News & Press Releases: October to December 2007
News and information from October to December 2007.
"Young People's Vision Conference"
Walking with Robots, in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering and the London Engineering Project, hosted a Young Peoples' Vision Conference in London on December 4th and 5th. The conference was a unique opportunity for young people to explore visions of their future and the part robots will play. Chaired by Frank Burnet, Professor of Science Communication at UWE, 5 professional facilitators were joined by experts Kevin Warwick (Univ. Reading), Alan Winfield and Matt Studley (UWE), Tariq Sattar and Abigail Sixto (LBSU), Birgitta Zics (Univ. Plymouth), Kheng Lee Koay (Herts) and Martin Postler (RCA) in a programme designed to explore in depth the views of the young people. The resulting report will be presented to the policy department at the Royal Academy of Engineering, and will be made available through the WWR website. A full evaluation will also be available via the website shortly.
"Robotics and Artificial Intelligence"
Ashley Green of The Open University's Robotics Outreach Group recently ran two "Robotics & AI" workshops for the University of Birmingham's School of Computer Science. The first, on RoboSoccer, was attended by about 20 pupils and teachers from schools in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Birmingham. The second, on the FIRST LEGO League Challenge, was attended by about 24 pupils and teachers from schools in Derbyshire and the West Midlands. Both workshops utilized the new LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics invention system, with which Dr Green has been closely associated as a member of the Mindstorms Developer Program. In the first workshop, Dr Green also demonstrated the capabilities of HiTechnic's new NXT Compass and IR Seeker sensors and their usefulness in RoboSoccer. Both workshops were grossly oversubscribed and were very well received by the participants and will serve as models for future robotics workshops and masterclasses. They were offered to schools by the University of Birmingham's School of Computer Science as part of its regional outreach programme.
"Imagineering Fair"
Ashley Green (The OU) and Bill Bigge (Univ. Sussex) joined the scores of amazing activities laid on by nearly 50 organizations at the largest Imagineering Fair yet held in the Jaguar Exhibition Hall at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry. With robotics, rockets, automotive, marine and aerospace engineering, manufacturing - there was something for everyone.
"Robofesta 7th Annual Meeting"
The 7th Robofesta-UK Annual Open meeting took place on November 1st in Milton Keynes. More details about the event can be found here.
"Lego League South West"
Claire Rocks and David McGoran (UWE) were judges at the First Lego League South West regional heat. Up to 500 children aged 10 - 16, from over 30 secondary and primary schools in the South West of England, took part in this event, putting into action robots of all shapes and sizes to complete a series of challenges with an "Energy Resources - Meeting the Global Demand" theme. Organized by Wessex SETPOINT, the tournament was hosted by Hewlett Packard in Filton on 28-29 November
"ESRC Festival of Social Science"
A team from the Science Communication Unit, UWE have been successful in obtaining funding for workshop activities spread over two-half days during this years ESRC Festival of Social Science. Clare Wilkinson, Karen Bultitude, Claire Rocks and Emily Dawson will be organising the activities aimed at engaging 16-17 year olds in a practical 'research experience'. The activity highlights interdisciplinary research occurring within the Unit, bringing together two exciting and innovative fields, that of social research and robotics, at a time when many young people are considering their university prospects. Further details on the Researching Robots workshops can be obtained from Clare Wilkinson.
"Explore: Land, Sea and Air"
In support of the Microtransat autonomous boat trials that took place in Aberystwyth harbour on 3 September 2007, researchers from the University of Aberystwyth, the Open University and the University of the West of England put on an event at the Bandstand on the Seafront. Explore: Land, Sea and Air was a combination of real robots and a suite of activities around robots that operate in different environments developed using the theme of 'exploration'. There were also hands-on robotics activities and demonstrations including tele-operated LEGO rovers and representatives from Scisys showing off the Beagle 2 model. Now that the activity has been developed, the plan is to repeat it at different venues throughout the course of the WWR programme.
"Roberta goes EU"
Belvidere School in Shrewsbury was appointed as the Roberta Regional Centre for the UK. 'Roberta goes EU' is an EU funded project that aims to engage girls and young women with robotics. Computer Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany ran a two-day training course on October 23rd and 24th; during this course teachers and educators underwent the training necessary to implement the programme in their own institutions.
"The Robot Garden"
Claire Rocks and Emily Dawson joined pupils at Rhosnesni High School in Wrexham to build a Robot Garden. Funded through a Royal Society Partnership Grant they worked with the teacher, Mark Harmsworth, and 25 Year 8 and 9 pupils to design and build robot flowers, robot bugs and a backdrop to accompany it.
"Ashley Green publishes Robotcomp article"
Network member Ashley Green's article 'RoboComp' has been published in D&T Practice Issue 6. The article provides a summary of the growing number of robotics competions in the UK.
"EPSRC Partnerships for Public Engagement Success"
Alan Winfield and Claire Rocks have been successful in their bid to the EPSRC for a residential Public Engagement Workshop in Robotics, Animatronics and Artificial Intelligence. During this 3 day intensive course, applicants will experience the lifecycle of a public engagement event from conception, through delivery, to evaluation. Equipped with "props money" participants will work with experts to create and deliver an event that will engage the public with Robotics, Animatronics and Artificial Intelligence at an event hosted by At-Bristol on Day 3.
"Engineering the Future"
Alan Winfield, Ashley Green and Claire Rocks ran a series of hands-on robotics activities in At-Bristol on 5th October as part of the "Engineering the Future" theme day, one of At-Bristol's World Space Week celebrations. The activities formed part of a day-long programme of events for 80 local school pupils.
"Two UK schools awarded EU Comenius funding"
Two UK schools are amongst four European schools to be awarded EU Comenius funding to collaborate on a EURoboCup project to prepare Robot Dance, Rescue and Soccer teams to participate in RoboCup 2009. The project proposal was led by Mike McAteer at Childwall School in Liverpool, assisted by Stephen Norbury at Calday Grange Grammar School, network member Ashley Green of The Open University, and Julie Gittoes and Pat Hughes at BT. All the project participants will gather in Liverpool next spring, as part of that city's European Capital of Culture celebrations, to work on their preparations for the world RoboCup event to be held in Graz, Austria in summer 2009. They will meet again in Finland next autumn to continue those preparations.
"Roving Around the Planets: Sending Computers To Do Our Exploration For Us"
Network member Dr Dave Barnes from the Intelligent Robotics Group at Aberystwyth University gave the British Computer Society South Wales Branch Christmas Lecture.