|
ROBOT SPACE EXPLORERS
Home > Open University
ROBOFESTA AND
THE OPEN UNIVERSITY
RoboFesta-UK
is administered by the Open University. Members of OU staff sit on
the international RoboFesta Committee, lead its organising committee
in the UK, maintain its websites and provide administrative support.
The OU sponsors RoboFesta for several reasons:
- The OU has a strong group researching
the use of robotics in motivating study in Science, Engineering, and
Technology (SET), and mathematics (STEM) education. It has published widely
at international conferences, and participates in many international
educational events.
- The OU is a leading research centre
in space and planetary robotics, astronomy and astrobiology. It recognises
the tremendous potential of those subjects to inspire young people to
pursue education and careers in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics. It is therefore keen to promote outreach activities that
exploit and develop interest in space robotics.
- There is synergy between the OU's
mission and the aims of RoboFesta and international competitions such
as RoboCupJunior. The educational research feeds into the OU’s teaching,
providing leading edge theory, practical experience, and topical case
studies. RoboFesta’s outreach nature supports the University’s targets
in recruiting and retaining students with low previous educational qualifications
and from socially and economically deprived areas. For example, the new
course T184: Robotics
draws on the course team’s RoboFesta research, and is intended to draw
new groups into technical education by providing attractive materials and
hands-on robotics activities for home study.
- The OU is widely regarded as a centre
of excellence in robotics education and research, and is striving to
‘network the networks’ of other organisations to create a structure to
support educational robotics events across the UK as part of RoboFesta-Europe
in 2004. The OU has national infrastructure, making it well positioned to
lead the RoboFesta initiative in the UK and Europe.
|