Why Kids Learn Robotics

Former Fletcher Administration Healthcare Honcho Mark Birdwhistell is back in the saddle at UK and last week he joined the blogosphere.

As a fan of Battlebots, his first post reminded me that there is much more to student robotics competitions than just fun and games.

This past February, 18 students from Dunbar and Henry Clay high schools became members of the first high school team from Central Kentucky ever to participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition, which is sponsored by Dean Kamen, inventor of the futuristic Segway scooter. Why?

Well, the Jetsons may be history but Rosie the Robot is very much in UK's future.

Mark writes,

One of the most interesting changes that I have witnessed in the UK health system are the robots that travel back and forth between the Chandler Hospital and the Kentucky Clinic transporting lab specimens between these locations. I enjoy watching the astonished patients and their families observe these Robots for the very first time. It is not unusual to see families using their cell phone cameras to take pictures of these fascinating pieces of modern technology! I can't help but have flashbacks to the Candid Camera episodes that I watched when I was growing up in Lawrenceburg Kentucky in the 1960's. In this case, these are not pranks like I witnessed on the black and white TV show, but rather an example of how UK Healthcare is using modern technology to advance health care for Kentuckians.

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Mark.

Robotics developer helps studying autistic children

This from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, photo by Robin Rombach:

Marek Michalowski's favorite robot looks like an oversized Easter peep that can bust some moves.



His name is Keepon, and he is best known as the star of a YouTube video -- dancing to an infectious tune by the rock group Spoon -- that has been viewed more than 2 million times. But Keepon is much more than a disco robot.

In the hands of Mr. Michalowski, a Ph.D. student in robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, and his mentor, Hideki Kozima of Miyagi University in Japan, Keepon is also being used to study how children interact socially, and whether the robot might particularly be able to help children with autism...

Carnegie Mellon roboticist Marek Michalowski explains how he studies basic communication and the special problems of children with autism, using the rhythmic magic of his tiny yellow robot here.

Students enter robotics competition

This from the Herald-Leader:

Some mad scientists have been running amok in a classroom at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.

One recent afternoon, the buzz of saws and electric drills filled the room, while computer screens flickered with mysterious, cryptic symbols, and harried workers made adjustments on a contraption that vaguely resembled an electrified grocery cart with a cannon mounted on top. Fortunately, there was nothing to fear.

The "mad scientists" scrambling around the room were all Fayette County Public Schools students. And the weird cart they were working on was a wheeled robot that they are building for a high school robotics competition at Purdue University next
month.

The 18 students from Dunbar and Henry Clay high schools are members of the first high school team from Central Kentucky ever to participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition, which is sponsored by Dean Kamen, inventor of the futuristic Segway scooter. They'll go against other high school teams from around the region...