What is RoboCup Junior?
RoboCupJunior offers several challenges, each emphasizing cooperative, problem-solving and task-achievement aspects.
In the Soccer challenge, 2-on-2 teams of autonomous mobile robots play games in a highly dynamic environment, tracking a special infrared light-emitting ball in an enclosed field.
The Rescue challenge engages robots to identify victims quickly and accurately within re-created disaster scenarios, varying in complexity from line-following on a flat surface to negotiating paths through obstacles on uneven terrain.
The Dance challenge encourages creativity, bringing one or more robots together with music, dressed in costume and moving in harmony.
For children, the RCJ initiative provides an exciting introduction to the field of robotics, a new way to develop technical abilities through hands-on experience with electronics, hardware and software, and a highly motivating opportunity to learn about teamwork while sharing technology with friends. In contrast to the one-child-one-computer scenario frequently seen today, RoboCupJunior provides a unique opportunity for participants with a variety of interests and strengths to work together as a team to achieve a common goal.
Ages
RCJ is targeted at primary and secondary school students. There is no fixed minimum age, but primary students are expected to be able to read (and hence write) programs for their robots on their own, without significant help from adult mentors. Students over age 19 are not allowed on RCJ teams. The division between the primary and secondary age categories is 14 years old:
Age is counted as on 1st July for the international RCJ event each year.
Background
Thirty years ago, the birth of personal computers spawned a new era in the age of technology, and educational applications began to infiltrate classrooms. At the same time, Seymour Papert linked technology with Jean Piaget's constructivist theory of
education to produce LOGO (or "turtle geometry"), a simple programming language that allows young students to learn geometry through computer-based exploration. Papert published these ideas in his book Mindstorms and introduced the notion of constructionism which states that children learn best when they are actively involved in building something that is meaningful to themselves.
Meantime, Howard Gardner put forth his "theory of multiple intelligences", which describes each human mind as a unique combination of talents expressed across a wide range of cognitive spheres. His book Frames of Mind has been extremely influential in the field of education and has helped drive the trend in classrooms towards teamwork and projects that encourage and motivate different children with different needs.
RoboCupJunior aims at bringing together many of these ideas, promoting project-oriented, team-based education, giving children with a variety of interests and abilities an opportunity to pick their own challenges while contributing to the progress of the whole.
RoboCupJunior offers several challenges, each emphasizing cooperative, problem-solving and task-achievement aspects.
In the Soccer challenge, 2-on-2 teams of autonomous mobile robots play games in a highly dynamic environment, tracking a special infrared light-emitting ball in an enclosed field.
The Rescue challenge engages robots to identify victims quickly and accurately within re-created disaster scenarios, varying in complexity from line-following on a flat surface to negotiating paths through obstacles on uneven terrain.
The Dance challenge encourages creativity, bringing one or more robots together with music, dressed in costume and moving in harmony.
For children, the RCJ initiative provides an exciting introduction to the field of robotics, a new way to develop technical abilities through hands-on experience with electronics, hardware and software, and a highly motivating opportunity to learn about teamwork while sharing technology with friends. In contrast to the one-child-one-computer scenario frequently seen today, RoboCupJunior provides a unique opportunity for participants with a variety of interests and strengths to work together as a team to achieve a common goal.
Ages
RCJ is targeted at primary and secondary school students. There is no fixed minimum age, but primary students are expected to be able to read (and hence write) programs for their robots on their own, without significant help from adult mentors. Students over age 19 are not allowed on RCJ teams. The division between the primary and secondary age categories is 14 years old:
- Teams with all student members age 14 and under are considered primary.
- Teams with any student member over age 14 must be secondary.
Age is counted as on 1st July for the international RCJ event each year.
Background
Thirty years ago, the birth of personal computers spawned a new era in the age of technology, and educational applications began to infiltrate classrooms. At the same time, Seymour Papert linked technology with Jean Piaget's constructivist theory of
education to produce LOGO (or "turtle geometry"), a simple programming language that allows young students to learn geometry through computer-based exploration. Papert published these ideas in his book Mindstorms and introduced the notion of constructionism which states that children learn best when they are actively involved in building something that is meaningful to themselves.
Meantime, Howard Gardner put forth his "theory of multiple intelligences", which describes each human mind as a unique combination of talents expressed across a wide range of cognitive spheres. His book Frames of Mind has been extremely influential in the field of education and has helped drive the trend in classrooms towards teamwork and projects that encourage and motivate different children with different needs.
RoboCupJunior aims at bringing together many of these ideas, promoting project-oriented, team-based education, giving children with a variety of interests and abilities an opportunity to pick their own challenges while contributing to the progress of the whole.