Teacher Handbook – Elementary Schools

Content

Demonstration Lesson: Introduction to AI

Teacher Resources 0.1

Robotics v.s. AI

In short, robotics and AI are different concepts. There are some overlaps where robots are powered by AI technologies. See the Venn diagram below that depicts the relationship between the two.

Students may confuse the two, thinking all robots are intelligent and/or that AI requires robots.

Robotics Overlapping AI
Robotic arms in the video, Vex Robots, Lego Mindstorm, Drones Self-driving cars, Cozmos, Boston Dynamics, Roomba 980 Search engines, Content recommendation, Image classifiers

So, the question becomes, what makes a robot “smart”?

In short, “smart” robots have the ability to make decisions based on what it senses so they are not just acting on a pre-programmed sequence.

For example, you can easily program a robot to move forward for a certain distance and make a ninety-degree turn. But that’s all there is. The robot repeatedly performs this script. It will not make any adjustments to its behavior based on what it senses.

A “smart” robot, on the other hand, will be able to make decisions. If you program an AI robot like Cozmo to chase an object it recognizes, such as a cube, Cozmo will be able to locate the cube and move toward it regardless of where you put the cube. In a larger sense using the example of self-driving cars, there is certainly no pre-programmed path or script of how the vehicle would act. Hence, they are “smart.”

Teacher Resources 0.2

Activity: Play with Cozmo’s vision (Facial Recognition)

Cozmo’s camera is on the front of his face, just under the “eyes.” Once connected to Calypso, you can pick him up from his charger. As you move around Cozmo’s camera, you’ll be able to see the live footage in the camera viewer in Calypso.

  1. Point the camera at yourself or at one of the students. Students will notice the face is captured in the camera viewer.
  2. Ask, “What else do you notice in the camera viewer?” answer — a box, or frame, should appear around the face.
  3. Subsequently, ask, “What color is the box or frame?” answer — Green
  4. Ask, “What do you think that means?” answer — Cozmo recognizes this object.

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Activity: What else does Cozmo recognize? (Object recognition)

*Cozmo can recognize human faces, his three light cubes, the front of his charger, and custom markers (included in the AI-IN-A-BOX™).

  1. Ask, “What else can Cozmo recognize?” — per students requests, place other objects (a hand, any random objects they propose) in Cozmo’s camera’s view.
  2. Draw the conclusion that Cozmo will only put a frame on an object that he recognizes.
  3. Furthermore, move a light cube around in front of Cozmo. He will not be able to recognize the cube unless the ENTIRE cube is seen.

Teacher Resources 0.4

Download Calypso File: Naming Algorithm

  1. Make sure Cozmo doesn’t see anything in view.
  2. Press “Backspace”(Windows)/”Delete”(Mac) to enter execution mode.
  3. In any order you wish, show Cozmo one thing at a time:
    • Cube 1
    • Cube 2
    • Cube 3
    • Charger
  4. Cozmo will name what he sees.