CR8 Online: Why Robotics?

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CR8® &

Creative Robotics Learning Center answers
some of your questions on what are the
benefits of our Creative Robotics programme!
© 2003 - 2010 Creative Robotics. Be. Original.

ROBOTICS IN EDUCATION

Robotics is now commonplace in education systems throughout the world. For example, even the Massachusetts Institute of Technology uses robotics (sometimes LEGO Mindstorms systems) to teach their engineering students. In Malaysia, robotics has become so commonplace, many schools will have a robotics club included in their extra-curricular activity list.

The robotic club members will gather together once or more a week to share interests, build robots, work together, gain more knowledge and ultimately improve mentally and physically (see below). Occasionally, internal competitions would be held to make things more interesting. Robotics is a very comprehensive 'subject', because it covers:

Hardware - you'll need to build the robot out of numerous components

Software - a robot needs good software (programming) in order to function properly

Wetware - nature has been developing creatures for millions of years; sometimes it's a good idea to reverse engineer nature!

To test their skills, Malaysian robot builders have numerous competitions to look forward to many times a year - national and international competitions such as the NRC, IRO, WRO, WRM, FLL (see Useful Links on Home Page) and so on will definitely provide good testing grounds for avid enthusiasts.

ROBOTICS IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

The human mind is basically divided into two distinct parts - the left brain and the right brain. The brain is cross-wired to the body i.e. the right brain controls the left side of the body and the left brain vice versa. Studies have shown that the left side of the brain handles logical thinking - most people (right handed people) seem to depend on this part of the brain. The right side of the brain (left handed) handles creative thinking - and it is this side of the brain that one has to exercise too in order be a creative thinker.

When building a robot, students are faced with numerous challenges. Questions such as "Will it be too heavy?", "Will it look cool?", "How am I going to move two wheels with one motor?" or "The robot is too tall - is it still stable?" will tend to pop up in one's mind. Sometimes, challenges require the application of both logical and creative thinking in order to solve the problem. At the same time, there may be design constraints such as budget, parts, or size limits.

What we will help develop is how to think both IN and OUT of the box - if a solution already exists, use it; don't re-invent the wheel! However, if the conventional plan fails, put on your thinking cap (if any) and come out with a truly creative solution! Remember, necessity is the mother of invention!

ROBOTICS IN PHYSICAL DEVELOPENT

Robot-building inevitably involves handling small or delicate parts with precision. Frequent practice with these components will definitely build up one's hand-eye coordination in no time. Hand-eye coordination is a vital must-have in every functional person, and the best time to instill it is during childhood! Here at Creative Robotics, building robots with LEGO and programming them on a PC has proven countless times to help improve hand-eye coordination in our students! A quick Google search will return hundreds (if not thousands) of relevant results. Below is a sample:

LEGO robotics builds hand-eye coordination link here

ROBOTICS IN REALITY

Robots are quickly being integrated into our daily life. Countries such as Japan and the US spend huge amounts of resource per annum to improve their robotic technology. Robots are already helping us in many areas, either because it is too boring, dangerous, stressful, precise or expensive for a human to do. Some examples:

-- Mine/bomb disposal

-- Interplanetary exploration

-- Car-making

-- Crash-testing

-- Building buildings

-- Vacuuming floors

-- Mopping floors

-- Patrolling dangerous areas

-- Building more robots

-- And much more... Just Google for "robot" - 77,300,000 results at the time of this writing!

ROBOTICS IN THE FUTURE

Robotics will be something like the next PC (Personal Computer). The concept of the PR (Personal Robot) is already brewing in the minds of many individuals (and companies) throughout the globe.

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