K-12 Outreach Program

Key Components to Outreach Program

• Provide assistance to K-12 in establishing robotics programs and activities
• Provide student and K-12 teacher training and workshops (see Workshop link or more info)
• Provide support for integration of robotics into K-12 science, math, and technology curriculum
• Provide robot contests (see Competitions link) that are highly accessible to a wide range of students
• Visit K-12 schools and organizations and provide robot demonstrations and instruction
• Establish mentoring programs to connect college students with K-12 students and teachers
• Assist in utilizing robotics design as a foundation for science fair projects and serious research projects.

Recent Abington Robot Contest Participants in the Philadelphia, PA USA  area:

• Northeast High School, Philadelphia, Pa.
• Carver Engineering & Science High School, Phila., PA
• Council Rock High School, Newtown, PA, contact: Mr. Fred Bauer
• LaSalle College High School, Wyndmoor, PA, contact: Bob Russell
• Hatboro Horsham High School, Hatboro, Pa.
• North Penn High School, Lansdale, Pa
• University City High School, West Philadelphia, PA (contact: Scott Koehler)
• Davis Elementary School, Southampton, PA
• Cheltenham High School, Wyncote, PA
• Eastern Center for Arts and Technology,  Montgomery County, PA
• Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, Jamison PA

The Robot Competitions (see more robot contest details)

Trinity Fire-Fighting Robot Competition.

The objective of fire-fighting robot competition is to design an autonomous mobile robot that can successfully navigate a maze, locate a candle, and extinguish the candle in the least amount of time. Preliminary contest have been held annually at Abington each April of 1995 to the present. Following each of the local preliminary contests, high school and Penn State Abington teams traveled to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut  to participate in the national fire-fighting robot competition (www.trincoll.edu/~robot). Over 100 robots from throughout the country and several from Canada and Europe compete each year. In 1996, one of the participating high schools, Olney High School, Phila., PA., won 2^nd place ($500 award) in the high school division. In April of 1997, a Penn State Abington undergraduate team was awarded first place ($1000) in the senior division at Trinity. Another of our participating high schools, Carver Engineering and Science H.S., Phila., PA was awarded first place ($1000) in the junior division at Trinity in 1998.

LaSalle High School

Robo-TrailBlazers

The objective of Robo-TrailBlazers is to design an autonomous mobile robot (or a team of collaborating robots) that can follow a line or blaze a trail through unknown territory while avoiding obstacles. The contest is accessible to a wide range of participants from junior high school to college. The contest was  held at the Penn State Abington College in December of 1998 and 1999. 

Robo-Hoops

The objective of the "Robo-Hoops" competition is to design an autonomous robot that can score points by picking up Nerf balls and shooting or dunking the balls into a basketball net in a head-to-head competition with another robot. The Robo-Hoops competition was hosted by Penn State Abington in December of 1995, 1996, 1997. Sixteen student teams participated in each the 1995 and 1996 contests. The participating high schools were Northeast High School, Olney High School, Carver Engineering and Science, LaSalle high School, and Council Rock High School. The remaining robot teams were represented by freshmen and sophomore engineering students from the Penn State Abington campus.  Robo-Hoops was again offered in 2002 and 2003.

Abington Robo-Hoops

Future Plans:

• Link High Schools to Penn State Abington College via Internet/Video to enable robotics activities, research, and communication to be conducted between Penn State Abington and high school locations.
• Integrate physics, computer science, mathematics, IT, and technology/engineering K-12 curriculum with mobile robotics design theme.
• Offer a summer workshop at Abington College in robotics for students and teachers at the secondary level.
• Increase high school participation throughout the Philadelphia region
• Attract industry sponsors.
  

Funding Needs:

• Support for Abington College robotics competitions (approx. $4000 per contest)
• Funds for additional robotics equipment.
• Funds for summer workshops (equipment, travel, faculty and staff salaries, etc.)
  

Program Coordinator:

Bob Avanzato is an associate professor of engineering at the Penn State Abington College. Bob teaches engineering, computer science, and Information Sciences and Technology courses. His research interests include expert systems, mobile robotics, digital signal processing, and computer technology in the classroom. Prior to Penn State, Mr. Avanzato was a senior engineer at the Advanced Technology Laboratories at GE in Moorestown, NJ. Email address: rla5@psu.edu

More Information About Robotics at Penn State Abington:

See web site: http://www.ecsel.psu.edu/~avanzato/robots/