Newswise — The Spelman College robotics team, SpelBots, has qualified for a second year in a row to compete in the international RoboCup. This year's competition will be held in Bremen, Germany, June 14-20. The SpelBots look forward to continuing to break new ground as the first all-female, all-black and undergraduate team to compete in both the United States and international RoboCups. At the US Robocup in April, the team experienced its first tie match with Brown University in the four-legged league, and then went on to qualify for the world championships in Bremen, Germany.
This year's team consists of team captain Ebony Smith, a graduating senior, who recently completed requirements in the computer and information science major; Andrea Roberson, a senior majoring in dual degree engineering and computer science; Kina McCanns, a senior majoring in mathematics; and Ashley Johnson, a sophomore majoring in computer and information science. Dr. Andrew Williams, assistant professor of computer and information science, is the team adviser.
Roughly 350 teams from 40 countries will be competing in different leagues with autonomous robots " either on four feet, two legs or various wheels " at the 2006 Robocup in Germany. "Robot soccer is used as a standardized problem which enables direct comparison of the results of different research disciplines" , says Dr Ubbo Visser, from TZI, the Centre for Information Technology, in Bremen, explaining the background in a press release on the official Web site. "Once the whistle has blown the robots have to move autonomously over the field " that means without remote control " on wheels, on four or two legs, or as virtual players. They have to know as exactly as possible where they are at any time, have to follow the movements of other players and the ball, and react to these in an appropriate way."
The SpelBots are the first to use Tekkotsu for their robot programming design. Tekkotsu is an open-source framework under development at Carnegie Mellon University under the direction of Professor David Touretzky. "What we're doing here, although it looks fun and cute, is actually serious research. Students are learning complex science in a visual way," said Dr. Williams. "This is more than a robotics team. We want to help African American students to see what they can do. Robots have helped us make advances in the area of medicine, search and rescue and assisting the elderly."
Recently, the Spelman College's robotics education program got a much-needed power boost from sponsors this year, including General Electric, the National Science Foundation, Boeing and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Sponsors are working closely with the team to ensure their success not only in Bremen, but also for the long term. For example, General Electric is providing a $25,000 grant along with coaching and mentoring for the team.
"This partnership is a perfect fit for GE and its African-American Forum, an employee group focused on the development and retention of African-American employees," explained Jamesetta Strickland, Portfolio General Manager, GE Energy Contractual Services and a liaison to Spelman. "The 'Women's Corner Mentoring Cluster' of AAF is thrilled to be working with the team. The SpelBots represent all that makes GE great: innovation, diversity, thinking big, and living one's dreams."
The National Science Foundation awarded the program a $286,000 two-year grant through its Broadening Participation in Computing program to ensure that as many youth as possible are exposed to the cutting-edge robotics industry through "C.A.R.E.: Computer and Robotics Education for African American Students." The two-year project is part of Spelman's effort to address the shortage of African-Americans entering mathematics and science-related careers. An extension of the SpelBots program, one of C.A.R.E.'s goals is to expose young African-American middle-school students to the exciting educational and career opportunities available in computer science, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Competing in the US Robocup and International Robocup is not enough for the team and its adviser. That's why Williams decided to use the Spelman model to jump-start robotics education in the African-American community. This summer, the College launches a C.A.R.E. Camp for middle-school students. Dr. Charles Hardnett, assistant professor of computer science, will provide leadership for two consecutive sessions to middle-school students.
The camp's goal is to expose middle school students to the opportunities in computer science and robotics. In a pilot project conducted earlier this academic year, the results were very encouraging. In addition to the day camps, student will participate in Saturday activities where they will learn robot and computer-game programming in the context of technical leadership.
While Spelman is using the grant to spark the potential of the possibilities in the minds of middle-school students, another part of the resources from the grant will engage and retain African-American college students. The C.A.R.E. Olympiad is one of the ways Spelman hopes to accomplish that goal.
A two-day, five-event academic competition, the C.A.R.E. Olympiad is a modern pentathlon that exposes collegiate students to the breadth of computer science. Teams from Clark Atlanta University, Duke University, Morehouse College, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T State University and Voorhees College competed in the Olympiad March 31-April 1, 2007, at Spelman. They competed in the areas of cryptography, robotics, Web-site design, hardware and software integration, and programming. Professor Iretta Kearse, lecturer in the department of computer and information sciences, coordinated the program that they expect to expand into two regional and one national competition.
A third component of the grant is C.A.R.E. Tekkotsu Robotics. Spelman along with Carnegie Mellon University, a research I institution known for its computer science and robotics education, will develop and teach robotics technology and cognitive robotics curriculum on the campuses of Hampton University, Florida A&M University and University of the District of Columbia. Included in the training is a lab equipped with four Sony AIBO robots and four iMacs. Carnegie Mellon has already conducted three workshops at Spelman.
Building on the positive energy of the SpelBots, the C.A.R.E. program expects to help African-Americans blaze new trails in the area of robotics education.
Dr. Williams says, "We want students to dream about technology and how they can help improve the community through it."
Spelman College:Celebrating its 125th anniversary, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top 75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges — Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta, Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the student-faculty ratio is 12:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than 2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries. For more information regarding Spelman College, visit: http://www.spelman.edu.
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