Inducing tectonic shifts in pedagogy through robotics. . . !

When we think of the components of a child’s life, the broadest categorisation of it can be considered as Study, Play and Character Building. Among the 3, the latter two can be influenced by the parents and taken care of by them. Both Play and Character Building have their roots in childhood and the amount of time a child spends in these activities directly influences his happiness quotient. However, parents do not have an influence over the education that a kid receives in school. After a few initial years, the parents always experience a waning influence over the kid’s learning habits and methodologies. This means that kids are always under pressure to remember the concepts even when they don’t understand them. More often than not this leads to kids resorting to unhealthy learning practices such as rote memorising, learning by heart etc. This has a bad influence over the kids scholastic abilities. The desire to achieve better scores would drive kids towards these bad learning habits and their knowledge assimilation usually takes a hit.   

The way education is looked at always in a constant change. The current system does not deliver the result we as parents would love to see. It only promotes more aversion towards subjects rather than making kids love them.Equally sad is the fact that traditional classroom education fails to cater to the variation in learning ability of different kinds of students. Students cannot learn at their own pace in a classroom –  the practices adopted by teachers may be conducive for a few while the rest may be left behind. With the advent of Internet and the maturation of online or e-learning platforms, quality and engaging education is only a few clicks away. This means that the traditional content delivery methods adopted by teachers can now be supplemented by online platforms which offer a classroom. The learning speed of a kid becomes immaterial as he can always revisit the entire classroom experience online. An interesting outcome of this exercise is the fact that Kids tend to learn faster online than in the traditional environs of a classroom because the content is engaging.

We at kidobotikz have learnt through our experience that when the content is engaging, the course is absorbed faster. From a few of our surveys we have now observed that compared to the previous scenarios when kids had to spend their time in the classroom to learn robotics, kids who learnt via an online courseware are faster in completing the course. The best manifestation of this observation is the fact that parents have noted kids binge watching our courseware and completing a rather complex learning course within a span of days. We at kidobotikz believe that this is taking us somewhere revolutionary. We would like our readers to stand by us while induce a major tectonic shift in the way concepts are learnt in the classroom.

Happy Learning and Happy Roboting!

Read More

Scientists develop new Robo-Salamander to study locomotion

Scientists have developed a new robot that mimics the way salamanders walk and swim. The amphibious machine, which has been developed with the help of X-Ray videos, could shed light on the evolutionary leap that vertebrates made from the water to the land, the researchers said. The salamander-inspired robot could also one day be used for search-and-rescue missions or inspection operations, the scientists added.

Increasingly, scientists are creating robot copies of animals to perform such investigations of animal locomotion. One of the benefits of using robots is that the machines' actions are relatively easy to repeat, Ijspeert and his colleagues said. In addition, researchers can tinker with robot shapes in a methodical way, and the bots can perform movements that are unnatural or dangerous for animals, the scientists added.

The researchers focused on salamanders to shed light on the evolution of animal locomotion. To create robo-salamanders, the researchers began by studyingPleurodeles waltl, a salamander about 7 inches (18 centimeters) long that moves both on land and in the water. The scientists took X-ray videos of two P. waltl specimens from the top and sides, tracking up to 64 points along the skeletons of the salamanders as they performed a variety of motions, such as walking on the ground, crawling underwater and even swimming.

The scientists then used a 3D printer to manufacture the skeleton of the robot. Onto this machine, they added 27 motors and a waterproof dry suit that was tailor-made to keep the robots' electronics from getting wet.

The so-called Pleurobot has fewer bones and joints than real-life salamanders. For instance, whereas the real amphibian has 40 vertebrae, the robot has only 11 segments along its spine mimicking vertebrae.

Still, the researchers said Pleurobot could imitate many salamander movements, especially at the limbs. This is because during the design of Pleurobot, the research team's computer models identified the minimum number of motorized segments needed to copy salamander motions, as well as the optimal placement of these parts along the robot's body.

In addition to providing insights on the evolution of animal locomotion, Pleurobot may also show how robots can move well in disorderly environments, Ijspeert said. "With improved control and sturdier mechanics, I hope to see Pleurobot helping in search-and-rescue scenarios in the near future," he said.

The scientists detailed their findings online June 29 in the journal Interface.

Source: Livescience

Read More

Kidobotikz- Where Kids work the ART in SMART ! !

Ever since Isaac Asimov dazzled the world with his line of books which offered a glimpse of futurism, the world has been fascinated by Robots. For a long time time since the past century the world has been awed when any news related to the field of robotics turned up. However, this in itself has created a cliched image of the whole field of robotics. Whenever we hear the word "robot", our minds immediately turn up images of tiny miniature humanoid robots carrying a tray and serving us beverages. We have been put in the mental mould where the general populace across the planet knows the only kind of robots- ASIMO line of humanoids developed by Honda.

