TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Master Driver
Students learn how rotational sensors measure distance, how mathematics can be used for real-world purposes, and about potential sources of error due to gearing when using rotation sensor readings for distance calculations.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Determining Concentration
Students quantify the percent of light reflected from solutions containing varying concentrations of red dye using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT bricks and light sensors. They begin by analyzing a set of standard solutions with known...
Other
Lira Lab: Laboratory for Integrated Advanced Robotics
Site of the LIRA-Lab in University of Genoa, Italy which specializes in artificial vision and sensory-motor coordination from a computational neuroscience perspective.
Other
Foundation for the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
The resource offers mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Designing a Robotic Surgical Device
Student teams create laparoscopic surgical robots designed to reduce the invasiveness of diagnosing endometriosis and investigate how the disease forms and spreads. Using a synthetic abdominal cavity simulator, students test and iterate...
PBS
Nova Online: Bomb Squad
Information on robots that are used for hazardous duty, such as patrolling beaches to find land mines, is found here.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Challenge: Drum Partner
Learn how to use the sound sensor for the Lego robot with this page.
Read Works
Read Works: Robo Helpers
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about new robots that learn to walk like humans. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in drawing conclusions.
Harvard University
Micro Observatory Robotic Telescope Network: Explore the Universe
This website introduces you to the MicroObservatory Robotic Telescope Network operated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Links and resources for both teachers and students are included.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Friction Force
Students use LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics to help conceptualize and understand the force of friction. Specifically, they observe how different surfaces in contact result in different frictional forces. A LEGO robot is constructed to pull a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robo Clock
Students learn various topics associated with the circle through studying a clock. Topics include reading analog time, understanding the concept of rotation (clockwise vs. counter-clockwise), and identifying right angles and straight...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Trebuchet Launch
Students work as engineers to design and test trebuchets (in this case LEGO MINDSTORMS robots) that can launch objects. During the testing stage, they change one variable at a time to study its effect on the outcome of their designs....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Mars Rover App Creation
Based on their experience exploring the Mars rover Curiosity and learning about what engineers must go through to develop a vehicle like Curiosity, students create Android apps that can control LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots, simulating the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Wide World of Gears
In an interactive and game-like manner, students learn about the mechanical advantage that is offered by gears. By virtue of the activity's mechatronics presentation, students learn to study a mechanical system as a dynamic system under...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pupillary Response & Test Your Reaction Time
Students observe and test their reflexes, including the (involuntary) pupillary response and (voluntary) reaction times using their dominant and non-dominant hands, as a way to further explore how reflexes occur in humans. They gain...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: All Fat Is Not Created Equally!
Students learn that fats found in the foods we eat are not all the same; they discover that physical properties of materials are related to their chemical structures. Provided with several samples of commonly used fats with different...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: On Track Unit Conversion
Students use three tracks marked on the floor, one in yards, one in feet and one in inches. As they start and stop a robot specific distances on a "runway," they can easily determine the equivalent measurements in other units by looking...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Using Waits, Loops and Switches
Students incorporate their knowledge of wait blocks, loops, and switches into their programming of the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots to perform different tasks depending on input from a sound sensor and two touch sensors. This activity...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Brain Is a Computer
Students learn about the similarities between the human brain and its engineering counterpart, the computer. Since students work with computers routinely, this comparison strengthens their understanding of both how the brain works and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Do Human Sensors Work?
This lesson highlights the similarities between human sensors and their engineering counterparts. Taking this approach enables students to view the human body as a system, that is, from the perspective of an engineer. Humans have...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Grand Challenge: Simulating Human Vision
Students are introduced to the Robotics Peripheral Vision Grand Challenge question. They are asked to write journal responses to the question and brainstorm what information they require to answer the question. Their ideas are shared...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Means, Modes, and Medians
Students experience data collection, analysis and inquiry in this LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT -based activity. They measure the position of an oscillating platform using a ultrasonic sensor and perform statistical analysis to determine the mean,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Chance at Monte Carlo
At its core, the LEGO MINDSTORMS product provides a programmable microprocessor. Students use the EV3 processor to simulate an experiment involving thousands of uniformly random points placed within a unit square. Using the underlying...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Science of Spring Force
Students use data acquisition equipment to learn about force and displacement in regard to simple and complex machines. In the engineering world, materials and systems are tested by applying forces and measuring the resulting...