Robotics Outreach Group
The Open University Robotics Outreach Group started life as the RoboFesta Research Lab in October 2000. Originally set up as a multidisciplinary research group to promote RoboFesta in the UK, it now has a wider remit, particularly in the development of widening participation and educational outreach activities. Members of the Group administer RoboCupJunior and other robotics competitions in the UK and the RoboFesta-UK website, as well as developing robotics related Open University courses.
Activity List
RoboCupJunior UK | Other Robotics Competitions | RoboFesta-UK | Roberta Goes EU! | Robotics Workshops | Robot Thought | Walking With Robots
RoboCupJunior UK
RoboCupJunior (RCJ) is an educational initiative that sponsors local, regional and international robotics events for young students. It is the junior league of RoboCup (www.robocup.org), an international research and education initiative whose purpose is to foster Artificial Intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined. The focus in the junior league is on education. RCJ offers three challenges: dance, rescue and soccer. Each emphasises teamwork and task-achievement. It provides a unique opportunity for participants with a wide variety of interests and strengths to work together as a team to achieve a common goal.
RoboCupJunior is administered in the UK by members of the Robotics Outreach Group, three of whom are also serving on international RCJ technical committees. Ashley Green is a member of the international RoboCup Executive Committee. In 2006, 170 teams (650 pupils) from 84 schools in the UK participated in RCJ, of which 58 pupils from eleven schools represented the UK at RoboCup 2006 in Bremen, Germany.
Other Robotics Competitions
Members of the Robotics Outreach Group are involved in the organisation and running of several other national robotics competitions, including FIRST LEGO League, Micromouse and the UK Robotic Games. The annual FIRST LEGO League Milton Keynes Tournament is run by the Robotics Outreach Group in collaboration with Aimhigher MKOB, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford University and Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. The tournament held in the Old Lecture Theatre in December 2006 involved nearly 140 students from 15 local schools (www.oxtrust.org.uk/news/228527).
RoboFesta-UK
RoboFesta is a worldwide educational movement that focuses on bringing science and technology to a general audience through widespread public participation in a range of robot competitions. Participation in RoboFesta events is not restricted to industrial and academic research groups - a significant emphasis is placed on using robot platforms and kits that can be used by a wide variety of people of all ages. RoboFesta-UK encourages children and young people to engage with science, technology, engineering and mathematics through hands-on robotics activities. Working with robots develops a broad range of skills, including creative thinking, design, mechanics, electronics and computer programming. The Robotics Outreach Group organises an annual RoboFesta-UK open meeting for educators, academic researchers and industry representatives, and also occasional one-day workshops and INSET training courses for educators.
Roberta Goes EU!
Roberta is an educational programme developed by the Fraunhofer Institute AIS (Autonomous Intelligent Systems) in Germany, that provides training courses and comprehensive teaching materials to teachers and others who want to increase girls' enthusiasm for technical professions by engaging them in the fascinating world of robots. The Fraunhofer Institute has secured funding from the EU to translate their teaching materials into English and other languages, and to help set up a network of regional centres and qualified training staff in the UK and elsewhere.
The Robotics Outreach Group is helping to establish and promote this excellent programme in the UK. Funding is available for the provision of the teaching materials and initial training. The translation of the teaching materials should be completed by March 2007, and it is hoped that the first UK regional centres will be running training courses during the summer term.
Robotics Workshops
The Robotics Outreach Group and the Campaign for Learning have been collaborating with other organisations across the UK for the past few years to deliver a variety of themed RoboFesta Robotics Workshops. The project was launched at the Family Learning Week 2004 Planning Conference "Making it Happen" in Birmingham in May 2004. Since then, training sessions have been held at venues across England and Wales, in which more than 250 family learning coordinators, librarians and primary school teachers have learnt how to run robotics workshops and to make simple robots using the (NESTA-sponsored) Kre8 construction system.
Robot Thought
Robot Thought is an interactive dialogue event, designed to challenge and stimulate public thinking about the latest developments in robotics. The event uses the format of an entertaining science "show" which is broken down into a series of short dramatic vignettes to highlight important practical, personal and social issues relating to robotics, allowing the audience to get involved in a discussion about the latest advances in robotics and the implications of robotics on future society.
These events form part of a nationwide EPSRC-funded programme coordinated by Dr Karen Bultitude at the University of the West of England. The Robotics Outreach Group is involved in the development of Robot Thought shows to be presented at Techniquest, Cardiff on 17th-25th February 2007 and at W5, Belfast in May 2007. Other partners include University of Wales Aberystwyth, University of Edinburgh, At-Bristol, Life Science Centre (Newcastle), Techniquest@NEWI (Wrexham), Thinktank Science Museum (Birmingham), Science Museum (London) and the Edinburgh Science Festival.
Walking With Robots
Walking with Robots is a 3-year EPSRC-funded programme of public events that aims to address the following questions: What is a Robot? What do we want robots to do? What is happening in UK robotics research right now? If a fully-functional, conscious robot were developed would that make it human and if so, should it have rights? The Walking with Robots team consists of leading researchers in intelligent robotics from throughout the UK (including the Robotics Outreach Group), as well as experts in engaging public audiences with science and engineering.