March 1, 2018
SAMI Sprints Through the Social Robot Design Challenge
Blog post written by Alex Merk
About SAMI: A unique school with an innovative approach
SAMI (The Science and Math Institute) joined the Social Robot Design Challenge early on and sprinted through it at a breakneck pace. Local teacher Troy Hashagen is an alumni UW Tacoma with a Masters degree in Computer Science, and he is also well versed in the human centered design process. Troy thought the challenge would be fitting for his school, which emphasises STEM subjects such as engineering, programming, mathematics, biology, and much more.
SAMI is one of Tacoma Public Schools known for innovation. According to its website:
“SAMI offers students an innovative and rigorous education that is focused on science and math. The curriculum is integrated; courses are advanced and often mixed age. The school uses its unique setting – Point Defiance Park – to enhance the learning experience.”
Having recently moved into a beautiful new building called the Environmental Learning Center located at Point Defiance Zoo, we were excited to go out, visit, and spend time with Troy and his students. You can check out a video of the school’s unique architecture here:
Brainstorming
Our first visit to SAMI was for the brainstorming phase of the human centered design process. Because the students had already watched the video about human centered design we spent our visit brainstorming and writing their interview questions.
There were so many good ideas per group that they found it hard to choose just one. One group wanted to create a “room robot”, with various control features such as temperature, light level, noise level. Other features include being powered by exercise bikes, interactive screens featuring teen’s favorite Youtube stars, and more!
Another group wanted to make a “video game cabinet robot”, where students could play a quick burst of a video game to relieve stress. They had some healthy debate about the specifics of their robot, such as mobility, controls, visuals, and more.
Interviews and ideation
Our next visit consisted of two activities: interviews and ideation. We started the class with the students visiting other groups to conduct their interviews. We were pleasantly surprised when the students didn’t do just one round of interviews, but two! We decided to let them keep going because they were so invested.
After the interviews we had the students start sketching their ideas. We went with Troy’s idea of doing a “round robin” sketch: each student draws something, and after 5 minutes everyone passes their paper to the left for that person to add to the sketch. This ended up with some unique designs as we began to see different ideas come together!
Prototyping
Finally the big day arrived: prototyping! We were so excited for this day after seeing how invested the students at IDEA were from a previous visit.
We initially gave teens 45 minutes for prototyping, but we quickly breezed past that. The students were so excited to finally unleash their creativity, and they created some truly impressive designs! There isn’t much to say about this process because we were so busy taking pictures, so we will let them speak for themselves!
This team wanted to design an animal themed robot, inspired by the Point Defiance Zoo. Their reasoning was that teens interacting with the robot would find it relaxing, as it was both foreign and friendly.
This team wanted to make a “minion” robot. Their reasoning is that nothing is more stressful than having a test or quiz and losing your pencil. This robot would roam around the school and could be summoned to rooms to provide students with emergency materials.
This is the “video game cabinet” robot. Their goal was to go for the retro style tilted screens found in arcade machines. This robot would eventually have a movement system (which was still being figured out by the group) so that it could roam around the school.
Presentation
Our last visit to SAMI saw the students giving quick presentations about their robots. We asked them to explain some of their design specifications, such as:
- How will it move?
- How it will it help teen stress?
- How will it benefit their school?.
We asked the students to remember their rationale as they will have to make a video for the showcase if their group is selected.
The future
All that is left for SAMI to do is attend the showcase! We are so excited to hear what the judges think of their designs, and we can’t wait for the showcase!
