Projects
The ROVer Ranch
presents
Projects
- Research how robot arms and robotic spacecraft have assisted
the United States space program through specific missions in space. Then
relate your findings with one or more of the following activities:
- - Create a picture storybook that illustrates the use of robots and
robotics in space and share it with younger students.
- - Create a data base of each of the space missions, including name,
mission number, date, duration, crew members (if applicable), and robotic
achievements.
- - Write a short report on the topic.
- - Prepare a bulletin board to share the information with others in your
school
- In 1920, Czechoslovakian writer Karel Capek invented the word "robot"
in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). Robota, a Czech word,
translates as forced labor, serf, slave, or drudgery. Find a copy of the
play, and dramatize an excerpt from the script. Capek's
robots eventually rebelled against their human masters to take over the
world. Discuss why this is or is not likely to happen in reality.
- Create a mural that illustrates past and future
accomplishments of robots in space.
- Create a diorama recreating the activity of
the robot arm on specific Space Shuttle mission.
- Imagine that robot arms are readily available to
consumers. Discuss or write about practical applications,
describing a specific task that could be accomplished more efficiently.
- Investigate all the ways robots and robotics will be
essential to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Space
Station. Create a poster that illustrates these findings.
Courtesy of the Space Educators Handbook
