ROBOTS

Day in the Park: Robots

While DiP 2021 is in the past, the resources we've gathered and created for it will be available on this website indefinitely. Please take a look around!

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Videos

Now I know all of these embedded YouTube videos look the same, but each one below points to a different segment of the video. We've identified each speaker's section, so you can go right to that clip rather than looking for it in the complete video (if you do want to watch the complete video, that is linked just above this text). Keep scrolling past the videos for links to resources and information related to today's exploration of robots!

Learn about Dragonfly, a mission to put a semi-autonomous drone on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Because of Titan's unique characteristics, it's an ideal site to learn about how life formed on Earth and what Earth was like before that happened. Dragonfly will be about the size of a car, using eight rotors to keep it aloft as it flies through Titan's atmosphere, collecting data.

Duration: 28:34

Doug Adams

Johns Hopkins APL

Watch Nick Ohi's high-energy presentation about his research on how robots think and his hobby, high-voltage experiments. How do we make robots autonomous? What do they need to be able to do? Learn about robot swarms, state machines, and robotic competitions!

Duration: 12:49

Nick Ohi

West Virginia University

Follow along with John Holbrook's exploration of robot programming by heading over to https://vr.vex.com/. Program your own virtual robot and take a step into the world of competitive robotics! Think through what it takes to make a robotic vacuum cleaner that works in any room.

Duration: 33:23

John Holbrook

AmeriCorps Volunteer for the NASA IV&V ERC

Peer into the world of the future, today! Learn about Rachel's work with self-driving trucks. What does it take to program a semi to drive a route autonomously? Rachel talks about her educational experience, and how learning GIS (Geographical Information Systems - mapping software) led to a career in autonomous vehicles.

Duration: 26:08

Rachel Taylor

TuSimple

Learn more about the NASA IV&V Education Resource Center (ERC) and the competitive robotics competitions you can get involved in today! Ryan talks about First Lego League (FLL), VEX, and what it takes to join a team. Watch some footage of competitions, and decide if it's for you.

Duration: 35:47

Ryan Utzman

Robotics Lead, NASA IV&V ERC

Resources

Play our Quiz

NASA Educator Guide

Robotic Search and Rescue Challenge - Grades 5-8

https://www.nasa.gov/stem-ed-resources/robotic-search-and-rescue-challenge.html

Teams use a programmable robotic ball to design solutions and simulate an unmanned aerial vehicle entering a disaster zone. Set in a post-natural-disaster scenario, students will find solutions to problems that first responders may face.

  • Apply the steps of the engineering design process to successfully complete a team challenge.

  • Conduct research, write a proposal and create a basic budget.

  • Program a spherical robot using JavaScript (JS) or block programming to complete various leveled challenges.

  • Design, build and test solutions to each problem.

  • Create a presentation and share results.

Rachel Taylor

TuSimple

Doug Adams

Johns Hopkins APL

Nick Ohi

West Virginia University

John Holbrook

AmeriCorps Volunteer for the NASA IV&V Education Resource Center

Ryan Utzman

Robotics Lead for the NASA IV&V Education Resource Center

President
Mirta Martin

President of Fairmont State University

Director
Greg Blaney

Director of NASA's IV&V Program

NASA IV&V Facility