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Revision as of 16:58, 20 January 2015
, 20 January 2015→Metrics & Outcomes
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= Metrics & Outcomes = | = Metrics & Outcomes = | ||
The Gigabots met or exceeded all metrics and criteria in our Technical Impact section. We | |||
were able to convert the LEGO robots into realtime connected devices. Not only were the | |||
robots put directly into the hands of over 500 students, but they were even demoed live on | |||
stage at U.S. Ignite only a few weeks into the development of the project. | |||
The community impact for The Gigabots is mixed. We did very well on exposure, with over | |||
500 students directly interacting with the robots and over 650 users visiting | |||
TheGigabots.com. We were able to complete two inclassroom | |||
pilots, but the creation of | |||
new Gigabots was limited to bots we helped create. We had hoped the work in the initial | |||
grant period might be enough to create at least a small community around The Gigabots. | |||
One reason for lack of adoption is that software and installation process requires | |||
additional polish and documentation before it is easily consumable by the general public. | |||
The LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kits are also ‘relatively’ new and there were quite a few teams | |||
that expressed interest in The Gigabots that were still using previous generation hardware. | |||
We investigated the possibility of running on the NXT hardware and it was deemed barely | |||
feasible at best. There was also quite a bit of interest in connected robotics for other | |||
platforms like Vex Robotics. We have also identified some additional open source | |||
projects that might be receptive to joining forces with The Gigabots in the future. | |||
The extra travel combined with the short timeframe made it difficult to focus on remixability, | |||
but we were able to opensource | |||
The Gigabots Dashboard, and there have been a couple | |||
pull requests and some other activity with the dashboard since we completed the project. | |||
Notably, there is some work being done on low latency streaming video, which was | |||
proposed as a follow on project for the summer. | |||
== Tech Outcomes == | == Tech Outcomes == | ||
Project Summary | |||
The development of The Gigabots was relatively smooth with surprisingly few major issues. | |||
We were fortunate that we were able to ‘scout ahead’ prior to applying for the grant, and we | |||
were reasonably confident there were no insurmountable technical barriers that would | |||
impede our progress. The biggest risk was that some unforeseen issue would cause the | |||
custom firmware to not operate correctly, but this problem did not materialize. | |||
The team working on The Dashboard were able to iterate quickly based on feedback we | |||
received from students at the early pilot and from random people we asked to test out the | |||
robots and software. The Dashboard team worked in the open, and the project is | |||
available for other users to check out and remix on Github. The Dashboard team also | |||
provided the project with a bonus ‘workforce development’ credit, as neither of them had | |||
more than a few weeks of programming experience prior to beginning work on The | |||
Gigabots. They were able to create sophisticated realtime cyberphysical | |||
systems control | |||
software that was ready to to be placed in hundreds of children's hands in just a few weeks | |||
time. I think this is a huge success. | |||
== Learning Outcomes == | == Learning Outcomes == | ||
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== Community Outcomes == | == Community Outcomes == | ||
We will | The Gigabots had three planned pilot opportunities with a bonus appearance at the NYC | ||
Hive Maker Party. The timing of the spring funding round made scheduling a pilot prior to | |||
the end of the school year challenging. Despite this we were able to get in our first pilot | |||
session with students at Lee’s Summit West High School a couple weeks before the end | |||
of the school year. At this point we were only a week or two into development so we were | |||
unable to demonstrate all the dashboard features, or allow the students to program the | |||
robots directly. We determined at this point to bring backup wireless connectivity in the | |||
form of a mobile WiFi hotspot. One ongoing challenge for introducing connected or IoT ( | |||
Internet of Things ) devices into school networks will be the availability of compatible | |||
wireless or wired access points. Schools will need to develop policies to somehow allow | |||
these classes of devices without falling back on non-standards | |||
based authentication | |||
approaches like captive portals. | |||
The Gigabots fared well at Maker Faire. We engaged over 250 children aged K12 | |||
during | |||
the two day event. Again, reliable connectivity was our greatest challenge. The WiFi | |||
provided at the event proved too unreliable and we provided our own via the WiFi hotspot. | |||
We had hoped to engage students one-on-one | |||
and assist them programming the robots in | |||
javascript, but this proved to be much too chaotic a venue for any sort of structured | |||
learning. The response to the robots from children and adults was extremely positive, and | |||
The Gigabots were awarded a “Maker of Merit” ribbon by the judges of Maker Faire. | |||
Our bonus appearance at the NYC Hive Maker Party was similar to the Maker Faire | |||
experience. We had large numbers of students arriving at fixed intervals, which again | |||
precluded any sort of deep engagement with programming the robots. We were able to | |||
organize some collaborative games with the robots ( races, picking up items ) that worked | |||
out fairly well for the larger groups. If we had anticipated groups of this size, we might have | |||
budgeted for more robots. That said, they are a slightly fragile, and always under imminent | |||
threat of being trampled due to their size, so every robot needs a robot wrangler to insure | |||
their survival. | |||
For our final pilot appearance at Staley High School in North Kansas City, we had an entire | |||
day of the summer robotics camp, along with 25 students of varying experience levels. For | |||
the camp, we provided the students with plans and parts, and formed their own groups to | |||
assemble various parts of the robot. The groups then collaborated to perform the final | |||
mechanical assembly of the robot design. We gave a small talk on entrepreneurship and | |||
followed up with a primer on programming. | |||
The students were able to turn the robot into a Gigabot and were able to program their | |||
robot, along with some of the robots we provided by the end of the camp day. Again, we | |||
had issues with networking, and also underestimated the amount of restrictions placed on | |||
the computers on the school networks. The had plenty of computers in their classroom, but | |||
ended up having to use laptops we provided due to security restrictions on networking in | |||
their building. | |||
In all the cases, our selection of somewhat anthropomorphized robots, along their names | |||
and humanlike | |||
behaviors were a hit with all the students and adults. The choice of | |||
collaborative behavior displayed by the robots ( jealousy ) was somewhat arbitrary, but | |||
ended up being immediately understandable by all the students and adults in a way that a | |||
more complex, but less relatable behavior would not. | |||
= Show & Tell = | = Show & Tell = | ||