The one big drawback of this effect is the fact the field of robotics has always remained in our minds as the domain of a very select few of people who are invariably geniuses with fancy degrees from ivy league unversities. This stigma is neither valid in the current parlance nor does it offer a correct picture of the field of robotics. It is high time we realized that robotics is a much wider field than we assume. The field of robotics is at the confluence of various branches of engineering and sciences, namely computer science that deals with the programming, the processing systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing as well as mechanical engineering and electrical engineering which deal with the construction, design and the physical operation of the robots.

With this being the case, it is more likely that every graduate who leaves the college with an engineering degree has likely learnt one of the many facets of engineering. However, he or she is already late by the time they realize that their curriculum had taught them the one of many approaches to the field of robotics. If only they had approached the field of engineering with the level of holism it warrants to be able to explore the many applications of their courses.

This approach to the subjects cannot be inculcated by just adopting newer methods of pedagogy. The change should be introduced earlier in a student’s academic grooming. Thanks to the age of information explosion and the maker revolution, Robotics no longer needs to be a domain of the elitist of high achieving academics. It’s intricacies are not tough nuts to crack. They’re just tougher to peel compared to an average subject. With efforts from Kidobotikz, this is already happening. Back at Kidobotikz, we are hard at work adapting the various concepts behind robotics to suit the understanding of an average mid-schooler. With the online courseware that Kidobotikz offers, a student, whatever may be his academic acumen, will be capable of mastering the techniques and sciences behind building a robot. The only pre-requisite a student needs while enrolling himself with Kidobotikz would be the love for learning and innate curiosity.

Happy Roboting ! !   

Read More

Mudskipper Robot Mimics Ancient Land Animals' First 'Steps'

A robot modeled after the mudskipper fish that "walks" short distances over rocks and mud is helping scientists understand how animals moved millions of years ago, when they first emerged from the water and transitioned to walk on land. 

Observations of the African mudskipper helped scientists create the mechanical "MuddyBot," which wriggles over sand using limbs that resemble a mudskipper's powerful fins and tail.

Mudskippers are known for their ability to navigate outside of the water using their fins as makeshift "legs." The researchers observed how mudskippers travel over loosely packed sand, and found that if they increase the slope of the granular surface, the mudskippers' fins become less effective; they instead rely more on their tails for momentum, and to prevent themselves from slipping downhill.

To further explore how an early tetrapod may have navigated on land, a team of biologists and engineers collaborated to build MuddyBot. They modeled it after the mudskipper's body plan, giving it two forelimbs and a tail appendage so it could mimic the fish's physical capabilities as a "walker."

While the mudskipper is a living model of how early land animals may have moved, MuddyBot allows the scientists to vary the parameters of its movements, to better understand the motions of the different limbs, and to observe how they work relative to each other.

Much like the animal that inspired its design, MuddyBot also had difficulty ascending slopes using only its forelimbs, and could climb successfully only with a boost from its "tail," the study authors found.

The earliest land animals would have likely taken some of their first steps on sandy, sloping beaches, the researchers said. Their observations of mudskippers and the tests with MuddyBot suggest that primitive tetrapods would also have needed to propel themselves with their tails.

This clue to early locomotion has been "hiding in plain sight," according to study co-author Richard Blob, a professor of biological sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina. Blob said in a statement that the role of the tail in land locomotion — largely overlooked until now — may have been an important factor as animals transitioned to life out of water, an existing feature that helped to propel them into their strange, new habitat.

Source: Livescience

Read More

Kidobotikz- Where engineering is made less esoteric !

It has always been the deeply held purview of educationists that the best of teachers don’t love teaching, they rather make their students love learning. The love of learning and the hunger driven by curiosity makes more often than not makes students voracious learners. While all of this sounds inspiring and motivational, teaching attitudes across the globe are still varied. While it is easy to blame the bad merits of an education system for churning out teachers who still insist on the old school way of memorizing paragraphs, we as a society should also spend some time and reflect back on our decisions which still keep this system of education up and about.

The first ever global report commissioned by the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering revealed that while just 20% of 16 to 17 year-olds from the UK and 30% from the USA are interested in an engineering career, in India the rate is as high as 80% - the highest in the world. Also when asked whether they would like to take up engineering as a career, 80% of 16 year olds in India said it was their first choice, while the number rose to 81% among 18-24 year olds, and 87% among 24-30 year olds.

With such a high demand for pursuing engineering streams, it is time that we explored whether the course in itself has extolled the required aptitude to the thousands of engineers who receive a degree. Sadly, the findings point to a rather alarming trend. With the ever mounting pressure to perform commendably in exams, students more often than not fail to spend time and appreciate, if not assimilate the course they opt for. As been been wont, year upon year the education system  bears the brunt of angry graduates and industrialists heaping remarks for its ineffectiveness in inculcating the practical understanding of engineering concepts in the students. Sitting back and commenting on this issue will never yield the desired reforms the education system. If change has to occur, it should be initiated from forces outside-in.

