 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Robots for Kids Major Keary |
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Literature about robotics is largely confined to papers in professional
journals, but a recently published text, Robots for Kids, makes a timely appearance with the staging
of RoboCup.
Robots for Kids is not a children's book in the sense of having been designed for young children to
read. It is written "for a broad audience, including HCI, AI, and robotics researchers in business and
academia, new media and consumer product developers, robotics hobbyists, toy designers, teachers, and
education researchers". That's a pretty broad audience, but anyone working-or with an interest-in any of
those fields will find this book fascinating. It is an ideal entry point for those of us who have a limited
understanding of robotics, and draws attention to the educational potential of robotics.
The book is in parts: New Robot Technologies for Kids, Innovative Approaches to Using Robots for
Education, and Future Visions.
Each chapter follows academic format: abstract, introduction, the main presentation, acknowledgments,
references, and a Kid's View. Readers should not be put off by the formal layout; no special technical
background is assumed.
This is not a DIY robotics manual. The focus is on what has been achieved in the application of robotics to
education. Not automated education, of course, but the use of robotics to stimulate interest in a wide range
of disciplines that are part of what is sometimes called the hard sciences.
RoboCup, Botball, and KIPR are described along with some of the organised educational
activities (such as RoboCamp) that have been established in America.
A valuable resource for educators who may be interested in the use of robotics as an educational tool. A high
school teacher is quoted:
"Robotics motivates students to make plans, to accomplish, to look forward, to achieve and to feel good about
themselves, in some cases for the first time in their lives. The robotics class itself is set up to allow
students to feel comfortable with the new and sometimes very complicated concepts that robotics brings with
it. To build an autonomous robot, students must learn the basic concepts of mechanics, engineering and
`Interactive C' computer programming. They must also learn the skills of effective communication, teamwork
and problem solving."
| Drum and Hendler, eds.:Robots for Kids ISBN 1-55860-597-5 Published by Morgan Kaufmann, 377 pp., RRP $96.49 inc. GST |
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Reprinted from the September 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
