Robotics in Education

http://robotica2011.ist.utl.pt

The 11th Portuguese Robotics Open took place in Lisbon, Portugal, April 6-10, 2011 at the Instituto Superior Técnico congress center.

The Portuguese Robotics Open, which had its 1st edition in 2001, aims at promoting Science and Technology among students from the 1st grade to university studies, as well among the general public, through robot competitions. 

The Festival takes place every year in a different city, and includes also an international conference where national an international researchers present their latest work in the field of Robotics.

The event has had an enormous growth since the 1st edition, both in the number of teams, participants and visitors. The Portuguese Robotics Open is currently an initiative of Portuguese Society of Robotics.

Robotic soccer

http://www.robotica.pt

Young participants that love soccer, including robot soccer, aiming to become world champions such as their university colleagues that were world champions in 2008 in the RoboCup Middle Sized League. In this league they had the chance to test their assets and show the best of their skills in building and programming soccer robots.

Robotic junior dance

http://robotica2011.ist.utl.pt

Dance is a source of joy and happiness for all ages. Programming robots that dance autonomously is another source of joy for the young participants of this league, one of the most popular leagues of this event. Both programmers and robots danced all together sharing their joy with the audience.

Watch the video presentation (Portuguese language) below

The 11th International Conference on Mobile Robots and Competitions is an international scientific meeting in the field of Mobile Robotics technically co-sponsored by the IEEE and sponsored by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), through its Portuguese Chapter. 

Its scope encompasses, but is not limited to, the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Education.

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net

At the same time, last April 9-10, 2011 the "Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest" took place in Hartford, Connecticut (USA). 

"Trinity’s annual robot competition, assistive robotics whose goal is to aid people with special needs and improve the quality of their lives – is playing an increasingly important role."

Altogether, about 125 teams – including those from Canada, China, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Portugal and, of course, the United States participated in what has become one of the premier robotics events in the world. 

Portuguese medail

http://adotportugal.com

The winner in the category "Junior Division 2011" was a Portuguese  team, students from ADoT "Associação Desenvolver o Talento", Guarda (Portugal).The two students team Miguel Seabra and José Delgado (12 and 13 years old) 

ADoT team winner and teachers

http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Desenvolver o Talento (ADoT), Portugal

http://www.adotportugal.com

ADoT is a Portuguese association to aid gifted young people and improve the quality of their lives.


Congratulations to ADoT students and teachers!


G-Souto
11.04.2011
Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®


Credits: video SapoNotícias
            Photos ADoT


References:


The Portuguese Robotics Open 2011 (Portugal)
http://robotica2011.ist.utl.pt/en/


Trinity College Robot Contest 2011 (USA)
http://www.trincoll.edu


ADoT
http://adotportugal.blogspot.com/

Some apps for iPad helping education

Some apps for iPad helping your learning skills in school! Interesting apps and well demonstrated.

G-Souto

21.01.2011
Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 


Credits: (included in video presentation)

Robotics in Education Seminar

O Centro de Competência em Tecnologias e Inovação, do Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa, vai realizar no próximo dia 13 de Janeiro, às 16h00, um seminário subordinado ao tema Robótica Educativa.

Este evento decorrerá no Anfiteatro do Instituto de Educação (Edifício da Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação, na Alameda da Universidade).

A entrada é livre mas sujeita a inscrição prévia.

Poderá ler o programa aqui

http://c2ti.fc.ul.pt

Robotic in Education Robotic will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, January, the 13th - 2011 at the "Centro de Competência em Tecnologias e Inovação" of the Instituto de Educação Universidade de Lisboa.

Read the programme here (PT). You must register for free here

O kit de robótica LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT foi desenvolvido pela LEGO essencialmente para a educação e reúne condições particularmente vantajosas na aprendizagem da programação. 

Pouco utilizado em Portugal, o kit Lego Mindstorms tem vindo a ser utilizado no Ensino Básico e Secundário noutros países, nomeadamente, nos Estados Unidos da América, na Dinamarca e no Brasil, com relatos de bons resultados. 

Segundo Carlos Almeida, a sua utilização seria um sucesso no âmbito do Ensino Básico ou nos cursos profissionais bem como a sua integração nas disciplinas de programação. 

O kit LEGO MINDSTORMS poderá também ser utilizado em projectos realizados nas escolas e na preparação e participações futuras dos alunos em concursos de robótica, como por exemplo, o concurso anual robotop.

Para participar nas diferentes competições, os alunos poderão ter entre oito e dezanove anos.

http://www.ingeniu.com

The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics kit was developed by LEGO primarily for education and have the all the advantageous in learning programming.

In Portugal, schools don't use it very much, but there are some countries such as the United States of America, Danemark and Brazil that use it in primary and elementary schools with good feedback.  

The kit LEGO MINDSTORMS can help students in robotics projects in order to participate in robotic contests, for example, the Robotop contest.

Exit Camp for Girls the young Portuguese girls showed their talent against the British team that were participating in an equivalent program that runned on IBM in the UK. The victory of the Portuguese robots against the British team was a very interesting point.

The aim was to promote Technology among young girls to increase gender equality in their future career.

Last December, the 30th - 2010, The Guardian published "Dawn of the age of the robotic" by Marina Gorbis, futurologist and head of Californian thinktank The Institute for the Future.

