / PRESENTATIONS
- Chico Country Day School
(CCDS)
The ISL Research Team
visited the Chico Country Day School campus last February 4, 2005 to give a robotics demonstration
for kindergardeners and first graders.
The visiting team consisted of Matt Bauer, Felipe Jauregui, and Dr. J.
(Click photos to enlarge)
ISL robotics platforms demonstrated include the Lynxmotion Hexapods,
Parallax Boe-Bots in line-following and shadow-bot configurations,
Lynxmotion Carpetrovers, TAB Robotics Sumobots,
and Sony AIBO ERS-7M2s.
The students were engaged in various discussions about intelligence,
perception, decision-making, and locomotion.
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RESEARCH INITIATION INTERNSHIPS
- École Polytechnique
Universitaire de Marseille
(EPUM)
The PIs were
able to secure an agreement for a research initiation
internship with the École Polytechnique
Universitaire de Marseille's Department de Genie Industriel
et Informatique (Industrial and Computer Engineering).
Part of this agreement is to have two of their students
come to Chico State to work with the ISL Research Team during
the months of June and July.
The following EPUM students participated in this summer research internship program:
- Summer 2005
- Julien Bornet
- Thierry Faure
- Summer 2004
- Marin Laviolette
- Quentin Pelen
These students get the opportunity and experience to work with a research
team in the US.
Additionally, these interns participated as volunteer coaches for the ISL Summer Robotics Camp
and conducted preliminary research regarding some
of the ISL-related problems of interest. Their experience
culminated with their submission of individual research
papers on search and rescue experiments with ISL robots.
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CAMPUS ACTIVITIES
- CSU, Chico Getting Connected 2005
Last August 19, 2005 the ISL Research Team participated in Chico State's
Mandatory Convocation and Wildcat Welcome for
Getting Connected.
Dr. J, Dr. Renner, and
ISL Research Assistants Joel Amato (head ref), Matt Bauer (game controller), Kristin Eicher-Elmore (line ref),
Noah Everett (coach, Blue Team), and Dan Hirsmuller-Counts (coach, Red Team),
along with ISL Volunteer Lindsey Schurig (line ref) demonstrated the Soccer Bots, ISL's preliminary Sony AIBO
Robocup 4-legged robot league team.
(Click photos to enlarge)
 00:08:23 26MB 320x240 WMV file The ISL Research Team presented a successful demonstration in
a packed Acker Gym (full bleachers with kids and
parents also sitting on about half the gym's floor space!). The Chico State
Cheerleading squad (with Coach Tiffany Hayes)
and the Pep Band were also supportive of the demo.
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- CSU, Chico Fall Preview Day
Last November 13, 2004 ISL participated in CSU, Chico's
Fall Preview Day. This event is held to attract and recruit
potential transfer students to CSU, Chico.
ISL Research Assistants Matt Bauer, Dan Hirsmuller-Counts,
Troy Murdock, and Kristin Eicher-Elmore contributed significantly
to the success of the ISL Booth.
The ISL Booth was located in the north lobby of the O'Connell
Technology Center. In addition to an information table,
the ISL also used the lobby area and the north stair well
for robot demonstrations. A lot of students (and parents!)
showed interest in the ISL and its activities.
(Click photos to enlarge)
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- Minds in Motion
Last February 28, 2004, the ISL Research Team had an ISL
display booth for the 2004 "Minds In Motion" activity.
The display booth featured LEGO MINDSTORMS creations and
the TAB Electronics BYORK that students could maneuver
via remote through a choice of mazes.
The Department of Civil Engineering and engineering students
from throughout the college hosted the "Minds in Motion" activity
as part of the national Engineers Week activities. This
event was designed to introduce K-12 students to the fields
of engineering, mathematics and science through a series
of informational displays, hands-on activities and competitions.
More than 2,000 first through 12th grade students from
Northern California attended.
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The ISL Research Team participated in Minds In Motion 2005 last April 15 (what a break from Tax Day!).
This time, three tables were setup for the ISL booth: one with Sony AIBO ERS-7M2s and information
about the upcoming Summer Robotics Camp for Junior High Girls, one with LEGO Mindstorms tankbots
moving around in a maze, and another with the Hallway Hummer H2 and Parallax Boe-bots
(Click photos to enlarge)
ISL Research Team members present included Matt Bauer, Dan Hirschmuller-Counts, Joel Stepanek, Chris Kincanon (volunteer),
Dr. J, and Dr. Renner.
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