Eric Schweikardt

roBlocks: a robotic construction kit for mathematics and science education

We describe work in progress on roBlocks, a computational construction kit that encourages users to experiment and play with a collection of sensor, logic and actuator blocks, exposing them to a variety of advanced concepts including kinematics, feedback and distributed control. Its interface presents novice users with a simple, tangible set of robotic blocks, whereas advanced users work with software tools to analyze and rewrite the programs embedded in each block. Early results suggest that roBlocks may be an effective vehicle to expose young people to complex ideas in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Digital clay: deriving digital models from freehand sketches

Abstract During the initial stages of design, it is not uncommon to find an architect scribbling furiously with a thick pencil. Later in the design process, however, one might not be surprised to encounter the same individual in front of a computer monitor, manipulating three dimensional models in a series of activities that seem completely divorced from their previous efforts. Armed with evidence that sketching is an effective design method for creative individuals, we also recognize that modeling and rendering applications are invaluable design development and presentation tools, and we naturally seek a connection between these methodologies. We therefore present Digital Clay, a working prototype of a sketch recognition program that interprets gestural and abstracted projection drawings and constructs appropriate three dimensional digital models. Argile digitale: la derivation de modeles digitaux a partir d’esquisses main-libre Durant les phases initiales de la conception, on trouve souvent l’architecte en train de barbouiller furieusement avec un crayon epais. Plus tard dans le processus de design, cependant, on ne s’etonnera pas de rencontrer le meme individu devant le moniteur d’un ordinateur, en train de manipuler des modeles trois dimensionnels lors d’une serie d’activites semblant completement separees de ses efforts precedents. Ayant des preuves que le dessin est une methode effective de conception pour des individus createurs, nous reconnaissons aussi que les outils electroniques servant a faire de la modelisation et des dessins de synthese (“rendering”) sont aussi utiles lors du developpement et la presentation du design. Naturellement, nous cherchons une connection entre ces methodologies. Nous presentons donc Argile Digital, un prototype fonctionnel d’un programme qui reconnait les esquisses et qui interprete les dessins de projection abstraits, et construit des modeles trois-dimensionnels appropries.

The robot is the program: interacting with roBlocks

The roBlocks construction kit is a tangible concurrent programming environment that encapsulates sensory, kinetic, and computational behavior in modular building block units that snap together to construct robots. The choice of a protocol for propagating values through the constructed robot affects its behavior.

Planning the reconfiguration of grounded truss structures with truss climbing robots that carry truss elements

In this paper we describe an optimal reconfiguration planning algorithm that morphs a grounded truss structure of known geometry into a new geometry. The plan consists of a sequence of paths to move truss elements to their new locations that generate the new truss geometry. The trusses are grounded and remain connected at all time. Intuitively, the algorithm grows gradually the new truss structure from the old one. The truss elements are rigid bars joined with 18-way connectors. The paper also introduces the design of a truss-climbing robot that can execute the plan.

A Brief Survey of Distributed Computational Toys

Distributed computational toys are physical artifacts that function based on the coordination of more than one computing device. Often, these toys take the form of a microcontroller network embedded in a childrens construction kit. We present a survey of distributed computational toys. Although most of the toys we surveyed were built in the last five years and exist only as research projects, they build on the rich history of constructivism, constructionism and kinesthetic learning. Projects are tagged according to their structure, status, and intended functionality: construction kits, physical programming, and cellular automata.

Learning about Complexity with Modular Robots

We present progress with roBlocks, a reconfigurable modular robotic system for education. Children snap together small, magnetic, heterogeneous modules to create larger, more complex robotic constructions. The design of the system is described and the algorithms that handle data transfer and manipulation are explained. Users tend to begin exploring the system through a series of simple robot patterns but quickly progress to more involved constructions. Many years before they learn formally about hierarchy and modularity, children can develop intuitions about these concepts by designing modular robots. Additionally, young users often spontaneously engage in creative debugging practices.

Experiments in design synthesis when behavior is determined by shape

As we rapidly approach the day of transitive materials, made of individual elements that sense and actuate and can be programmed and reprogrammed, it is time to think about how to design things using these new materials. Our roBlocks construction kit toy teaching children about emergent behavior in complex systems serves as an example for investigating the challenges of designing things made of transitive materials. The roBlocks kit comprises heterogeneous modular robotics components that exhibit modularity, one-to-one mapping between form and behavior, and non-hierarchical control; and these features make it appropriate for experimenting with emergent behavior. However, as the numbers of robotic components scales to the orders of magnitude needed to consider them as material these same features also make it difficult to apply traditional methods to design constructions with desired behaviors. To understand this design space we built, the Erstwhile Agent that uses an evolutionary approach to automatically synthesize roBlocks constructions to meet specified desiderata.

Modular robotics studio

The Modular Robotics Studio will engage participants in a structured exploration (guided play) and reflective discussion of the principles and practice of building interactive experiences with a modular reconfigurable construction kit of robot components.

A tangible construction kit for exploring graph theory

Graphs are a versatile representation of many systems in computer science, the social sciences, and mathematics, but graph theory is not taught in schools. We present our work on Graphmaster, a computationally enhanced construction kit that enables children to build graphs of their own and investigate their properties by experimenting with algorithms that operate on them. The system is distributed; microcontrollers inside each node execute an interpreted language in parallel. Graphmaster, with its magnetic connectors, illuminated edges, and capacitive sensing, encourages children to develop intuitions about connectivity long before they are introduced to the notation and formulas of graph theory.