We recently talked about a robot fashion show put on in Austin, Texas by the robotics club of a local high school.
The high school students programmed NAO to strut down a runway wearing various outfits the kids had made for it.
Even more recently we find NAO at Florida State University inspiring college students to devote their lives to science, technology, engineering and math.
This particular NAO has been given the name Sam E. Nole.
Why such a strange name?
For those of you that don’t see the connection,repeat the word “SEMINOLES” several times very slowly.
The Seminoles, of course, are the university’s proud Native American mascot.
Sam E. Nole was originally used in the summer by local middle schools and high schools in hopes of inspiring more student interest in STEM learning.
Realizing that Sam E. Nole was a great learning resource for college students as well, they decided to use him in university classrooms also.
As Ginger Littleton, the director of the FSU (Florida State University) Panama City STEM Institute put it,
"What I wanted to do was fuse our wonderful college students with our classroom, and Sam E. Nole is a really great way to do that. Our students learn to program and make him walk and talk. Then they’ll work with other students across the region to do the same thing."
While working with these students across the region, it is the university’s hope that Sam will convince more of them to attend FSU’s STEM learning program after graduation.
As Sam E. Nole said himself at the press conference,
"I am a very capable machine...and they can make me do some pretty cool things. Just imagine what I will be able to do in the future!"
We here at RobotsLAB agree.
We also believe that robots are the future of STEM learning, learn more how to engage students:
