Activity 2.1.2 What Do We Use Robots For?

In this activity you will break your class into several different groups. Assign each group a robotic-related topic to research. A group can be assigned or choose one of the following topics to research: industrial robots, medical robots, assistive robots, exploratory robots, automated guided vehicles, robots in agriculture, telerobots, robot cars, rescue robots, robots in the future, robot toys, and household robots. Each group will research just one robot in that category and prepare a presentation that answers the questions on the activity sheet. At the conclusion of each presentation, students should summarize the information they learned from the other groups in their GTT notebooks. The following websites may help students with their research:

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/robotics/universal/index.html

http://www.onveon.com/education-program-videos/office-automation-technology.htm

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22045/?nlid=1740&a=f

Suggestion: Discuss with a media specialist or English teacher their requirements for citing sources when conducting research. This could be a cross-curriculuar activity for which students will be assessed in multiple classes.

(Optional) Instead of presenting in front of the whole class, two groups present to each other. This will decrease the amount of time needed for presentations and decrease the anxiety for the student who isn’t comfortable presenting in front of the whole class.