Think like a Robot Inventor

Robot Mania returns to the Science Mill this March! To celebrate, we’ve rounded up great “robots for beginners” resources and paired them with a look at how an Austin company is creating a new kind of helper robot.

Photo: Diligent Robotics

Meet Moxi, a “cobot”—or collaborative robot—ready to help on hospitals’ front lines. Moxi’s co-creators, Dr. Andrea Thomaz and Dr. Vivian Chu, are experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Before starting their company, Diligent Robotics, they asked what fields might benefit most from AI-equipped robots. "We put our passion for pairing technology with human need to the test," Dr. Thomaz explained. "We realized that health care workers were the people we wanted to work alongside and help the most." They quickly found a need among hospital nurses.

In addition to seeing patients, hospital nurses run samples to labs, drop off prescriptions, get supplies and cover countless other simple but time-consuming tasks. In fact, these tasks can take up 30% of a nurse’s shift! What if a robot could give nurses back some of that time to focus on patients?

Thomaz, Chu and their team shadowed nurses on the job to better understand their needs. They created story boards to visualize the flow of work. They brainstormed and “bodystormed,” physically role playing to imagine different situations their design would need to address.

They identified four key traits for the robot: Teammate, Dexterous, Autonomous and Proactive. Unlike an automated warehouse or assembly line, a hospital is a public, changing environment full of social interactions. Their robot needs to fit in. It also needs to handle supplies and tools designed for human hands. And to really save staff time, it needs to complete jobs without prompting—but also know when to ask for help.

Co-creators Chu and Thomaz test a prototype of Moxi’s robotic arm. Photo: Diligent Robotics

Moxi started with a prototype arm and gripper hand. A rolling base added mobility. Sensors and cameras, linked to AI technology, allow Moxi to sense its environment in real time, recognize objects and take action. Moxi can hear the rumble of a supply cart, see it coming and know to move out of the way. Like a human, senses help Moxi learn: when a nurse introduces a new object, Moxi files away data on color, weight and size to help make a positive ID next time.

Moxi’s outer appearance is designed to be friendly and expressive. It’s practically a rolling emoji, with digital eyes that can become hearts. The eyes “look” in the direction Moxi is heading, to help people anticipate its path.

Programmed with floor plans and daily schedules, Moxie began making trial rounds at four Texas hospitals in 2018-19. Hundreds of working hours and thousands of tasks have helped the team find new ways to improve their design. Some they couldn’t have imagined, like the request from Dell Children’s Hospital to make Moxi fart! (The nurses were right: kids love it.)

Moxi is just one kind of medical robot. Other robots assist doctors in delicate surgeries. Robotic exoskeletons may soon help patients learn to walk. In the future, tiny nanobots could even deliver targeted treatments inside out bodies. COVID-19 has created new needs for robots. Around the world, teams are developing supply delivery robots, disinfecting robots, health screening robots and robotic arms that let staff safely operate equipment from outside patients’ rooms. Telehealth robots to help doctors “visit” homes are in the works.

Moxi now runs 22/7 for months at a time, often delivering PPE and COVID test kits. While a pandemic probably isn’t a scenario Thomaz and Chu imagined, their vision of collaborative robots helping humans is becoming a reality.

MORE TO EXPLORE

Robotics at the Science Mill:

• Robot Mania – March 8-19, 2021
  Battle with bots, code a human robot & try your (bionic) hand at Robo Operation

• Colossal Robotic Hand
  See how we built a 30-foot robot hand, plus activities & videos on the Explorer Zone

• Critter Bots
  Bring robotic animals to life by coding action commands like scratch, bellow & rattle!

At-home robotic activities & resources (including no-tech options):

• Build a Robotic Hand downloadable paper template

• Code a maze & Program a sandwich-making robot - pen & paper programming

• CodeSpark & Code.org - online programming

• Robots and People lesson plan & Is That Robot Real? pdf book

• Jobs in robotics & Robotics Career Corner

• Video: FIRST There Were Humans, Then There Were Machines

Robotics kits from our Science Store:

• Robotic Hand (ages 8+)

• Motorized Robot Hand (ages 8+)

• Motorized Robot Head (ages 8+) 

Other robotics kits we recommend for kids:
● LEGO Boost & Mindstorms ● Botley the Coding Robot ● Home Science Tools Bristlebots ● MakeBlock mBot Robot ● ROBOTIS KidsLab products

For more advanced projects, check out Arduino microcontrollers—they provide “brains” for robots (including our Colossal Robotic Hand) & have lots of cool tutorials.

