R2T2 (Remote Rescue Thymio II) Mars

About this event

There are many robotic contests, robotic workshops or online robotics resources, but today's technology allows us to do much more. A Thymio robot can be controlled and programmed remotely from anywhere on the planet, people could collaborate in solving complex tasks, and programming is easier than ever. So why not go a step further, as we are used to at EPFL and in the NCCR Robotics, and bring together children from all over the planet and solve together an amazing task. We chose a task inspired by space robotics, with preliminary tests made by the Ecole Internationale de Genève and during a summer camp with a special MINT class of the school of Köniz, Bern. Details on this preliminary experiment can be found here.

I hope we will be able to give to the children participating in this event a unique experience of international collaboration, robot programming and understanding of technologies. Many adults who saw our preliminary experiments told us: "I would like to have this opportunity myself, seems to be great!".

Event organized by the NCCR Robotics Partner for teacher training : Partner for distant control technology: Main school dissemination sponsor of space technology:

Purpose of this event

During this event, the participants being at their schools or colleges can control Thymios remotely, viewing the results of their commands on the streaming videos. The difficulty of this activity is that the students cannot see their robots activated immediately after the command is sent, because the videos show with a delay of 30 seconds behind the actual time on the station. That's why they have to choose a strategy and perform the mission in small steps to avoid serious mistakes.

All teams have a common goal that they must achieve: no competition, only collaboration!

This event allows participants to have a communication experience with tens of other students at the same school, and also at the international level.

Age and number of participants

The activity was initially conceived for 16 teams, each consisting of 5-6 students. A school may have several teams at a time.

The activity is well suited for children between 10 and 14 years old, but this is just indicative. Children younger than 8 or older than 14 years old could very well join in and also enjoy the event.

Programming level

All you need is a good knowledge of basic or advanced VPL.

It is also possible to invite children who have not programmed Thymio before but who can communicate in French with the other teams using the online chat.

What participants will get out of this

The participants will get:

an unusual experience of programming, where thinking about the program is important!

an experience of collaboration on a technological task, to create something together

Contacts

In case of questions, you can contact us by the following e-mail : noitacude.2t2r|tcatnoc#noitacude.2t2r|tcatnoc