Teacher Bytes

We have robots that clean houses (Roomba). We have robots that play with children, although the Panda looks suspicious  (WowWee). We have robots that look for bad guys around the corner. We have robots that carry out military missions that save soldier’s lives. In the future we will even have robots that become self-aware and try to eliminate mankind (The Terminator and Battlestar Galatica). In the latest of robotic adventures a robot designed by Bluffton High robotics students won the South Carolina FIRST Tech Challenge Championship Tournament at South Carolina State University on February 8th. These students were advised by my good friend Kevin Sandusky, a science and robotics teacher at Bluffton High.

The winning robot design had a tank tread system for movement. It also had an alignment bar which could extend to move objects around the playing field. The objective was for robots to place rings on a series of goals and to move the goals around the playing field. The robot was chosen to be part of a three-team alliance  which won this competition. The Bluffton High robot also won the AMAZE award for the most unusual and innovative design.

Kevin assured me there was no prize category for the robot to be most likely to become self-aware and try to wipe out humanity. However, with tank treads and extending alignment bars should this robot become self-aware and determined  to destroy humanity, it could become potent weapons platform that can traverse almost every type of terrain. I just hope future Bluffton High robots are programed with Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics outlined in I, Robot. All kidding aside, congratulations to Kevin Sandusky and his students on their achievement. Good luck at the national competition.