Robotics clubs & competitions:

• FIRST in Texas (or find other FIRST branches worldwide)

• NASA Robotics Alliance Project

Several popular youth organizations also offer robotics programs:

• Texas 4-H Robotics

• Boy Scouts Robotics Badges

• Girl Scouts Robotics Badges

  (Try this biomimicry-inspired robotics activity from the Girl Scouts, too!)

Perseverance: Join a mission to Mars!

Imagine traveling for 290 MILLION miles. That’s how far NASA’s Perseverance rover has had to travel since its launch on July 30, 2020. Now, seven months later, it’s finally close to its destination: Mars. 

Atlas V rocket launches with Perseverance rover on board. NASA/Joel Kowsky

On February 18, 2021, you’ll be able to watch Perseverance make its historic landing on Mars. The rover’s final dissent will take only seven nail-biting minutes. But that moment took seven and a half years of planning and decades of research.

“Perseverance will be NASA’s ninth lander on Mars,” explained former NASA astronaut (and Science Mill board member) Col. Tom Henricks. “It will land in an ancient lakebed and search for fossilized microbial life. Perseverance may find proof that life existed on Mars!”

Perseverance has a ground-breaking job to do—literally: drilling into the Martian rock to collect samples that can be studied back on Earth. Scientists will examine the samples for traces of ancient microorganism (aka early life). It will be our first round-trip research mission from Mars! But we’ll have to be patient. Perseverance will leave the samples behind for future missions to pick up, hopefully in the next decade.

That’s why where Perseverance lands is so crucial. Its target is the Jezero Crater. There, scientists have spotted signs of an ancient river delta, a bit like where the Mississippi River reaches the Gulf of Mexico. The crater likely held a lake that connected to the river network. Areas like this on Earth are especially good at preserving microbes and organic materials, as layers of mud and silt become sedimentary rock over time. Scientists hope the same is true on Mars. Out of the 60+ sites considered for landing, Jezero’s unique terrain looks like the best bet for finding traces of what ancient Mars was like.

Perseverance is programmed with detailed photos of Jezero’s landscape and the landing target. As it descends, Perseverance’s cameras will take pictures of the ground below and match them against the target photos, to make sure it’s headed for the right spot.

This illustration shows what will happen in the final minutes of Perseverance’s descent to Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech

These cameras are among the many science instruments packed into the car-sized rover. Perseverance is equipped with:

• 23 cameras, including seven for entry, descent and landing…

• …and the Mastcam-Z, its “eyes”, which can take video, wide-angle and 3D photos

• microphones, letting us experience hearing on Mars for the first time

• a small helicopter, to test whether we can operate a drone on another planet

• sensors to measure wind speed, air pressure, temperature and other weather changes

• a rocket launch test device that will turn carbon dioxide into oxygen

• the SuperCam, which uses laser zaps to study the chemistry of rocks

• a powerful but tiny X-ray instrument that can detect different elements and map rocks

• a ground-penetrating radar to study layers of Martian rock

• three robots that work together to drill, transfer and seal those important rock samples

Some of the scientific instruments on board the Perseverance rover. / NASA

If all goes well, Perseverance’s mission will last for one Mars year (about 687 Earth days). All the data it collects will help us better prepare for future missions, including the ultimate goal of putting humans on Mars in the next decade, as Col. Henricks described:

“I’m so excited about NASA’s Perseverance mission because it is another important step toward the human exploration of Mars. One of the experiments will determine if the carbon dioxide on Mars can be turned into oxygen for astronauts to breathe and for fuel. Such a discovery is critical to understanding how people can visit Mars. Perseverance is part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. Mars 2020 and the Artemis mission to land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 are historic challenges. Dream big, you may visit the Moon or Mars!”

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MORE TO EXPLORE

On the Explorer Zone, hear about Col. Tom Henrick's four space shuttle missions and find even more games, activities and videos about space exploration.

Upcoming programs at the Science Mill:
Homeschool Days: Careers in Space Science, March 5 & March 24
All students are invited to join for a day of hands-on science all about space!

Exclusive talks from the Science Mill’s Future of Science series:
Former astronaut Col. Tom Henricks on tourism in space

Hunt for galactic fossils with Dr. Keith Hawkins

Additional resources & virtual programs:
Perseverance program with Mars scientists Dr. Candice Bedford, Feb. 13, 3pm CT
For children ages 7-13; advance registration required at link above

Watch the NASA TV broadcast of Perseverance’s landing on Feb. 18

Send your name to Mars & other ways to get involved

Try driving Perseverance in an online game

NASA’s Mars Exploration program

Meet the kid who named Perseverance
Mary, our Assistant Director of Education, helped judge the naming contest!