"Advancement in robotics will dominate next decade"

Marina Gorbis, head of the Institute for the Future

G-Souto

07.01.2011

Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 

Google Body Browser

http://3.bp.blogspot.com

Google’s latest 3d venture, an interesting WebGL application called Body Browser, allows your students to explore the human body just like they can explore the world in Google Earth.


In Science classroom, the students can to tour the inner-workings of the human body.  They can zoom in to see the muscular and skeletal systems, fly around the organs, and go inside the brain. Students can peel back anatomical layers, zoom in, click to identify anatomy, or search for muscles, organs, bones and more


Take a look at the video below to see how it works.

An excellent resource for the kids to get a deeper understanding about how our bodies work, don't you think?


Note: As body browser is still in beta, you need to have the latest version of Google Chrome, or Firefox 4.0b1




G-Souto
06.01.2011
Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 

Sensewall at Coimbra University campus

Sensewall University of Coimbra/ Portugal

http://www.sensebloom.com/img/sensewall.jpg

This is the latest multi-touch installation by SenseBloom. It’s located in the campus bar, free access, at the Computer Science Department of Coimbra University, Portugal.


SenseWall is unique in Portugal. It is a Laser Light Plane (LLP) multi-touch wall with a display area of 2.8m x 1.05m. 


Created with the intent of letting students and the research community explore new concepts in HCI by designing and creating applications for course projects or just for fun.

SenseWall from Tiago Serra on Vimeo.

"We called it SenseWall because we wanted to create a platform that would have more senses than solely touch. So we added 2 cameras above the display for computer vision applications, a microphone for sound input, speakers for sound output and an RFID reader."

Tiago Serra (student)

Miguel Antunes, Tiago Serra e Tony Gonçalves (students)

Mário Zenha (coordinator)

http://imagens.publico.pt

The project has been developed for three years by three students coordinated by Prof. Mario Zenha. 
Some results: TOUCHBLOOM – a “multi touch” transportable, created for Microsoft Portugal that used it on Windows 7 demonstration, and PUDDLE OF LIFE, an interactive game that it is at the Science Museum of Universidade de Coimbra.

Puddle of Life - Darwin Exhibit from Tiago Serra on Vimeo.

"Puddle of Life" is an educational multi-touch installation that was designed for Coimbra's Science Museum (Darwin exhibit), demonstrating the theory of natural selection, as part of Darwin's 200th anniversary.

The installation is composed of a round multi-touch table whose surface represents a virtual environment where 4 species of creatures live in. Each of these little creatures have different physical characteristics visually expressed by it's quantity and/or size: Vision, Locomotion and Fur. Read more

"We believe highly motivated people can produce better work and be happier at the same time. By making workflows simpler and technology easier to use we hope to increase productivity and enable everyone to achieve their goals in a more pleasant and fruitful way. This is the foundation that supports every new product idea we have."

“Ver a nossa sombra ganhar vida, de repente, num processo de interacção em tempo real impressionante, voar pelo globo terrestre, mergulhando no Google Earth, manipular conteúdos multimedia ou mesmo criar música e murais são alguns dos exemplos disponíveis nesta enorme parede tecnológica”


(students)

20.12.10

Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

References:

Senseblom : Tiago Serra

http://www.sensebloom.com/

Google project hosted

http://code.google.com/p/sensewall/

Poudle of Life - Darwin exhibit
http://vimeo.com/5206660

A Contemporary History live lesson!

Miner Claudo Yanez (9th miner rescued)

(AP Photo)

http://l.yimg.com

"It's a miracle, a wonderful event," 

Bernard Carr, mathematics and astronomy professor

With anxious anticipation increasingly yielding to exuberant celebration, the haggard men trapped under a half-mile of rock for more than two months have been emerging to the arms of their families and an electrified nation.

NYT

The 15 miners already rescued emerge like clockwork, jubilantly embracing wives, children and rescuers and looking remarkably composed today, the 13 October, after languishing for 69 days in the depths of a mine where easily they could have died.

AP Photo/Hugo Infante (Chilean government)

http://d.yimg.com-

Not only Chile or Bolivia or even so Latin America! All over the world people  follows and rejoices with the bravety of those men and the courage of a people who believed always in the rescue of those 33 miners and didn't give up on anyone and worked to protect and save every life.

Journalists waiting/ REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado (Chile)

http://d.yimg.com

Communications technology — including live video from within the mine — turned the entire world into a global village hoping for the safe release of men they did not know and would probably never meet. It was as if each of us could see ourselves in their place, wondering how we would cope with the sustained terror and then the sudden emergence into the light.

news.yahoo.com

What a wonderful Contemporary History live-stream lesson teachers and students can learn,  following on their media devices this increadible lesson of courage, faith, science and high technology! 

Don't miss this opportunity to enhance the learning in classroom! Today the world made History! 

Invite your students to contact on Twitter a Chilean classroom (secondary school) and share with them this wonderful lesson! They can write amazing essays.

And why not read and explore in a literature classroom this poem by Ernest Henley, same as well the images of the rescue. Ask students to discuss this poem sharing ideas, and as creative activity, to write some poems (individual or group)  about human courage! 

OUT of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

(...)

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley, Invictus (1875)

G-Souto

13.10.10

Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

References:

New Yort Times/ World

http://www.nytimes.com

Yahoo.News

http://news.yahoo.com

William Ernest Henley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invictus