Robots are pretty great.  They are also pretty terrifying.  It really depends on which movies you watch or news stories you read.  Personally, I lean heavily towards the “pretty great” side of the fence.  Robots, for the purposes of the next few weeks in the PCS Edventures Lab, have to meet a couple requirements.  They need to be mechanical, electrical, and programmable.  There remains, of course, the unspoken requirement of everything that goes on the Lab:  It must be awesome.  To keep us all on our toes, there will be an ongoing challenge, in which students will play everyone’s favorite impromptu game show: Robot or Not?!  The game is simple (you can play at home!)  Just choose an object, and ask yourself “Is that a robot? Does it have mechanical parts?  Is it electric?  Is it programmable?” 

I think it is safe to say that Robert Grover, CEO of PCS Edventures is also on the “pretty great” side of the robot question.  He, and the student in the Lab this week, positively lit up as he introduced the new PCS Brain.  If you’ve kept up with the blog, you’ve definitely heard mention of the Brain.  Students are constantly in need of Brains for their projects, and sometimes their Brains just aren’t working.  The future is bright, though, as Robert and PCS are setting the stage to roll out PCS Brain 5.0, a sleek, Arduino based, programmable block of awesome that PCS students can work with to build their own robots.   

Speaking of building, student have also been hard at work on their own personal projects.  There have been several more attempts at the rope climb challenge, many of which show great promise.  There is a scale model of a giant dog under construction, as well a perfectly programmed robot capable of drawing the letter ‘P’.  There was also a brief moment of silence in the Lab while we all intently watched a 10 lb. rock not fall down as one student’s bridge project was completed.

So.  Robots, Rovers, Bridges, Giant Dogs, Rope Climbs, Net Beans.  All in all a pretty average afternoon at the Lab.

 

Here are some snippets of dialogue from the Lab this week:

“Triangles.  It’s all about the triangles.”

 

“That is a perfect ‘P.’  I mean, just look at it.”

 

“You’re guinea pigs.  Guinea pigs!”

 

“Why are robots important?”

“Because jobs…and…future.”

 

“I dunno, man.  The Curiosity Rover is a little too mainstream for me.”