Robot
kits introduced as teaching tool for youth
By Michael
Padilla
 |
| Students
Kimberly Nguyen and Jared Dove demostrate the LOBOT Jr.
to Dr. Nader Vadiee, director of the NASA PURSUE Program
and associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department. Photo by Michael Padilla. |
The PURSUE
program at UNM has introduced its first generation of cooperative
mobile robot kits as a tool to teach high school and middle
school students about robotics.
The LOBOT
Jr. mobile robot kit package, available by order, includes the
latest model of the LOBOT Jr. Kit, user manual, CD-ROM and teacher
education program.
The LOBOT
Jr. mobile robot kit package is designed and developed by NASA
Partnership Award for the Integration of Research (PAIR) Program
students and was created in the Intelligent Distributed Multi-Agent
Robotic Systems (IDMARS) Laboratory at UNM.
Nader Vadiee,
director of the UNM NASA PURSUE Program and associate professor
in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said
students will be given a robot kit by their instructor that
includes the necessary parts and instructions needed to get
the robot up and doing tasks. The robot can follow walls, lines
and mazes, avoid obstacles and features wireless reprogramming.
The
students will be taught step-by-step how to assemble the robot
practically from scratch, along the way learning about each
component, what it does and why its important to the functioning
of their robot, said Vadiee.
The LOBOT
Jr. package is an ideal platform for teaching about microcontrollers,
sensors, electronics circuit design, soldering, microprocessors,
computer programming (Java, C++), wireless communication and
more. The specifications of the LOBOT Jr. includes 16 Digital
Inputs, 16 Analog Inputs, eight Digital Outputs, two 12V motor
driver ports, two RS232 Ports, Javlin STAMP microprocessor,
and wireless communication.
The kit
features low cost, durable, cooperative/scalable, powerful flexible
design and processor, high speeds, large memory space and JAVA
programming language.
For more
information concerning the LOBOT Jr. contact the PURSUE Program
at 277-0327.