This purpose of this page is to provide you with a very detailed background in the field of Robotics. You can also use this page to keep in touch with some of the newest advances constantly being made.

BACKGROUND

You will need a solid foundation to really get into robotics. These links may help you to build a strong base of knowledge:

• How Robots Work - howstuffworks.com
• Robotics - from CBC News
• Robots - about.com
• Elements of a Robot - IBM
• The Scientific Relevance of Robotics - by Allen Newell 4 page pdf
• Readings - from multiple sources about robots
• Video clips - from multiple sources about robots

CURRICULUM

These links provide a curriculum - a path to follow and branch out from. You can move from having a base suitable for most modern high school courses to 'sitting in' on graduate level university courses from MIT.

• High School Curriculum - Carnegie Mellon University
• VEX Robotics Curriculum - VEX Robotics
• VEX 2.0 Curriculum - Carnegie Mellon
• Building a directly controlled robot camera - Canadian Space Agency
• Engineering courses - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Robotic CourseWare.org
• Robotics - Indian Institutes of Technology
• Robotics Primer Workbook - Maja Mataric, University of Southern California
  

WHO IS DOING WHAT IN BC/CANADA?

Many students will start their post-secondary training in BC or at another Canadian institution. These links, which need help from you, to stay current, will provide you with a sense of what others are doing and whether their school interests you. Links include:

• Mechatronics and Robotics - British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)
• CanAssist - University of Victoria (UVic)
• Laboratory for Computational Intelligence (LCI) - University of British Columbia (UBC)

• Centre for Intelligent Machines - McGill University

WHERE ELSE ARE ADVANCES BEING MADE?

Robotics are taking off around the world. With the Internet you can drop in anywhere to see what different universities and organizations are doing. An entry into this field does not need to cost a fortune. You can get started in a garage or workshop at home. The key is having current information.

• Universities with Robotics programs
• ASL - Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems in Switzerland
• Can Assist at University of Victoria, Canada
• Center for Distributed Robotics at University of Minnesota, USA
• Personal Robots Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, USA
• University of Hertfordshire in Great Britain

MISC. LINKS

This is a mix of links, and as always we'd welcome more, designed to interest you. Let us know your thoughts.

• Solving control and communication problems using robolab - PowerPoint
• Robotics workshop with advanced LEGO themes
• Robotics and Ethics
• Thunderbird Robotics Team: videos - from UBC
• Robonova - check out the 'dance video' at the bottom of the page - great programming but a bit frightening
• Videos - mainly industrial - from RobotWorx
• Robot examples - more than one hundred examples

FUN

Some links are just fun or interesting. Check these out. The audio links take you back to what people 50, or more, years ago might have been thinking when 'robots' were mentioned. As always, when you run across a neat link, let us know and we'll check it out.

• Fun video
• MythBusters tests VEX kits: video and report - from Robot Magazine
• Audio stories: 1. Mercury Theatre (scroll down to War of the Worlds), 2. Space Patrol - Internet Archive, 3. Journey into Space

Stewart Savard (eLibrarian) and Randy Grey (Career Coordinator)