I have a group of students who are involved in the "Red Rover Project." The applications of Lego® building elements should be obvious...especially in creating the telerobot. I love how, in using Lego® elements I am inspiring students to explore our planetary neighbors! The following is an article written by Katy Robinson in the October 14 1996 Idaho Statesman ( used by permission )
that explains our approach to the subject! Read on!
The names have been changed...sorry guys!
MISSION TO MARS
Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to drive a telerobotic rover across the dusty red rock fields of Mars in search of extraterrestrial life. You are part of a mission that will, if successful, be the biggest achievement in science since the decoding of DNA. You are joining in the most exciting adventure ever faced by humankind.
Right now, while you are reading this, the world's space agencies are preparing for missions to Mars. Driving this worldwide effort is the possibility of confirming that life has existed on another planet.
Meet Your Crew:
Team leader Shawn XXXX. His job is to coordinate engineers, scientists, geologists and other crew members to make sure the project takes off---on time and within budget.
Lead engineer Matt XXXX: He designed and built the rover, a remotely controlled robotic vehicle that will explore Mars and relay video images back to Earth.
Geologists Lara XXXX and Kate XXXX. The two study all the data about Mars so the rover will know what kind of terrain it will encounter. They have confirmed, for example, the existence of rocks, crevasses, canyons, mountains, volcanoes and lava flows on Mars.
Programmers Bill XXXX and Ryan XXXX. They are responsible for linking the rover to Earth-station computers so scientists can maneuver the robot and receive data being collected.
The team closely resembles a NASA mission crew that is preparing, as we speak, to launch the next generation of rovers to explore our neighboring red planet. The only difference is that these are elementary and high school students. And instead of metal, this rover is made of LEGOs. But the rover, equipped with four wheels, a motor and a video camera, functions the same as NASA's Red Rover, which will be used in the upcoming Mars Pathfinder Mission.
Students at Boise's PCS Centers for Enriched Learning are among 40 groups worldwide participating in the Red Rover Project.
Each site creates its own Martian environment, and students use the Internet to dial into other sites and maneuver a rover through one another's planet. They will collect data and search for signs of life, such as fossils and other clues.
Forget that the project involves highly complex lessons on robotics, programming and geology. The kids are hooked.
After a day of school, the kids, ranging in age from 9 to 18, gather in a laboratory containing more than $500,000 worth of LEGOs. Stacks of red, blue and yellow LEGO vehicles, robots, motors and other creations line the walls. In the back room, the dusty orange and red volcanoes and craters of Mars start to take shape. Boise High senior Shawn has been working into the night, forming mountains out of plaster of paris. Students are using wire mesh, newspaper, plastic foam and boards to simulate the surface of Mars. They get their ideas from studying text books, pictures and Mars Internet sites.
"This is a really fun project," Shawn said. "It piques my curiosity about NASA. I wonder how much they really do know about life out there."
Although it involves technologies similar to those of an interactive video game, the project goes far beyond a game, said Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society, which is sponsering the project along with the Center for Intelligent Systems at Utah State University.
"The kids are simulating slow-speed scientific experiments like NASA would conduct," Friedman said, "They are getting an appreciation for the methodology of science and exploration, which is often frustrating and difficult as well as being exciting."
In the course of the project, students learn to tackle problems related to robotics, communications, computer control and teamwork.
"This lets us see a personable aspect of NASA," said Ryan, a 15-year-old Boise High student who has already decided that he will be a biomedical engineer someday.
"I've always been fascinated with planets, ever since I was little," he said.
The role of each student is very real.
For instance, Matt has discovered his rover tips over when it runs into steep terrain. He must reconfigure the rover so it can climb over rocks and go into caves that may exist on Mars.
Matt and Bill start brainstorming. Bigger wheels? Longer body, or maybe wheels on the front and back?
"It already has a four-wheel independent suspension and ground clearance," said Matt, a freshman at East Junior High. Next, Matt will mount a small camera on the rover; it will send images of the group's Mars simulation over the Internet to any location in the world.
The project tests a computer communications program developed at Utah State University. The software allows students to pilot a remote site's rover through computer commands that mimic the control program used by planetary scientists. The program also uses a modem and regular telephone lines to send images---seen by the small camera mounted on the rover---to any where on Earth.
Once the Mars sites are up and running on the Internet, explorers will use a computer mouse to move the rover. The tricky part is getting a feel for teleoperation. A command to move forward for six seconds instead of five might send the rover plunging over a cliff.
Friedman expects the simulation to be an ongoing project. Teachers across the nation already are expanding the project, Cindy Jalife of the Planetary Society said.
"We have one teacher in L.A. whose class has created a newsletter about Mars and created a Martian menu with different foods," Jalife said.
Geologist Lara is considering adding a PCS drawing on cave walls as evidence of an ancient ( and advanced ) civilization.
Does she think there was or is life on Mars?
"Yes," the 9-year-old nods. "We know there used to be water on Mars, so I think there is a good chance."
Bill- adds: "Quite honestly, anything is possible."
Over and out Houston.
The Red Rover Site is down! It was a lot of fun while it lasted but we pretty much conquered this challenge! On to the next big project!
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