Wichita State University "Robot Zoo"

Tonya Witherspoon of Wichita State University taught a graduate-level course on "Robotics in the Classroom". (The course was completed on May 3rd).

The students in the course were teachers in various Kansas schools. The teachers were given an NXT educational kit, an NXT curriculum from Carnegie-Mellon and a stipend, in order to come up with a robot based on an animal from Fay Rhodes' NXT Zoo Book.

Some teachers built animals directly from the book (with modifications). Others used concepts from the book to create their own animals. All of the robots were enormously creative!

What follows are pictures taken on the last day of class:



Fay Rhodes signing copies of her book


Spider that captures its prey from a tree,
then takes it to its nest.


Tauntaun from Star Wars: attacks Imperial Storm
Troopers by using its light sensor


Turtle that turns, rolls to the end of the table and
pokes its head out of its shell


Meerkat rolls through its burrow, raising
and lowering its head to look for
predators.


Turkey gobbler approaches other turkeys;
If the other turkey is a male, it backs off. If
the other turkey is a hen, it flutters its
feathers.


Elvis "Hound Dog" Presley. He dances and
twirls to a rock music soundtrack.


ET: moves furtively while talking and
raising/lowering its head


A platypus that, among other things, uses its tail as a
lethal weapon


A skunk that fires a dart from its rear
(seen here after a crash)


A camel in its native habitat, designed by a student
group.


A fox that explores a vineyard


Two student groups with their robots, their teacher
and Fay

(Posted by Rick Rhodes)