The Nick J. Rahall, II Appalachian Transportation Institute (RTI)
is pleased to announce that its LEGO 24-Hour
City is now an official Science and Engineering
NASA Site of
Remote Sensing
(SENSORS).
SENSORS
is a NASA Leading Educators to Applications, Research, and NASA-related
Educational Resources in Science Cooperative Agreement Notice. The purpose
is to enhance K-12 science, math, technology, and geography education through
Internet-based products derived from NASA mission content. With the use
of telerobotics and LEGO RCX robots, students
can explore and discover different environments.
The Appalachian Transportation Institute
is located at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. One of
the goals of the RTI is to provide quality transportation-related programs
to elementary, middle, and high school students, with the express purpose
of attracting students to careers in transportation fields. Each year,
a variety of workshops are sponsored which enable students to explore the
technologies and issues related to transportation in the United States.
The LEGO
24-Hour City at RTI is built around the LEGO
Dacta RCX intelligent programmable brick. Using LEGO
Dacta�s ROBOLAB software, students at RTI are able to program each of the
city�s vehicles and traffic control elements. Previously, using Red Rover
software, students at other sites could remotely activate the motors and
lights on the City�s LEGO models and run set
up programs. Now, using the Internet, students from anywhere can also program
the City�s elements themselves and remotely receive information and data
from the City. Linda Hamilton, mathematics instructor at Marshall University,
working with Chris Rogers of Tufts University Center for Engineering Educational
Outreach, has designed the LEGO 24-Hour City
at RTI to be operational for remote sensing. Many schools have remotely
operated the City�s monorail, gates, traffic counters, and vehicles.
Programs like the LEGO 24-Hour City
at RTI use hands-on, real-life activities that build interest in engineering,
robotics, and remote sensing among young people. This interest will stay
with the students throughout their education, and lead them to careers
in transportation and traffic fields. A SENSORS
LEGO Robotics Workshop was held at Tuft�s
University on June 6-8, 2001. Marshall University, NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, NASA Glenn, NASA Goddard and NASA Ames representatives planned
their SENSORS site and programmed LEGO
robotics at the Tufts University SENSORS workshop.