Spatial Robots Website

Grid: Augmented Reality Gaming (by Sahar Fikouhi)

Students work on various projects for their studies, and usually also have ideas for developing private projects of their own according to their technical area of interest. That's often why they decided to study engineering. An interesting website highlights projects that relate to interactive architecture. This includes topics in the areas of architecture, robots, interfaces and control.

The link: http://www.spatialrobots.com

The website's description is that it "features and critiques control technologies, interfaces and robotics as they pertain to the future of interactive architecture and space. Created by Miles Kemp in 2007, this website showcases architecture, space, interfaces, new media, websites, robotics, nanotechnology, reconfigurable objects, behavioral logic, new materials, and emerging technologies with emphasis placed on projects being interactive and spatial."

Posts include videos, short articles and links to other blogs. Readers are invited to submit news they think is "cool" to be featured on the website. This would be an interesting invitation to students at the beginning of the semester, to see what kinds of material they think is "cool news" to share with the class.

A recent addition to the website (currently on the home page) is Grid: Augmented Reality Gaming by Sahar Fikouhi, described as providing a "spatial configuration for real-time gaming at an architectural scale."

A video (3:12 minutes) shows how Grid works, and there's a link to Sahar Fikouhi's blog, MOB-ILITY, which has an article that explains the project (a good example for students) and more visuals related to the project.

For more information: saharfikouhi.blogspot.com/2011/12/grid-augmented-reality-gaming_27.html

Cartoons for ESL

I came across an interesting website recently that has cartoons for English learners, with accompanying information. For each cartoon there is a transcript of the text, vocabulary explained, and information about context (explaining the cartoon and giving cultural background if relevant).

The website Comics English is at: http://www.comicsenglish.com

It’s fairly new (started 20 May 2013), but invites the reader to “visit regularly” for cartoons. I told my students about the website so that they can read it on their own – I figure that cartoons and comics will be a big motivator! But in class we looked at the following cartoon (originally from the website xkcd: http://xkcd.com/), which describes itself as “a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.”

This cartoon is at:  http://www.comicsenglish.com/2013/05/xkcd-lack-of-insight/

The Comics English website explains all the relevant vocabulary and, as Context, adds, “Notice that the first sentence is like a formula. Speakers can put the name of any new technology they want in between < … > (Google Glass in this instance).”

But my students and I went further. We discussed the significance of having a “formula” by which you could discuss any kind of new technology, even if you don’t know anything about it. We played around with it a while, substituting other technologies the students know about. Then we tried to think of other “formulas” for discussing technology, art, literature, their studies, etc.

The cartoon made me think of the idea behind a series of books (or more accurately, booklets) called Bluffer’s Guide. Topics in the series include economics, poetry, skiing, sex, hiking, beer, quantum universe (and many others). The series helps you “bluff your way with those who claim currency in the subject. Nothing demanded, just a sense of humour.”

Early innovation in mail sorting

Focusing on innovations of the past is not only informative, but allows students to reflect on the impact through time of that innovation. One interesting example I used with my students is the computerized mail sorting system introduced in Australia in 1966.

This website has a video clip from a 1966 promotional film of The Redfern Mail Exchange’s computerized mail sorting system, which was quite an innovation at the time. The clip describes the process of data entry for the computers, conveyors for moving the letters, and the method of typing the postcodes on each letter.

In addition the website has Teacher’s Notes with “educational value points” as well as Curator’s Notes with extra information.

Australia Post: This is the Mail (1966) (time = 2:59)

http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/australia-post-mail/clip3/


What the students might find interesting is the 1960s computer, which was extremely large and was operated through keypunch cards. Although it seems quite old-fashioned now, the clip makes clear that at the time it was fast and efficient, and quite an important development in the sorting and distribution of mail.

The video provides listening practice for students, and the information given is a very clear process description (with visual input). In addition to a discussion of the system, the students worked in small groups to write a summary of the process. A follow-up activity involved each group plotting the impact of this innovation to the mail-sorting systems used today. This involved further work on the students’ part to find out how mail is currently sorted in their own country.

