| In 2008 the Engineering
Research Center (ERC) for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology
(CISST), based at Johns Hopkins University, organized and sponsored two
successful pre-college outreach programs, designed to positively influence
middle and high school students from across the state of Maryland.
For the third year, the CISST Student Leadership Council and Computer-Integrated
Surgical Student Research Society (CISSRS) organized and held the Robotic
Systems Challenge (see figure). This event took place on April 5th,
2008, in the Johns Hopkins University Gymnasium with 22 competing teams
and 57 participants. There were four challenges in which students
could compete. Participating teams chose a challenge in advance,
then developed and programmed a robot to tackle the challenge in competition.
Though each challenge was different, all teams used Parallax Boe-Bot and
LEGO Mindstorm kits.
The first challenge was the
“Petite Slalom,” featuring a board of gates that the robots had to maneuver
through. Upon viewing the course, the teams then had 15 minutes to
program their robot. The second challenge was “Search and Destroy
the Brain Tumor,” using Boe-Bots. The robots in this challenge used
the LEDs in the kit to randomly detect “tumors” on a board. Once
the tumor was found, the robot had to indicate the detection by either
flashing its lights or beeping. The third challenge was a Mystery
Course, where the premise was not revealed until just before the start.
The robots were required to navigate through a maze using “whiskers” to
detect walls and other obstacles in order to complete the course.
The fourth challenge was unique because the teams prepared a robot in advance
that could be used in society. Judging for the event took into account
both written and oral reports from each team. Teams were awarded
prizes and certificates for first, second, and third place.
The Center’s fifth annual
Summer Robotics Camp was conducted June 16-27, 2008. Two sessions
were held, with 13 students attending in the first week and 14 taking part
in the second week. During the first day, participants built “blinkie
kits” with blinking LEDs. The second and third days were spent building
robots that reacted to sound and touring the ERC laboratories. On
the fourth day, students designed robots that were built from a basic kit,
then programmed them to run a route and blink lights. |
