This page assumes that you have a resonable background in robotics. The purpose of this page is to expand your base of knowledge about Robots and Robotics and link your knowledge to themes and units in the BC Science and Math Curriculum and to possible career options. Adults, with an interest in robotics, may find some useful information on these pages and links designed to formally and informally build your educational background.

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 - a basic primer on robots from howstuffworks.com
• Robotics - a general overview from CBC News with links to a number of subtopics
• The robot story - by Mary Bellis at about.com
• Robots among us - from Scientific American

• The Scientific Relevance of Robotics - by Allen Newell, Carnegie Mellon University 4 page pdf
• Elements of a Robot - from IBM
• Readings - from multiple sources about robots
• "Artificial intelligence, cognitive science and robotics" readings - from AAAI
• Videos of the top 10 robots - from New Scientist magazine
• Video clips: from multiple sources - from AAAI

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. One place to start might be to review information from the College Majors and Career Profiles link created by the College Board in the U.S. Start by checking: Computer and Information Sciences, Engineering, Engineering Technologies, and Science Technologies. You can use that information as one lense to focus your day-to-day exploration of robotics.

• High School Curriculum - Carnegie Mellon University
• VEX Robotics Curriculum - from VEX Robotics
• VEX 2.0 Curriculum - Carnegie Mellon

For more advanced work check out:

• MIT engineering courses - audit, for free, the courses from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• ArsDigita University curriculum - from ADU
• Robotics course: full and short-term - from IEEE Robotics & Automation Society
• Robotics - Indian Institutes of Technology
• Robotics Primer Workbook - Maja Mataric, University of Southern California
• Apple's iTunes University has many free engineering lectures - requires iTunes download

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:

• CanAssist - our heroes - from the University of Victoria
• Mechatronics and Robotics - British Columbia Institute of Technology
• Robotics and Control Labratory - University of British Columbia

• Centre for Intelligent Machines - McGill University
• Robotics Labratory - Laval 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 India
• Robotics in Japan
• 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 / INTERESTING  

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.

iPad friendly version of YouTube video

• What robots do 'after hours' - link above with a holiday theme - from robots.net
• MythBusters tests VEX kits: video and report - from Robot Magazine
• Robot Cars - from HowStuffWorks.com
• Household robots - from HowStuffWorks.com
• "When Robots Go Bad" - humourous take on the evil of robots - from HowStuffWorks.com

• Building a directly controlled robot camera - Canadian Space Agency

Science Fiction writers often explore the intersection between humans and technology. These stories, some written or performed years ago, have helped shape our views on where robots and technology. Enjoy!

• Tales of Future Past - by David Szondy
• Several favourite stories I'd recommend
  • The profession - by Isaac Asimov
  • The feeling of power - by Isaac Asimov

• Library books - check both your school and public library for these books
  • Robert Heinlein
  • Isaac Asimov's robot books and a list of all of his books

• Audio stories with a Robot or Science Fiction theme:
  • Mercury Theatre (scroll down to War of the Worlds)
  • X-1 - from radiolovers.com
  • Free Science Fiction audio books - from LibriVox

The resources on this page are a start, but your help and suggestions would be very welcome.

Thanks.

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