The Unitree Go1 robot was purchased last year through funding from the Perkins program to promote career and technical education (CTE). The robot will be used to showcase the CTE program and in the classroom, said Interim Dean of CTE Adam Campbell. The college expects to order another one soon.
One goal is to get K-12 students interested in CTE and potential careers.
"We thought a robot dog is a great way to do it," Campbell said. "(...) It helps us have the conversation."
The robot is controlled by a handheld controller, with a layout similar to many gaming systems. Kids are familiar with it and can take quickly to moving the robot around and making it do tricks.
The robot has made appearances at the eighth grade career day for Bloomington Area Career Center, as well as Campbell's daughter's elementary school. Heartland student groups have also had a chance to meet the robot on the Heartland campus.
Ana Burras, a computer science student at Heartland, was excited to try the robot out while Campbell was showing it to The Pantagraph. Burras will likely get to work with it in later classes.
At Heartland, the CTE department includes courses in business technology, information technology and industrial technology, with programs like facilities maintenance, welding, computer science and small business management. The goal is to get students ready to enter the workforce, or upskill within their existing careers.
With the curriculum from Stokes Education, the first robot ran around $15,000, Campbell said. The second one will be about $6,000, of which $5,000 is being covered by a grant from Nicor Gas, with the remainder covered by leftover Perkins funds.
The robots give practical experience to students, said Renee Collins, associate professor of information technology.
"It moves everything that they're learning to the real world," she said.
Plans to use the robots in classrooms span classes across multiple fields, including robotics, computer science, computer networking and electronics, Campbell said. Ideally, students will be able to use the curriculum to learn about programing the robot and even take it apart to see how it works.
The many uses tie into how it can be a tool to get students interested, too. Campbell gave examples of how the robots are being used in things like the law enforcement and natural gas industries to go places that are too dangerous for people. In agriculture, the robots could be used to monitor crop conditions or collect samples, similar to current and emerging uses of drones.
"We can talk about ways the technology can be used and ways we use it in our classroom," Campbell said.
Students might not realize the potential careers they can enter through CTE, he said. The robot dog can help show them some of the possibilities.
"It opens up the doors for them," Campbell said.
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