Galileo Satellite Navigation

On the website of the European Commission, there is a section of Audiovisual Services. These videos provide a variety of topics in many technical areas. One in particular is about Galileo, which is described this way on the website:

“The Galileo programme is Europe's initiative for a state-of-the-art global satellite navigation system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control. The fully deployed system will consist of 30 satellites and the associated ground infrastructure. Galileo will be inter-operable with GPS and GLONASS, the two other global satellite navigation systems.”

The video is 2:51 minutes long, and provides practice in listening to different non-native speakers speaking English. There is one French speaker (with English subtitles). Each speaker mentions an advantage of Galileo and why it’s being implemented (what it will do). Students can listen and take notes.

Link to the Galileo video: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I076944

Link to further information about the Galileo Satellite Navigation Programme:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/satnav/galileo/programme/index_en.htm

This has a good graphic of the Galileo architecture. It’s a good example for students to consider for presentations and other situations when they use visuals to explain or describe something.

Ekso Robot

My engineering students enjoy learning about new innovations in the field of robotics – even the students who are not studying robotic engineering. And I find that many robotic innovations relate to many different areas of engineering, e.g., biomedical, electrical, mechanical as well as software programming.

An interesting article I used in class recently is, “New Breed of Robotics Aims to Help People Walk Again” from The New York Times (September 11, 2012). In addition to a discussion about the topic, I used it to help students identify technical vocabulary and guide them in writing a short process description.

Link to article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/technology/wearable-robots-that-can-help-people-walk-again.html?_r=0

In addition to reading the article before the lesson, the students had to prepare the following tasks:

• Make a list of nouns and verbs that you think are relevant for a process description of the Ekso. Include accompanying adjectives and/or prepositions.
• Focus on those areas of the text that describe some part of the Ekso. In class we will choose appropriate linking words to combine these sections to make one complete process description.
• Make a note of the features of the article that help a non-technical audience understand what it is and how it works.
• Focusing on the first six paragraphs, identify the verb tenses used. What “rules” can you notice about the use of these tenses? (This group had already had a review of the verb tenses featured in the article, but this information could also be make into a separate lesson on the uses of the present, present progressive, past, and present perfect tenses.)

One lesson with this article focused on features of process description, and another lesson focused on features of language: verb tenses, collocations, linking and transition words.

This kind of work can be done with other articles about a new innovation in your students’ engineering field.

For another text on robotic engineering (with suggestions) see my Post 19: Cheetah Robot text to improve reading skills.

Planetary Society for engineering students

There are many aspects of space exploration that are of interest to engineering students in many different engineering fields. This website has a wide variety of material related to space technology, funding, photos, scientists, etc.

Link to home: http://www.planetary.org

One part of the website is Planetary Radio, which is useful for both the classroom and for students to listen to privately. There is a lot of supplementary material for each program's topic. The program is described on the website this way:

"Each week, Planetary Radio visits with a scientist, engineer, project manager, astronaut, advocate or writer who provides a unique and exciting perspective on the exploration of our solar system and bezond. We also showcase regular features that raise your I.Q. while they put a smile on your face."

These features include contest questions, which students could participate in. Answers are posted a week later.

Planetary Radio: http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/

One example of a radio program that my students enjoyed was The Basics of Interplanetary Flight. This was not only an interesting topic, but it provided material for technical process descriptions (relevant to many different engineering fields).

http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/show/2013/20130408-dave-doody-basics-interplanetary-flight.html

In addition to the radio programs, there are podcasts, videos, blogs, and a section of NASA photos.

Encyclopedia of Life

A very interesting website described as: "an online evolving library of all life on the planet," the Encyclopedia of Life is a source of podcasts and articles useful for many types of listening, reading and discussion activities.

Link: http://eol.org

The podcasts are about 5 minutes long, so they're very practical to use in the classroom or to assign for homework. The narrator is easy to understand, speaking very clearly and at a balanced tempo. In addition, each podcast has a downloadable script in pdf-format.

Very useful for teachers are the educational materials in each section. The EOL Podcast Guide for Educators includes "an overview of the podcast and features of each episode and links to relevant educational materials."

There are also interviews ("Meet the scientist") of the people involved in each of the topic areas.

An example I used was the segment with an interview of Edward O. Wilson, in which he talks about how he became interested in ants. My robotic engineering students found this interesting because we had looked at material about how "robotic swarms" were inspired by the swarm behavior of ants. My biomedical engineering students were interested in segments focusing on scientists in their field. This material led to a discussion of how scientists and engineers become interested in their field, and this, in turn, inspired students to talk about how and when they became interested in their own field of engineering.

