Robots & People (NanoDays 2014)

Overview
Standards
Resources
Evaluations
Comments

Overview

Description:

In the first part of the “Robots & People” program, visitors learn what robots and nanobots are, what they can do, and how they affect our lives. In the second part of the program, visitors imagine and draw a robot, designing it to do a particular task.

Objectives

Big Idea:

Robots and people influence each other.

Learning goals:

Explain that a robot is a machine that can sense, plan, and act.
Explain that nanobots would be robots the size of cell or molecules—but they don’t yet exist.
Give examples of some of the things people have created robots to do.
Describe how robots and people influence each other; for example: values shape the kinds of robots we create and use, robots can change the relationships between people, and robots are part of larger systems that include technological, political, social, and environmental components.

NISE Net Content Map:

Nanometer-sized things are very small, and often behave differently than larger things do.

Nanotechnologies have costs, risks, and benefits that affect our lives in ways we cannot always predict.

Universal design:

Repeat and reinforce main ideas and concepts.

Provide multiple entry points and multiple ways of engagement

Provide physical and sensory access to all aspects of the program. Visitors can touch, see and hear different elements of the program.

Credits

Developed for the NISE Network with funding from the National Science Foundation under Award Numbers 0532536 and 0940143. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.