Teacher Handbook – Summer Program

Content

Demonstration Lesson: Meet Cozmo and Calypso

Teacher Resources 1.1

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 1.2

While there are many possibilities for students to recognize facial recognition, including how Cozmo understands that he is looking at a face, the following three videos are useful. Below them is a list, albeit not exhaustive, of common technologies that use facial recognition with which elementary students may be familiar.

AI-in-a-Box Tutorial 4: Facial Recognition & Expression Recognition

iPhone X — Unlock — Apple

How Good Is Facebook’s Facial Recognition? (Warning: at one point, someone is wearing a shirt that says “bad ass”)

Other common applications of facial recognition:

  1. Drivers’ license photo lookups
  2. Police and FBI identifying people of interest
  3. Advanced ATMs using facial recognition to access banking

Teacher Resources 1.3

In explore mode, students can manually operate or “drive” Cozmo. However, his safety protocols are no longer in effect, and he can be driven off the table, causing damage. It is suggested either to A) have bumpers around the desk or B) operate Cozmo on the floor.

The following are activities a teacher may use with “driving” Cozmo.

Activity: Recognizing Objects

Students may drive Cozmo around. As they do, they will see what he sees through the “Explore” function in the Cozmo app. Students will notice he recognizes certain objects, such as faces, cubes, his charger, and “pets.” Students can make notes about what Cozmo can and cannot recognize.

Activity: Picking up Cubes

Students will see that Cozmo can pick up cubes even in explore mode. He is also able to roll them. A button presents itself on the screen when Cozmo recognizes a cube. Students can use the button to do so.

To add a layer of challenge, however, ask students to pick up the cube without the AI technology assisting. In other words, students have to manually operate Cozmo’s treads and arms to pick up the cube. Students can be prompted to note how challenging it is. This is useful when teaching object manipulation and how AI has certain limitations. Too, teachers can contrast what makes humans special with depth perception as well as opposable digits on our hands.

Activity: Obstacle Course

Students can design obstacle courses and try to navigate Cozmo through the course. Students can be given the challenge of doing so either A) by only looking at Cozmo, B) only looking through the app, or C) a combination.

The lesson to draw from this activity is that it is challenging to drive Cozmo when only looking at him and not through the app, especially given how, when he is approaching the user, the directions are reversed.

Teacher Resources 1.4

Here is are some images that have been tested for Cozmo to recognize as human faces (though students would have to put the name of the person into “Meet Cozmo”). Additionally, these are people that students might readily recognize. Teachers may print them out or provide them in some digital form.

Teacher Resources 1.5

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.

Teacher Resources 1.6

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 1.7

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.

Teacher Resources 1.8

Download Calypso File: Ready For Green Light

Make sure Cozmo doesn’t see anything in view and is off his charger.

  1. Put a cube about one foot away from him where he can see.
  2. Press “Backspace”(Windows)/”Delete”(Mac) to enter execution mode.
  3. The cube will turn red. Cozmo will not move.
  4. Tap the cube once, the cube will turn green.
  5. Cozmo will move towards the cube.

Teacher Resources 1.9

Download Calypso File: Grab a Cube 

  1. Make sure Cozmo doesn’t have anything in his view and is off his charger.
  2. Press “Backspace”(Windows)/”Delete”(Mac) to enter execution mode.
  3. Put a cube about one foot away from him where he can see.
  4. