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Robotics as a Vehicle for Technological Literacy

Robotics as a Vehicle for Technological Literacy. Benjamin Mitchell bmitchell@wmmhs.org. Purpose.

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Robotics as a Vehicle for Technological Literacy

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  1. Robotics as a Vehicle for Technological Literacy Benjamin Mitchell bmitchell@wmmhs.org

  2. Purpose • The goal of this presentation is to discuss how robotics can be used to integrate engineering concepts, history, English, sociology, and philosophy as a part of a comprehensive program for technological literacy.

  3. Overview • Why Robotics? • Advantages of Robotics • Robotics as a launch pad: • Engineering Education • Science/Math Connections • Historical Connections • Society/Ethics/Technology • Examples

  4. Robotics as a Launch Pad • Robotics appeals to many students • Technical without a “dirty” connotation • Futuristic, unusual, and cutting-edge • Combines short term and long term rewards • Can be used as a starting point to discuss philosophy, futurology, ethics, and other subjects

  5. Why Robotics? • Students already know a lot about robotics • Movies, video games, television generate interest that can be harnessed • Robots DO things

  6. Why Robotics? • Generates interest in Technology Education • Incorporates problem solving skills, systems integration, and creative design into a single project • Serves as a gateway to many emerging technologies

  7. Immediacy • Robotics is a growing field • Automation and computerization have revolutionized society • Robots are becoming more autonomous, more complex, and more visible • Robotics can be viewed as a specialized course in an engineering concepts / Technology Education curriculum

  8. Robotics in Our World

  9. Robotics in Our World

  10. Robotics as a Teaching Tool • Project-Based • Many subsystems • Project management • Working as a part of a team • Time/resource management • Construction • Problem solving & troubleshooting • Applying engineering concepts

  11. Robotics as a Teaching Tool • Open-ended projects lend themselves to exploration and experimentation • Compulsory originality is the key to engaging problem solving • Students learn more by breaking new ground than reciting old methods • Robotics projects can easily change from class to class & year to year

  12. What is Robotics? • Robotics is NOT the content • Robotics IS a platform used to teach technological literacy • Multifaceted to allow emphasis on different aspects of technological literacy and the designed world

  13. Advantages of Robotics • Robots can be designed to: • Help/augment people • Cooperate • Perform a constructive action • Broad enough to be applied to changing trends & current events • Robotics has a more gender-neutral connotation than other content areas

  14. Advantages for Students • Student “ownership” • Engagement in activity • Good design is universal • Students learn from other solutions • Design and make experience builds on itself • Increases of complexity demonstrate progress

  15. Interdisciplinary Content • Designing mechanical systems utilizes physics and math • Purpose for robots often relate to science & industry • Advancement of robotics raises questions in sociology and philosophy • Investigation incorporates reading and writing

  16. History • Robotics can be framed as the latest step in the history of industry • “From arrowheads to algorithms” • Machines doing the work of humans • 1898, Madison Square Garden • “You see there the first of a race of robots, mechanical men which will do the laborious work of the human race.“ – Nikola Tesla

  17. Science • Robots are one of the latest tools used to explore hazardous environments • Underwater • Outer space • Toxic environments • Engineering design for a scientific purpose

  18. Physics and Math • Physics • Apply to real, tangible problems • Not just blocks on a ramp • Math • Geometry • Calculations • Not just solving for X

  19. Engineering Principles • The design process • Researching, planning, prototyping • Mechanical, electrical design • Structures/forces/locomotion • Systems integration • Task management & cooperation

  20. Sample Robotics Program • I have used the Vex Robotic Design System in the classroom • Does not require power tools • Small – easy to store • Relatively easy to learn, can get very complex • Programming is graphical, students pick up on it relatively easily

  21. Sample Robotics Program • Design Process • Documentation • Problem Solving • Mechanical Design • Applied math and physics • Programming • AI • Subsystems Design • Project management & teamwork

