interface design

Wow! I just got done reading this book for the second time in a row. I loved it! I also would like to add that I just got done with my Senior thesis of "Robots: America's Answer to Dwindling Math Scores". (I also just sent it in to be published! ;D) I admit, my first reading was for content. The second reading was solely for pleasure. Of the 20 sources I used on my 23 page case study, this book became my 'bible.' Nothing I found on this topic compares.

This book is an assortment of well chosen essays in which Druin and Hendler are the editors. My favorite essay regards the FIRST robotics competition. Everything is detailed from the educational impact, mentor how-to's, and student development to gaining corporate sponsorship, student interviews, and a winning team's success story. The book is worth buying just for this essay alone.

However, the various essays regarding Lego Mindstorms are superb as well. One essay details a step-by-step process of how to mimic her "Robocamp." Another from MIT profs explains how Mindstorms came to existence. There are also various case studies regarding the educational research with children and Lego's done in different parts of the world. One can't help but walk away from this book thinking that our "old school" curriculum must be updated with these new enticing technologies!

This is a very decent collection of individually authored chapters from various groups of educators and engineers working in the field of robotics for teaching and for play. Most of the information presented is anecdotal and case-study, giving what seems to be a good overview of the current state of the art (particularly the state of the art in schools). Some of the reference sections at the end of the chapters point to very good articles that help ground one in the theory of techno-literacy.

With inexpensive yet powerful computing power and electronics, autonomous robots find a plethora of applications: toys, entertainment, education, and interactive services. Robots for Kids comes at the right time of this new application era. This book focuses on the roles of robotics in education. The first part of the book contains four chapters on the new robotic technology for the kids. As a robotics researcher, I am delighted to read the development history of the LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System starting from its incubation period in MIT's Media Lab. The chapter on Sony's AIBO provides inside look on the hardware and software design and integration of this popular robot. For people interested in developing intelligent robots, this is a very informative chapter. The chapter on a robotic storytelling environment showed how to incorporate state-of-art technology to elementary school education. However, the chapter on the story behind the scene of a high-tech toy product development is the most intriguing experience. One can never expect the product development cycle for those high-tech interactive toys, such as the Furby, to be so complicate.

The second part of this book contains five chapters on using robotics in education, from elementary school teaching, high school robotics competitions, university outreach program, to robotics summer camps. For educators, this part of the book provides quite detailed descriptions about how the robotics activities are organized, responses from the students and the impact of using robotics in modern education.

One interesting part of this book is the inclusion of kids' responses to using robots as educational tools. The perspective of children on the educational robotics is invaluable as it provides the first-hand user experience of technologies developed by adults.

In summary, I think this book is a very good reference for robotics researchers and educators who want to explore the new possibilities and potentials of robotics. It is also well organized and very delightful to read.