Schools Robot Olympics

在这笔拨款中，我们将以面向中学适龄儿童的形式举办两场“机器人奥运会”。在第一个项目中，我们将有一个小型（40厘米高）的人形腿机器人，它能够穿越5米长的轨道，并在不摔倒的情况下停下来。在解释了机器人背后的一些科学原理之后，我们将邀请孩子们制作一个带轮子的乐高机器人来做同样的事情。在第二个项目中，我们把比赛变成了跨栏比赛。我们的有腿机器人可以跨越障碍，但轮式乐高机器人需要腿或轨道才能成功。这将使我们能够以有趣而富有挑战性的方式与孩子们一起探索科学和信息通信技术课程中的一些问题。例如：制造机器人行走的困难；一个简单的轮式机器人是如何找到路的；以及在跨栏比赛中平衡和稳定的重要性。这种情况的变化将使我们能够在更公共的环境（例如，科学中心）或更有针对性的学校环境（例如，特定年龄的学生）中探索这些问题。我们希望媒体能对这项赛事感兴趣，我们也希望通过一个网站建立一个机器人赛车手的社区。

In this grant we are setting up two `robot olympics' events in a formtargetted at children of secondary school age. In the first event wewill have a small (40cm tall) humanoid legged robot that is capable oftraversing a 5m long track, and coming to a stop without falling.Having explained some of the science behind that robot, we will invitethe children to build a Lego robot with wheels to do the same event.In the second event we turn the race into a hurdles race. Our leggedrobot can step over the hurdles, but the wheeled Lego robot will needlegs or tracks in order to suceed. This will enable us to explorewith the children a number of issues from the curriculum for Scienceand for ICT in a fun yet challenging way. For example: thedifficulties of making a robot walk well; how a simple wheeled robotcan find its way; and the importance of balance and stability inrunning the hurdles course.Variations on the scenario will allow us to explore the issues in amore public setting (e.g., science centres) or in a more targettedschool setting (i.e., with pupils of a specific age). We hope thatthe media might take an interest in this event, and by using aweb-site we hope to also build up a community of robot racers.