We at Kidobotikz believe that we are the pivotal catalyst capable of initiating this change in the system. The values that Kidobotikz espouses are ones upon which the most idealistic of education systems are built. Kidobotikz believes that the concepts of robotics and automation to which the students are exposed in their graduation courses need to de-sophisticated to the level of young teens. This serves the purpose of ensuring that kids learn concepts of mechanics and electronics in a practical way and it also helps them understand some of the most complicated concepts of engineering with great ease. Enabling kids with the knowledge of robotics would be a step in promoting a greater good because it changes the perspective with each technical studies are evaluated in the country and would indeed help place our students on par with some of the finest minds across the planet.

 Happy Roboting ! ! 

Read More

Robots come to each other's aid when they get the signal

Sometimes all it takes to get help from someone is to wave at them, or point. Now the same is true for robots. Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have completed work on an EU project aimed at enabling robots to cooperate with one another on complex jobs, by using body language.

Dimos Dimarogonas, an associate professor at KTH and project coordinator for RECONFIG, says the research project has developed protocols that enable robots to ask for help from each other and to recognize when other robots need assistance—and change their plans accordingly.

"Robots can stop what they're doing and go over to assist another robot which has asked for help," Dimarogonas says. "This will mean flexible and dynamic robots that act much more like humans—robots capable of constantly facing new choices and that are competent enough to make decisions."

As autonomous machines take on more responsibilities, they are bound to encounter tasks that are too big for a single robot. Shared work could include lending an extra hand to lift and carry something, or holding an object in place, but Dimarogonas says the concept can be scaled up to include any number of functions in a home, a factory or other kinds of workplaces.

The project was completed in May 2016, with project partners at Aalto University in Finland, the National Technical University of Athens in Greece, and the École Centrale Paris in France. In a series of filmed presentations, the researchers demonstrate the newfound abilities of several off-the-shelf autonomous machines, including NAO robots. One video shows a robot pointing out an object to another robot, conveying the message that it needs the robot to lift the item.

Dimarogonas says that common perception among the robots is one key to this collaborative work.

"The visual feedback that the robots receive is translated into the same symbol for the same object," he says. "With updated vision technology they can understand that one object is the same from different angles. That is translated to the same symbol one layer up to the decision-making—that it is a thing of interest that we need to transport or not. In other words, they have perceptual agreement."

In another demonstration two robots carry an object together. One leads the other, which senses what the lead robot wants by the force it exerts on the object, he says. "It's just like if you and I were carrying a table and I knew where it had to go," he says. "You would sense which direction I wanted to go by the way I turn and push, or pull."

The important point is that all of these actions take place without human interaction or help, he says. "This is done in real time, autonomously," he says. The project also uses a novel communication protocol that sets it apart from other collaborative robot concepts. "We minimize communication. There is a symbolic communication protocol, but it's not continuous. When help is needed, a call for help is broadcast and a helper robot brings the message to another robot. But it's a single shot."

Source: Phys.org

Read More

The homosapiens who desire home automation . . .

“At the bottom, robotics is all about us. It is the discipline of emulating our lives, of wondering how we work”-  Director, Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics, University of Massachusetts.

  In a way, all of roboting and computing involves emulating processes or activities that are either too mundane for us or too complicated to be solved by a single human mind in a respectable time frame. This belief, as philosophical as it may sound, is the driving force behind the technological revolution that all of modern humanity benefits from. For 21st century to have arrived, generations of 20th century scientists and engineers have burned the proverbial night lamp. This being said, for us to progress ourselves and our following generation into the 21st century, the well oiled machine that is “innovation” with its fuel of “desire to create” should run at full steam. If we take a bird’s eye view of the landscape of innovations, most of buzz is created by innovations that aim to make our lives a little easier by influencing our daily life and chores. This area of electronics particularly referred to as “Home Automation” desires to make the living experience of our homes grander by bringing the control of all our appliances and wares at the touch of a single button on our smart phones.

 Interestingly, this is one area where students of Kidobotikz desire to contribute as well. It is no news that students and kidobotikz undertake projects apart from their courseware and upload the same on to the tutorials page of Kidobotikz for their fellow classmates to make use of. But what is interesting is the fact that there have been so many enquiries and requests for guidance on this area that team Kidobotikz decided to appoint a special member to explore all possibilities in the area of home automation so that they could guide the students when he/she approach Kidobotikz for guidance.

Meet Alfred, the Kidobotikz appointed armchair expert on Home Automation. A passionate engineer himself, he joined Kidobotikz after falling in love with the concept of opening the world of robotics to school children. Here, he spends time exploring the various facets of the newly emerging area of Home Automation. He says that the brainstorming new projects in Home Automation requires him to stay abreast of the latest developments in the field and try out a few projects by himself before accepting doubts and queries from the students over the same. Even as we speak, he is working on a project which one of his students wanted to explore. The project which is an autonomous “Temperature controlled fan” would require him to try a myriad of sensors which would sense the ambient the temperature and relay the input to the module which would change the speed of a fan accordingly. This way the circulation of air in the room can be taken care of without actually turning the regulator knob. When his student is done developing his own version of this concept, he would submit it for approval and then get it uploaded on to the tutorials page for his peers to emulate the same.

Happy Roboting ! !     

Read More