High School Girls Only STEM Night & Astronaut Convocation, March 4, 4-7pm CT
Grades 9-12; advance registration required: tinyurl.com/1tngt1yg

12 Days of STEM Gifts

Looking for unique holiday gifts? We’ve got over a dozen ideas to engage and delight the future scientists in your life! The 12 Days of STEM Gifts come recommended by our staff and are inspired by favorite Science Mill exhibits. Everything is available from the museum’s Science Store on site (open during museum hours) or online, with shipping to anywhere in the U.S. Plus, these gifts give back: your purchases help to fund our science programs for Texas youth.

DAY 1

Chemistry C500 Kit

Colleen, a Science Mill STEM Education Specialist, loves making chemical reactions and explosions at the museum’s Chemical Reaction exhibit. She recommends the Chemistry C500 kit, with 28 classic experiments. This hands-on kit reveals that chemistry isn’t just for laboratories; it helps explain the chemistry behind everyday events all around us.

DAY 2

DIY Bubble Blower

Sherry, our Visitor Services Manager, is proof that our new Bubble Station is truly fun for all ages. “I’m always available to ‘test’ the bubble mix,” she says. “Who doesn’t love bubbles?” For the bubble fans in your life, Sherry recommends the Bubble Blower: it lets you build your own bubble-blowing machine using an electric motor, fan, gearbox and soap bubble wheel.

DAY 3

Ginormous Grow Lizard

Animal-lover Ryan, our Animal Care Technician, is especially fond of the colorful panther chameleon in the Masters of Disguise exhibit. Now you can grow your own lizard, with the Ginormous Grow Lizard! Place them in water and they grow from 12½” to up to 36” in length.

DAY 4

365 Science Activities Book

The 365 Science Activities Book gives you a year's worth of science fun! There's a new scientific discovery to be made each day in this inspiring book full of easy and exciting experiments—for example, split light into different colors using glass and white paper. (Our Family Memberships are another great way to share a year of science fun!)

DAY 5

Mini Fairy Garden + Thirsty Plant Kit

Emilee, our STEM Outreach Specialist, loves walking through the Mill’s Aquaponics Greenhouse. If you have a budding gardener in your life, check out the Mini Fairy Garden for younger kids or the Thirsty Plant Kit, which allows kids 8+ to build their own solar-powered moisture sensor.

DAY 6

Makey Makey GO

The Banana Piano is a visitor favorite at the Science Mill. You can recreate it at home—or anywhere else—with Makey Makey GO! With the snap of an alligator clip, the tinkerer in your life can transform everyday objects into Internet touchpads and invent anytime and anywhere!

DAY 7

Kids First Stepping Into Science Kit

Rachel, our STEM Education Specialist, loves seeing the look of wonder on kids’ faces when they’re really engaged in an exhibit. Foster that same sense of curiosity at home with Rachel’s gift pick: the Kids First Stepping into Science Kit! With 25 fun, hands-on experiments and a 48-page guidebook, this kit introduces the scientific method through five topics: nature, physics, chemistry, air and water.

DAY 8

Galileoscope + Astronaut snacks

Know an aspiring astronaut? After checking out our display of NASA Student Launch Initiative Rockets for inspiration, pick up the Galileoscope—a build-your-own telescope kit! View the night sky just as Galileo did 400 years with this high-quality kit, developed by leading astronomers, optical engineers and science educators. For a great stocking stuffer, grab some freeze-dried astronaut fruit, too.

DAY 9

Make a FLINGER BOT Kit

Mary, the Science Mill’s Assistant Director of Education, believes the best way to learn is to play! That’s why her top gift pick is the Make a FLINGER BOT kit. This kit has everything from hydraulics to propellers, similar to our Incredible Ball Machine exhibit. Now you can make your own Rube Goldberg-like contraption to fling objects with abandon!

DAY 10

Plush poison dart frog

Since their debut in Masters of Disguise this summer, the poison dart frogs have become a new staff and visitor favorite. Take home these cute-but-deadly creatures in plush frog form—and check out the huggable axolotl and turtle plushies, too!

DAY 11

Motorized Robot Hand

Bradley, the Science Mill’s Exhibit Design Technician loves the hands-on, robotic elements of the Mill’s Robotic Marionette. For kids who dream of creating their own robot, the Science Store offers a variety of DIY robotic toys and kits, including the Motorized Robot Hand.

DAY 12

Dinosaur hand puppet + Dino-themed pencil bag and putty

Our Fossil Dig is always a big hit with young visitors. Did you know we have a plethora of prehistoric presents for potential paleontologists in the Science Store? From a dinosaur pencil bag to a dino hand puppet to dinosaur putty, these stocking stuffers will have them roaring with delight!

For more ideas, see our Science Outside Gift Guide.