Junkbots

The aim of this project is to introduce concepts of environmental sustainability, engineering and computing. In a fun and educational project that uses the STEM subjects. The project is delivered by university staff and students going into schools to provide guidance and support in the production of the robots. This project sets out to engage pupils with a set of activities over 12 hours that provides an insight into STEM subjects. The workshops will be structured in the following way: Activity 1 Introduction to waste management, its impact, recycling and reuse. An introduction to the idea of making robots from rubbish. Activity 2 Involves some problem-solving exercises (approx. ½ hour), and then in groups investigate adding ‘junk’ with a new electrical components such as batteries and motors to use vibrations to move the robots. Activity 3 To apply some of the ideas on problem solving and use of materials developed previously to build a little junk-clearing robot. ·   ...

An article about the Junkbots project has been published in the Moulton School Newsletter (see  http://www.moultonschool.co.uk/assets/Uploads/Newsletter/Issue-10.pdf ). Included in this is a link to the student-lead presentations at the end of the sessions. These can be found at:www.moultonschool.co.uk/Junkbots or by following these links: Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 Funding has been secured to extend the project, so if you would like to know more about this project please contact Scott Turner  or visit the project website at  http://www.computing.northampton.ac.uk/~scott/projects_1.html

Three schools have taken part of the project (62 students in all), so time to reflect on and summarise the project so far. Waste Management The waste management activities seem to engage from the point of view of helping them to understand their own impact both positively and negatively. “...it was cool to know what my carbon footprint is.” “... made me think about all the waste in the world.” “[I] now recycle” "Lots of information which was useful..."(Student BW-B) "I learnt a lot and calculating my carbon footprint was great" (Student BW-J) "I learnt about [Eco] stuff" (Student BW-S) "I found the waste management activity helpf[ul] because it showed me the truth of what we could do to help the earth" (Student BW-T) "I liked the presentation we were given...interesting facts which we will remember a long time" (Student BW-V) Junkbot building "We had the [f]reedom to show the teachers what skills we have" (Studen...

Thank you to the staff and students at Junkbots at Moulton School and Science College for their involvement with the Junkbots project. This time the students taking part where in year 7 (previously they had been in year 8) Overall the feedback was positive (see below), with 12 out 13 (5 replies were not available) at a rating of 3 out of 5 or above. The approach taken was a little more structured with time allocation more tightly controlled, especially in the junk robot building exercises and programming. . The programmed robots generally performed very well completing the tasks set. Of particular note were two solutions from the one group that showed avoidance behaviour: One solution used an ultrasonic sensor and the robot didn't move until an object was placed in front of it; A second moved towards an object, detected it using a light sensor and went around the object.   

The junkbot project moved to Moulton  School & Science Academy, and working with eighteen Year 7 students and their teacher Desmond  O'Niell, looking at issues relating to waste management and also using engineering and computing principles. Examples of the the robots produced and the level of creativity can be seen below: Some creative ideas are demonstrated using cans and motors with eccentric cams either as a source of vibration or as wheels, and all used the principle of control similar to tank tracks (control one side then the other) to direct the robots. Also the students were encouraged to consider form over function (and especially the weight will have an effect on the effectiveness of the solution). Two groups actually developed solutions that could move a drinks can but also small parts into a specified area. This was taken from the first part of the project and I would like to thank Mr O'Niell for inviting us in and also for the suggestions of the future...

Thank you to the students and staff at Brooke Weston School, Corby, UK for working with us on this project. Here are some of the comments made by the students. Several of the students identified some interesting features about building robots out of 'junk': "We had the [f]reedom to show the teachers what skills we have" (Student B) "interesting overall" (Student H) "...but frustrating because modifications were frequent" (Student J) "The activity was very fun and creative. We experience lots of difficulties to overcome." (Student K) "it was nice have time off timetable once in a while" (Student N) "I found that building the junk bots has made me some new friends..." (Student T) "...as we[ we]re able to put any ideas forward to put ideas forward to create our own creation" (Student V) The programming of the robots caused a differences in opinion which seemed to come down to two main factors, that th...

Students at Brooke Weston School, Corby have been working with the University of Northampton's School of Science and Technology on the junkbots project. Scott Turner and Terry Tudor on the 16th and 17th February 2010 went to the school to run the sessions. Starting with a talk and activities on waste management, including how much waste the UK produced, and in terms of numbers of slices of toast what is the cost of energy of leaving a monitor on overnight.   The task was to produce robots out of rubbish that could carry other rubbish into a containment area. The change made to the sessions was that students brought there own 'junk' to the sessions. S ome innovative and creative designs were produced involving 'legs', wheels (including turning cans into wheels and wheels from old toys).    Some of the designs pushed rubbish into the area, but one of the designs carried the rubbish into the area and some designs used magnets to pick up small steel parts (nuts a...