Podcast with E.O. Wilson: http://education.eol.org/podcast/eo-wilson
Podcast script: http:education.eol.org/sites/default/files/EOWilson.pdf

Cheetah Robot text to improve reading skills

I often have students read articles about innovations in their field. This promotes class discussion and helps focus them on model text types (for example, process descriptions: see Posts 2, 7, 16, for example). In addition, I use these texts to work on students' reading skills. An example I used recently is an article from MIT's website: MIT 'cheetah' robot rivals running animals in efficiency (March 8, 2013), which describes their "Cheetah Robot" and the energy-efficient motor they are developing for it.

Link to article: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/mit-cheetah-robot-0308.html

When I assign an article for students to read, I also give them a list of questions about the topic as well as language features to look for in the article. This helps to focus them on features they might not otherwise notice, and also provides points of discussion for the classroom. And, quite frankly, it also increases the chances that students will actually read the text carefully before the lesson!

The language features I like to focus on are those that are somehow related to the text type (description, process, explanation), and the innovation itself (in this article: movement, energy, improvement, e.g.). Here are some features that I had students identify in this article, with only a few examples of each (there are many more for each feature):

Areas of the text that explain or give examples:

• about the size and weight of an actual cheetah
• such as a push, or a change in terrain
• such as energy lost through a heavy-footed step
• simulating the structure of tendons along a bone
• also known as cost of transport

Words/phrases that collocate with "energy":

• wasted energy
• minimize energy waste
• energy dissipates
• capture this energy
• reduce energy loss

Verbs of what researchers "do":

• design
• propose
• analyze
• simulate
• hypothesize

Examples of language that indicates change:

• quickly adjust
• respond to outside forces
• minimize
• (further) reduce
• made a huge difference

Comparatives/superlatives:

• fewer gears
• less machinery
• more efficient than
• more powerful
• simpler

Verbs of movement:

• outpace
• trot (continuously)
• gallop
• traverse
• move along

The feedback I've gotten from students indicates that they appreciate the focused work on vocabulary and how it helps them learn vocabulary relevant to their field. In addition, they practice a way of reading a text that they hadn't done before.

Ethical consumer to ethical engineer

An article in the blog “Ask Jack” in the technology section of The Guardian focuses on an interesting question: how can an ethical consumer buy an ethical tablet, or is there any such thing as an ethical tablet?

In my university’s engineering programs all students take courses in ethics. This is fairly standard now, since all types of engineers have to consider the public’s health and safety along with technical concerns in their profession.

However, my students sometimes find it difficult to see how ethics is relevant to them. So I try to find cases and information that they can relate to.

This article allows the group to consider ethical issues from the point of view of the consumer (which students are) as well as from that of the engineer (which they will be). In fact, there are so many issues involved in buying a tablet, that it is very difficult to be an ethical consumer in this case.

Issues raised in the article include the conditions in the factories where tablets and their components are produced, the companies supplying the raw materials, tablet design related to recycling, and marketing considerations. Of course, the features of the tablet itself are very important for the consumer, so these issues must also be taken into account.

The author ends by suggesting various ways to improve working conditions in factories that produce these devices, but adds, “…the whole consumer electronics industry needs to clean up its act.”

At this point students can brainstorm ideas for how this could be done. This can lead to a greater awareness of ethical considerations of their future (or current) workplace, and which issues are most important to them.

Link to article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/askjack/2012/apr/19/ask-jack-ethical-tablet

Biobots

North Carolina State University’s iBionics Laboratory has developed a way to create “cyborg cockroaches” to help find victims of disasters such as earthquakes.

The cockroaches are fitted with wireless control systems that let a human operator hear sounds of distress or see via the camera system.

The National Geographic website has an article with an interview with Assistant Professor of Engineering, Alper Bozkurt, who led the cockroach biobot project.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120907-cyborg-cockroaches-video-science-remote-control-robots-bugs/

My robotic engineering students found this extremely interesting, and the article generated a lot of discussion of further uses of such a biobot, and ideas for other animals that could be used in similar projects.