Robotics

Here's what the girls had to say about their experience:

'I learnt that teamwork is a great skill to have in life and it gets things done easier.'

'..even though I was already interested in robotics, I am now even more interested in it as a career'.

'I learnt that a lot of different robots are used for different things e.g. fire robots put out fires'.

'Meeting new people and having fun'.

'The fun time working on it and seeing the finished product'.

Participating schools included:

Endeavour Sports High School, Fort Street School andSt George Girls High School.

Why Robotics?
Robotics is a growing field in the area of Information Technology with strong connections to Engineering.  Career opportunities exist in manufacturing, medicine, physiotherapy, defence/search and rescue, and leisure. As well as these existing applications, who knows what the future holds for robotics.

Target Audience
In this course girls will build and program a robot. This course is targetted to girls with interest in a variety of areas to broaden their view of vocational opportunities for robotics.

Career Opportunities in Robotics
Our research shows that robotics are turning up in many workplaces, from manufacturing to health sciences, from search and rescue to leisure.  We included a session on the vocational applications of robots.

Industry Partner

Our industry partner in this pilot delivery was Tribotix, an Australian based distributor of educational robotic kits.  Peter Turner from Tribotix supported the educational delivery of the course to the girls and provided a great deal of information on the role of robots in the workplace.

Teaching Team
Our teaching professionals for this program are:

• Annette Bonnici - Project Officer, Women's Strategy, NSI
• Peter Turner - Tribotix

Digi-Girls Team Manager

• Robyn Woolley - Institute Women's Strategy Officer, NSI

First time Offered - May 2006
This program ran for the first time soon after the dramatic robot rescue of "Tweety Bird" from a Lane Cove unit after the Lane Cove Tunnel collapse which gave a real sense of the impact robots are making in our society.

The first run of the Digi-Girls Robotics program was held at Meadowbank College.  It has since run at Norhern Beaches College, Meadowbank again and at Arncliffe State Office.

The girls constructed a robot dog from a kit.  They worked collaboratively in groups of four.  The task of construction drew upon their fine motor skills and their patience as the nuts and screws and parts are very small.

They were then asked to program the robot to move.  They were able to pose and store positions of the dog and then move these poses into a sequence.  They also learned to use software to recognise certain triggers, eg a sound or movement, and have the dog respond in a particular way.

What the girls were able to achieve in two days far exceded our expectation.

Participating Schools

Meadowbank - Asquith Girls High School, Barrenjeoy High School, Brigidine, Riverside Girls High , the McDonald College, Turramurra High School, Marsden High School and Ryde Senior Secondary College.

Northern Beaches - Queenwood School for Girls, Mater Maria Catholic College, Willoughby Girls High School, Brigidine College, Northern Beaches Senior College - Freshwater & Cromer Campus, Killarney Heights High School, Mosman High School.

Arncliffe - Moorefields Girls High School, Georges River College - Penshurst Girls Campus & Oatley Senior Campus, Danebank Anglican School for Girls, Beverly Hills Girls High School, Kogarah High School.