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Community Corner

Doin' the Robot

Georgia Tech holds workshop for students at Center for the Visually Impaired in Midtown.

partnered with WizKidz Science and Technology Centers to present a two-week ARoPability workshop at the , which ended Thursday.

More than 20 middle and high school students participated in the class, which was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation with the intent to attract disabled students to fields that involve math, science, engineering and technology.

“Our goal is to give students tools to believe that they too can go into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields,” said Georgia Tech electrical and computer engineering professor Ayanna Howard.

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With two areas of design offered at the workshop, the students learn different skill sets depending on whether they are limited or completely visually impaired.

In the “Garage Area” the students were taught to build robots made from Legos with sensor attachments that produce auditory feedback. Though given instruction for the basic robot, they were encouraged to use their imagination and get creative in its design.

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Legos are specifically used to build the robots because of their tactile element of bumpy tops and sharp edges, which make it easier for the visually impaired.

After working out the kinks and making sure the bots run straight, each student had the opportunity to face their friend’s robot in a sumo style combat. The aim of the game is to knock the opponent’s robot off course for the win.

The other area of design at the workshop was for programming. With the help of the screen enlargement software, “MAGic” the students have the ability to severely magnify their computer screens in order to learn the steps to computing.

Nintendo Wii sticks have been specially programmed to use for sensory feedback. After learning to compute and program their robots the Wii stick is used to help navigate the programmed robots through a large maze.

As the students navigate their robot they wear special headphones, which emanate a constant beep. If the robot changes its path and moves to the left, right or too close to a wall, the student is notified through beeps which they can then go back to re-configure the robot’s pattern at a computer.

“We want to show the world that blindness is not something that will hinder a student from progressing in any area,” said Rayshun Dorsey, founder of WizKidz Science and Technology Centers. 

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