  22. Sample Robotics Program • Society/Ethics/Technology • Discussion of robotics • Short Story • News Articles • Games • Homemade robotics games/challenges • Online ideas • Actual competitions

  23. Why Games • Games are fun • They are not projects that are completed, they are games that are played • They can include cooperation among students and/or robots • They can be scaled or generated to reflect the students’ abilities • They can be very easy to design and make

  24. Program Sustainability • Robots are unusual enough to be talked about • Raise visibility and interest in technology education programs • Some robotics platforms are easy to sustain after an initial investment – parts are reusable

  25. Technological Literacy • ”[F]or it is a certainty that radical technologies create new definitions of old terms, and that this process takes place without our being fully conscious of it. Thus, it is insidious and dangerous, quite different from the process whereby technologies introduce new terms to the language. […] [T]echnology imperiously commandeers our most important terminology. It redefines “freedom,” “truth,” “intelligence,” “fact,” “wisdom,” “memory,” “history,” – all the words we live by. And it does not pause to tell us. And we do not pause to ask.” – Neil Postman, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

  26. Robotics and Philosophy • Certain applications of robot technology can raise ethical questions about their use • Robot Soldiers • Robot Workers • A discussion of the ethics of robotics = a discussion about assessing a technology • Is such technology a benefit to humanity or a hazard?

  27. Why Society/Ethics/Technology? • Students need to be able to discern useful information by learning critical and independent thinking skills • Hunting for knowledge, not complacent • Asking hard questions, not accepting answers at face value • Examine purpose, tradeoffs, impacts, and changes of technological change

  28. An Intellectual Foundation • Goal of SET is to foster critical, independent, & rational thought about technology • Equip students philosophically as well as technically • Wolves instead of sheep • Intellectual aggression

  29. Integrating SET Example • Vex programming • Applied AI versus Strong AI • Roomba & Vex – applied AI • Demonstrate Roomba • Does a simple task “mindlessly” • Read short story • What are the philosophical concerns that a strong AI would raise?

  30. Integrating SET Example • By discussing AI in the context of the Roomba and programming, students see a connection between what they are doing in school, what is currently developed, and where that technology may lead • The ethical, sociological, and philosophical debates arising from technology have origins in current technologies. • It is no longer completely abstract

  31. Robot Soldiers Activity • Inquiry-based • No pressure to come up with the “right” answer • Introspective activity –what do you know, how, why? • What principles do you value? • Critical thinking • Many viewpoints can be argued

  32. War crimes? Genocide? Bio/Chemical warfare? Perpetual war? Why robotics? Intelligence? Emotions? Law? Responsibility? Dehumanizing? Control? Economics? Video games? Robot Soldiers Activity

  33. SET & Science Fiction • Science fiction literature has a lot of robots • Philip K. Dick short stories • Brian Aldiss • Etc. • Many are school appropriate • Still raise philosophical questions • Fun to read

  34. Super-Toys Last All Summer Long • This short story is about the nature and scope of Artificial Intelligence • What does it mean to be human? • What does it mean to be alive? • Ethical/Social changes • How should an AI be treated? • How would we know if it warrants humanity? • How do we measure consciousness? Can we?

  35. What does it mean to be disabled? How do we measure being alive? How do we define consciousness? Do we have the right to create or destroy forms of life? Are people becoming dangerously lazy? Are people animals? Is cloning ethical? Are we self aware? Can we prove it? Are all people equal? Why? Super-Toys Last All Summer Long

  36. Advantages to Using Literature • By framing discussion of SET using fiction, students are promoted to think “out-of-the-box” • This happens implicitly, by removing the constraints of reality from the assignment • Fiction can contain technology that isn’t developed yet • Critically think about future technologies before they become mainstream

  37. Resources • http://robotevents.com • http://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/ • http://www.ecsel.psu.edu/users/avanzato/robots/contests/

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