In a comment yesterday Dan mentioned the Coeur d’Alene high school robotics program.   

I suspect high school athletics programs in Coeur d’Alene get more attention every day than school robotics programs receive in a year.    Maybe we should reconsider that ratio.

The image above is one of NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.  Consider what it took to design and build those rovers that were intended to operate for three months on the Martian surface.  They landed safely and are now in their fifth year of operation.  Thus, they have not only exceeded all scientific expectations, but they have also exceeded by twentyfold the design requirements.   Did you know high school students were directly involved in the mission’s success? Listen to Lucy.

Closer to earth, the US Department of Defense has been using unmanned aerial vehicles for over a decade now.    The image to the left is a Predator UAV abeam of a US aircraft carrier.   UAVs such as those used in the war against terrorism,  provide greater, longer-endurance intelligence and combat capabilities directly to the war-fighter at far less cost and risk to military personnel than manned aircraft.    Soon, UAVs will be used by local law enforcement agencies.  

Unmanned underwater vehicles  like Electric Snoopy (left) can greatly extend the range and capabilities of submarines and surface ships at less cost and without risk to sailors.  UAVs and UUVs are robotic enterprises. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Practical robotics are affordable and valuable for local governments and industry as well.  The most recent EOD Equipment Buyers Guide published by the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI) lists 17 manufacturers of robots intended to be used by bomb squads and tactical law enforcement units.   The unit to the left is the Remotec Andros F6A robot being used to remotely enter a car and examine a package suspected of being a bomb. 

On a much more personal level, robotics is finding its way into medical technology.    Whether permitting surgeons to perform less invasive surgeries on patients in the same operating room or more precisely on patients thousands of miles away, the interface between humans and mechanics has become an exciting new field.   

Medical applications are not limited to computer-aided surgery.  They also include “…smart medical and diagnostic tools, 2D and 3D medical image analysis and informatics, rehabilitative and prosthetic devices, assisted living and preventive healthcare equipment, and continuous healthcare process improvement,” according to The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

It appears there is a bright future ahead for the students who are participating in Lake City Robotics.