Wesley Center
From STOC
Project Coordinator: Travis Mandel
Contents |
History
Tutoring at the Wesley Center A.M.E. Zion Church, located in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, is one of STOC's longest-running projects. In the past, we have taught lessons on computer hardware, typing skills, Excel, Powerpoint, and Word, and website design to 5th and 6th grade kids. We have coordinated these programs with Rev. Lee Walls so as to integrate with the regular after-school curriculum.
In Fall of 2008 we purchased two Lego Mindstorms NXT robotics kits to launch a robotics tutoring project, in response to enthusiasm we had received from students the previous year. However, it turned out the Wesley Center students were not available to be tutored. Thus we went through a long process of coordinating with an newly-opened high school, University Prep, as to tutor the students there. However, despite a show of interest, not enough students were able to come, and we were not able to successfully perform a lesson.
Spring 2009
This semester, we have 12 5th and 6th graders from the Wesley Center who are interested and able to come to our lessons. Thus we are having our first tutoring session Saturday, February 7th at 11:30. We will meet at the lobby of Morewood and take a bus to the Wesley Center. There we will introduce students to the kits and to robotics in general.
Robots
AlphaRex (Humanoid)
What this robot can do: Alpha Rex performs tasks that only the most sophisticated robots can do... Walk on two legs like a real person! With built in rotation sensors on the two Servo Motors powering his legs, and an Ultrasonic Sensor enabling Alpha Rex to see, you can program Alpha Rex to go where you want with precision!
Assembly Instructions (PDF 9MB)
Spike (Scorpian)
Spike reacts like a real–life Scorpion. It crawls on six legs, has a set of pincer arms (pedipalps), can see and hear with ultrasonic and sound sensors, and can quickly “paralyze” its prey with a touch–sensor enabled stinger!
Assembly Instructions (PDF 6MB)
RoboArm (Machine)
RoboArm T–56 is a sophisticated robotic arm that can lift, pivot, and grab objects with its claws. It can detect colours with its Light Sensor and feel objects with its Touch Sensor . Three Motors power RoboArm T–56 – 1 motor powers the grabber claws and 2 motors enable the robotic arm to move up, down, and turn!
Assembly Instructions (PDF 8MB)
TriBot (Vehicle)
TriBot is a flexible and fast 3–wheeled driving robot! It takes advantage of all four sensors to do the job you program it to do. TriBot can grab a ball when you give it a sound command (through its Sound Sensor ), can be programmed to follow a line with its Light Sensor, can feel objects with its Touch Sensor, and can see with its Ultrasonic Sensor.
Assembly Instructions (PDF 4MB)
