By Kym Clark
from: WMC_TV
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) – Houston High school started the new school year with a brand new Scientific Research & Robotics course that has captured the imagination of students.
The school calls it high tech tinkering, but it looks more like a page out of a sci-fi movie: Tiny robots move around the classroom on their own, reacting to sound and movement.
Student Brian Turner enjoys the class and says, “Robotics is a fun elective class that requires a physics elective or prerequisite.”
Students have to apply all of the basic stages and strategies of scientific research including planning, building and testing various robots.
Student Mitchell Herringshaw details the kinds of robots they’ll build, “A remote controlled robot, to robots that move based on light and sound around them. And eventually we’ll be having a robot that will follow a laser pointer around.”
Course creator and physics instructor Melissa Ducey says lessons in this class focus on circuitry, hydraulics, control systems and other areas of robotic functionality.
They’ll also study the history of robotics and some of the ethical considerations and concerns regarding the modern use of robots. Heady stuff, but fascinating for these future scientists and creators of tomorrow.