We are Now Entering the Robotics Age

September 2008

News, Information & Updates from the Robotics Academy
Preparing Children for the "Robotics Age"
Many of you are looking for justification for your robotics programs. The Robotics Academy just developed a short video that you may want to point to. It shows administrators and parents the exponential change that those of us over 40 have experienced in our professional lives, as we've moved to personal computers, the Internet and now to robots, in the span of less than thirty years. Robots are here to stay! Are we ready? Watch the video here.

The Robot Algebra project
Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh have been conducting studies around robotics and STEM education. We've found that although many teachers are using robotics to address STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), key teaching moments are often missed. We've developed the Robot Algebra project to help teachers foreground the math in their robotics projects. Check it out at the Robot Algebra site.

FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) Training
FTC training tools and information can be found at www.ftctraining.com. Teachers will be able to find resources to teach students how to program NXT robots for the FTC competition using NXT-G, LabVIEW, and ROBOTC.

New VEX 2.0 Curriculum
New VEX curricula, both for the VEX starter kit and for the programming kit, have been developed for the new VEX 2.0 DVD and posted at the new VEXTeachers site. Check out the new 50 page VEX programming kit curriculum PDF with links here. All teachers that purchased the VEX curriculum in the past will be receiving new 2.0 DVDs in the mail by the end of the month.

Bot Links

CMU Robotics Academy
Video: Powering Industry, Rethinking Teaching
Robot Algebra Project
FTC Challenge Training Materials
Vex 2.0 Programming Kit Curriculum (PDF)
VexTeachers Site
Vex 2.0 DVD