Engineering for K-12 students on the Central California Coast

News:

5-15-09 New Tutorials featuring "How-to" Videos for Tug O'War and Sumo Robots

5-4-09 Updated Rules, featuring the rules for MESA Demonstration Events- Tug O'War and Sumo Robots.

1-2-09 RoboEvolution Grant Funds supply 10 area schools with new robotics materials, including LEGO NXT and Parallax Boebot kits.

10-21-08 New tutorials page- How to get started on some of the RoboChallenge competitions.

7-1-08 Resources Page for MESA MASME conference workshop, August 2, 2008

RoboChallenge is working on new partnerships with colleges, industry, and other organizations to expand offerings to students. New schools and partners are welcome to join. We are always looking for funding assistance. Contact Luke Laurie: mrlaurie@yahoo.com.

To promote innovative thinking and expand opportunities to students, we will be experimenting this year with multi-platform competitions. We will be changing our rules so that students may build robots from first generation LEGO Mindstorms with the RCX, the new LEGO NXT Mindstorms, VEX Robots, or other platforms.

What is RoboChallenge?

RoboChallenge is a program designed to reach students from under-served communities surrounding The University of California at Santa Barbara, with the highly motivating and richly educational field of robotics. Students in RoboChallenge build LEGO robots for a variety of challenges, such as Sumo, Tug O' War, and Linefollowing.

Why RoboChallenge?

RoboChallenge was created to encourage students in underserved communities in the Santa Barbara area to pursue careers in Math, Science, and Engineering. There are other robotics programs out there, but we felt that we needed to develop a program that was extremely cost efficient, using LEGO Mindstorms materials. The program was modeled after the concept of the LEGO robotics classes offered at UCSB for graduate and undergraduate engineering students.

Programs such as FIRST can provide amazing experiences for those involved, but are cost prohibitive and offer robotics opportunities to only a handful of students at a school site. We wanted schools to be able to build multiple robots, be able to work in groups of three or four students maximum, and enable as many students to be involved as possible. The schools we targeted were schools that lack many of the financial resources available in wealthier communities.

An effective engineering outreach program needs to do more than work with students that are already college bound. Highly ambitious and talented students do need encouragement, but an effective outreach program brings in students who might not have any STEM motivation. In designing RoboChallenge, we emphasized the fun of engineering design and programming and the inclusion of all ages and ability levels across a demographic region traditionally underserved by higher education.

To get as many students involved across a broad geographic region, we developed a model that uses the skills of ambitious teachers, provides them with sufficient low cost LEGO robotics materials, and allows them to involve as many students as they want. Some schools have had as many as 50 students in a year. On average, approximately 200 students have participated annually from 10 schools, building as many as 50 robots.

Who participates in RoboChallenge?

K-12 Students: Students from kindergarten to high school seniors have participated in RoboChallenge, sometimes competing in the same events. There has been an effort to make the RoboChallenge competitions simple enough for all students to try them out, but open ended enough to leave room for advanced students to experiment. Participants have included students and teachers from Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Ynez, and Santa Paula.

RoboChallenge Schools:

El Camino Junior High, in Santa Maria, CA offers RoboChallenge as part of the regular curriculum. Students in 8th Grade may take an 8th Grade Robotics Science course, taught by RoboChallenge Director Luke Laurie, which integrates RoboChallenge projects with 8th grade physical science curriculum. Students at El Camino may also participate in RoboChallenge as an extra-curricular extended day activity.

Mary Buren Elementary School in Guadalupe, CA offers RoboChallenge as an extra-curricular activity. Tino Aleman, RoboChallenge Elementary Director works with students from Kindergarten through 8th grade

Tommie Kunst Junior High in Santa Maria, CA, under the leadership of Andrew Foss, offers RoboChallenge as an extra-curricular activity for 7th and 8th grade students.

Liberty Elementary School in Santa Maria, CA offers RoboChallenge for elementary students.

Lompoc High School in Lompoc, CA, integrates RoboChallenge into its activities into its Space, Technology, and Robotics Program. Teachers Phil Dinter and John Galisky run this program.

Fillmore Elementary School, in Lompoc, CA. Teacher Linda Hogan works with elementary students in RoboChallenge activities.

Santa Paula High School, Santa Paula, CA. Teacher Nick Rodriguez has worked with High School Students on RoboChallenge activities.

College Students: We have been fortunate to partner with other university programs to get amazing college students to work with students and to help run RoboChallenge competitions. Students from Cal Poly, UCSB, Ventura College, and Allan Hancock College MESA programs have worked in public schools with RoboChallenge groups and helped run RoboChallenge competitions. Students have also worked with RoboChallenge materials in after school and summer programs sponsored by various UCSB initiatives. Some of our most memorable moments have come from events where college engineering students had their robots defeated by k-12 students.

How does RoboChallenge work?

Organization: RoboChallenge uses an email listserve (a yahoo group) for members to communicate, share ideas, and organize events. The website holds the rules, galleries, and other info. About once per year, we've had small workshops to plan events and share instruction ideas. Contact Luke Laurie if you'd like to get on our email list.

Schools: Some schools offer RoboChallenge as a club or extra curricular activity. Some schools use RoboChallenge competitions and projects to add to the regular Science and Math curriculum. At El Camino Jr. High, in Santa Maria, students can take a Robotics Science Class that substitutes for their regular 8th grade science class. In this class, students learn all regular 8th grade science standards, along with the applications of robotic design and programming technology.

Events: All RoboChallenge students participate in events and gain exposure to the fields of Robotics, Computer Science, and Engineering. Students are encouraged to excel in education and to attend the university. Approximately 1000 students have participated in RoboChallenge since it began in 2000.

Who Funds RoboChallenge?

UCSB Outreach: RoboChallenge began in 2000, spearheaded by UCSB Engineering Professor Brad Paden, with the help of UCSB MESA. Faculty Outreach Grants provided the original funding for the first three years of RoboChallenge. Additional funding and assistance has come from UCSB Academic Outreach, UCSB MESA, Cal Poly MESA, Allan Hancock MESA, Lockheed Martin, as well as participating schools and districts.

No Current Funding: Currently, RoboChallenge has no central source of funding. The hard work of individual teachers at their school sites have allowed the program to continue since our grants ended in 2003. We have been able to hold competitions (usually about 3 per year), but without funding the program has been unable to support growth.

If we had funding: Newer, better robotics materials are becoming available. With additional funding, RoboChallenge could purchase new materials, recruit new schools, hold competitions, and provide incentives for student and teacher involvement. If you are aware of a funding source that would consider supporting RoboChallenge, please contact Luke Laurie or Tino Aleman.

How can one get involved in RoboChallenge?

Schools: If you are a teacher or administrator who is interested in offering RoboChallenge, contact Luke Laurie. We would be happy to assist you in getting started, and assist you in selecting materials for purchase. Schools that participate can benefit from future grant funding as it becomes available for materials or staff development. Students may participate in RoboChallenge competitions.

Individuals: Parents may coach their own children and participate in RoboChallenge competitions. Additionally, if you are an engineer or someone with technical experience, you may be able to offer your services as volunteers by offering guidance to students working in clubs or classes at schools, or to assist in running an event. Contact Luke Laurie for more information.

Industry: RoboChallenge is in constant need of assistance for prizes, incentives, and funds for materials. Contact Luke Laurie to become a part of RoboChallenge.