Botball: Autonomous students engineering autonomous robots Cathryne Stein KISS Institute for Practical Robotics [email protected] (405) 579-4609 www.botball.org Abstract Sparking and maintaining an early fascination with engineering and computer programming is of great interest to educators who wish to bring high quality students into these fields, and it is of vital concern to all of us who want to see our country thrive in this world economy. This paper will present an effective, intensive, and enjoyable way of getting middle and high school age students actively engaged in engineering, science, math, and computer programming. The paper describes Botball, an engineering outreach program in which students design, build, and program small autonomous mobile robots. Examples of how Botball may help to draw a diverse population into engineering and computer programming will be discussed. Introduction Recently, over 180 teams of students came together in regional tournaments across the country to match their two autonomous, but cooperative, robots against other teams’ robotic duos in a game of programming, design, strategy, and engineering skill. Most of these regional tournaments took place on college campuses. But the participants were middle and high school students who had designed, programmed and built these robots as part of an engineering outreach program called Botball. These middle and high school students came from a startling diversity of socio-economic backgrounds; they came from inner city and rural schools, private schools, science and technology magnet schools, alternative or continuation schools, as well as your average everyday suburban public school. Some even came from home school situations, community computer clubhouses, or other types of organizations. The most noticeable thing they had in common was how enthusiastic, motivated and focused they seemed to be. These students now have various degrees of experience with planning, defining problems and solutions, the design process, scheduling, mechanical engineering, programming, demonstrating, reporting results, and creating websites. In addition, some of the best teams’ programming solutions to the robotics challenge exhibited target tracking, multi- agent cooperation, and adversarial planning (all this in an unpredictable dynamic environment). These are the experienced, motivated students that could be in your classes as early as next year. Since Botball is entering its fifth year, some may already be there. Botball Overview What is Botball? 7.263.1 Page 1 Botball is a six week program for middle and high school age students that: · Puts reusable robotics equipment in schools and gets students programming · Provides a hands-on professional development robotics workshop for teachers · Appeals to students across a broad spectrum of backgrounds and abilities · Features an Internet Research/Website Development component · Culminates in an action-packed Botball Tournament! At its essence, Botball is a national engineering outreach program conducted in regions across the country, that features a National Tournament as well. Botball frequently includes a partnership between k-12 systems and post-secondary education. Post- secondary institutions currently involved with the Botball program are: Carnegie Mellon University, George Mason University, Mercer College, Middlesex College, Rose-Hulman Institute, and the respective Universities of Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Florida, and Oklahoma, Botball is a program of KISS Institute for Practical Robotics, a private non-profit education and research organization that uses robotics as a means to engage students in science, engineering, math, and computer programming. In Botball, teams of middle and high school age students are given two challenges: 1) build and program a team of autonomous mobile robots to play the current tournament game; 2) create a website that meets this year’s defined challenges. The mission and purpose behind Botball Botball’s mission addresses three populations: For Educators: Botball exists to provide educators with knowledge, resources and equipment with which to foster an engaging and continuous hands-on learning environment for science, technology, engineering and math. For Students: Botball’s mission is to build valuable work-related and academic skills, challenge students’ creativity, and promote positive attitudes and understanding in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. For the General Public: Botball Tournaments and Exhibitions serve as public outreach opportunities in which we can help increase the societal value placed on engineering and intellectual achievement, and where the general public can learn more about various aspects of robotics. Page 7.263.2 Page 2 A young Botball spectator shows an early interest in engineering. At its most basic, we use the Botball activities of programming, mechanical design, construction and website development to get students excited about being on the creative side of technology and to help them understand how they can use the tools of science and math to do significant work. In addition, students learn to program the robots in a useful language (C ), which may lead to greater employability on the whole. Is this like BattleBots on TV? Nope. Botball does not use remote control, so the physical skill of the “driver” is never a factor. There is no driver. Botball robots’ behaviors are based solely on their programming and feedback from their sensors. Botball robots must start by themselves, play the game according to whatever strategy the students programmed, and turn themselves off after ninety seconds. One other big difference is that Botball rounds are not intended to be destructive (although there frequently is intense interaction that keeps the crowd screaming). Botball games involve head to head matches in which robots score points by putting appropriately colored pieces in scoring positions. These may include such difficult challenges as navigating across the arena in search of a specific object, or finding, grasping, and positioning a tube to drop neatly around a post that is being pulled away by a robot opponent. Page 7.263.3 Page 3 A Botball robot goes for the score with its scissor-like grip. In general, Botball robots are physically smaller than the robots you see on TV and they involve no machining or specialized manufacturing equipment. Since they tend to be about the size of a large toaster oven, they are easy to transport or lock away. How the Program Works During the fall and winter, teams register at the Botball website to take part in a regional Botball Program. Teams may choose to participate in any regional program, but they must register in advance. (Regional events are staggered to start at different times throughout the season.) The registration fee is $2000 per team and it covers tuition for up to two teachers per team attending the three day professional development workshop, a fully self-contained robotics kit, described below, new software, tech support, participation in the regional tournament, and of course, official Botball Tee Shirts. Financial aid is usually available as needed. (Although several teams see the fundraising as a positive feature of the program, and their students do learn this valuable skill!) The regional programs kick off in early spring with a regional professional development workshop for teachers or teamleaders to give them technical content and hands-on experience with the robotics equipment and the programming. The workshop includes a discussion of various methods of using robotics content and activities to support school curricula in a variety of subject areas. On the final day of the workshop, the new robot game and the new website challenge are announced and described in detail. At the workshop, each teamleader receives a specialized Botball kit containing two different types of microprocessors, all robot construction materials, gears, motors, sensors, Legos, documentation, software and other goodies. Teams then have about six 7.263.4 Page weeks to create their team of robots and their website. 4 The size, composition, and recruiting techniques for each team are determined by the individual school or teamleader, as is the decision whether Botball will be used as an extracurricular or classroom project. We’ve noticed teams tend to range in size from 5- 20 students, with some students focusing on the website project, some the programming, and others the mechanical engineering. The point of Botball is for kids to do things for themselves, to experiment, and to learn from the experience. All Botball robots are student designed, built, and programmed. Mentors give guidance and help with project management, but they do not program or build the robots. At the tournaments, the pit area is roped off and no adults (other than KISS Institute staff) are allowed in. An Oklahoma team counts their robots’ points at the end of the match. At the end of the six weeks of building time, everyone from that region comes together bringing robots, family and friends for an exciting, high-energy public Botball Tournament. Students get to show off their creations in both single-run qualifying rounds and an interactive (but non-destructive) double elimination event, awards are bestowed, HUGE trophies are given for both robotic and website achievement, sponsors are thanked, and a good time is had by all. Or at least most. All participants receive a Certificate of Participation. After the tournament,