Robotics on a Budget Service Project

Our course work centered on robotics, but our service project will center on humanity. Please select a project from the list below. You are welcome to think of other projects, but please get approval before you do them.

Each scholar must prepare a poster describing what was done for the act of service.

Emotions

• Help someone scan and catalog all of their old family photos
• Help someone convert old home movies into a digital format
• Record a few life stories of a grandparent or an elderly person. Prepare a transcript of the recording and share their story with your friends and family

Creativity

• Perform for a public audience as an individual or as part of a group in a play, concert or other production
• With appropriate approvals, create a website for a school, church or community group.
• Teach one or more people a skill or concept

Family

• Use the internet and other resources to research about your ancestors and genealogy.
• Help index historical documents such as tomb stones, census data and ship records.

 

What is a Robot?

 

Robots are machines that take in information from their environment to make decision and complete tasks. At one point in time robots were only in the imagination of science fiction writers. Today dramatic advances in technology have brought complex machines to many areas of life.

Some Robots that Exist Today

• Roomba (iRobot)
• Spirit and Opportunity Rovers (NASA)
• ASIMO (Honda)

Robots That May Emerge in the Near Future

• Amazon Prime Air (Amazon)
• New generation of robots “almost” human (The Guardian)
• Future of robots (Popular Science)

Further Reading

• Robotics: Present state, future trends (ASME)
• The 10 Best robots from the TED Staff (TED)
• New roles for technology: Rise of the robots (The Economist)
• The best robot technology is unseen (The Economist)