Webmaker/HiveKansasCity/Gigabots
Contents
Gigabots Wiki
The Gigabots bring connected robotics and devices to classrooms using existing educational robotics platforms. A Gigabot is a combination of hardware, software and a cloud platform that connects Gigabots to each other from any location in real-time. This project takes Robotics to a new frontier in science and engineering through programming, all while teaching kids how to share innovation in collaborative ways.
Report-Outs
Gigabots Partners
- KC STEM Alliance
- Lee's Summit High School
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
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
The majority of the venues we visited did not have, or did not yet have gigabit connectivity. I don’t think this is a particular problem in relation to The Gigabots, as this project really is more about the cumulative value of gigabit technology. Users will eventually have dozens of these types of devices, all benefiting from reliable low latency connections. The problems that we did experience routinely: poor Wifi, or onerous security policies on Wifi, will continue to cause problems for this new generation of devices. Most of the educators we spoke with were interested in the prospect of connected robotics, and were also interested in easily programmable devices. It was clear to me from speaking with educators from various robotics organizations that programming curriculum would be beneficial. Several educators have inquired about using The Gigabots for Project Lead The Way (PTLW) capstone projects for their High School seniors in the Fall. This validated our Area of Impact assertion that there is demand for additional robotics curriculum outside of the existing competitions.
Community Outcomes
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
- Sneak Peek
- More to come...
