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Please note: This article originally appeared in the Pitsco Education 40 years, 1971-2011 book.

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A legacy in the making The history of Pitsco robotics By Cody White For centuries, robots have had a special appeal to the imagination – particularly among young people. From the limited automaton designed by 12-year-old Leonardo da Vinci in 1464 to the “turtle” educational robots of the 1940s to the TETRIX® creations enthralling students today, the present golden age of robotics in the classroom has been a long time coming. Because Pitsco has played an important role in bringing these awesome education tools to kids, it’s worth looking back at the history of Pitsco robotics. Prior to the mid 1990s, a scattering of nonproprietary robotics-related products dotted the catalog, and the Robots Module (originally Robotics & Automation – one of the original “Tech 16” titles) was already introducing students to the robotics landscape. But the company could point to no truly dazzling, breakthrough classroom robots stamped with the Pitsco name. That changed with the release of several Pitsco-exclusive robots clustered around the middle of that decade. The Seeker Robot, a joystick-controlled mechanical arm, is capable of lifting up to five pounds. Its video system enables students to connect the Seeker to a TV set and manipulate it from another room. Rooster, named because its gripper suggests a beak, is more

economical than the Seeker and comes with several activities for introducing robotics applications. The Lunar Rover, equipped with a radio transmitter module, allows interface with the cordless robot via computer. And the premier of Brutus introduced a robotic arm just as tough as its name suggests.

FIRST Robotics has become an international hit that enables students to hone their STEM skills.

In 1997 the formation of the Pitsco LEGO® Education Division (PLED) altered the course of the company’s involvement with robotics. LEGO’s involvement with the FIRST® organization put Pitsco in close contact with primary and secondary school robotics competitions. In 1998 the LEGO MINDSTORMS® system enabled

Rooster R/C Robot

Seeker Robot – Version II

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NXT Brick

Brutus Robotic Arm

CueBot

T-Bot Mr. Robot BilliBot

kids to build autonomous robots through use of the RCX Programmable Brick. The next year, the FIRST LEGO League competition debuted; for this, teams of elementary and middle school students designed MINDSTORMS robots to solve realistically themed challenges. In 2006, the RCX would be replaced by the NXT Brick. As this story unfolded, robotics development continued apace on the Pitsco development side. 2004 was the first year in a trifecta for catalog robot development. This year brought the BilliBot and CueBot, similar robots that both teach students about servos. 2005’s Line Rover Robot uses infrared sensors to follow a line, even around corners. And 2006 brought the Big Book premier of the T-Bot, an

affordable wood-and-plastic robot arm that illustrates hydraulics concepts. Another watershed year came in 2008. The release of the TETRIX kit – the product of a coordinated Pitsco and LEGO Education effort and nearly a year’s worth of design work by engineer Paul Uttley and others – opened up endless possibilities for fledgling robot builders. Now a worldwide educational success, the kit’s aluminum structural pieces maximized both durability and flexibility of construction. Additionally, TETRIX permits interface with electronic components – in particular the NXT Brick. For these reasons the kit is ideal for robotics competitions. A newcomer, TETRIX is already making an impression on this circuit. At the SkillsUSA RoboRescue Challenge, high school students guide their TETRIX robot creations through hazardous environments in a race against time to deliver supplies and save survivors in a mock natural disaster. And the kit has proved an ideal platform for the hugely popular FIRST Tech Challenge as well. In FTC, high school students pit their robot creations against one another while trying to achieve a practical goal.

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Pitsco’s relationship with FIRST has proved fruitful for both development and exposure. At the 2011 FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Robot, a remote-controlled human-form robot built from TETRIX components, took center stage between FIRST founder and inventor Dean Kamen and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. Though Mr. Robot was a last-minute request by the FIRST organization, the result was stunning; Mr. Robot was even featured in the ABC-TV special “I Am First: Science is Rock ‘n Roll,” airing a few months later. Programmed with LabView™ software from National Instruments (NI), Mr. Robot is intended to inspire kids to imagine big. The Pitsco-National Instruments relationship deepened with the July unveiling of DaNI 2.0, a robot starter kit created in a joint effort between the two companies. TETRIX provides the building system while NI provides the circuit board and the software. The kit is used in university research and business and industry robotics modeling – yet another domain for Pitsco robotics. The surface has only been scratched when it comes to the educational potential of robots. Pitsco is all about finding ever more exciting ways to engage learners. If you think the first 40 years have been spectacular, wait until you see what the next 40 bring!

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will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, second from left, operates Mr. Robot under the watchful eyes of Pitsco’s Tony Allen, second from right, and Paul Uttley, right, the creator of the human-form bot.

FIRST LEGO League teams have attracted attention at the national level politically. At left, a team displays its creation at the White House. Above, Texas Governor Rick Perry, center, poses with an FLL team.

Above, the entire Rock N Roll Robots team shows off its championship FLL creation. At left is the DaNI robot, a collaborative effort between Pitsco and National Instruments. At right, high school students compete in the FIRST Robotics Challenge.

The RoboRescue Challenge, above, is a TETRIXbased robotics challenge for SkillsUSA teams.

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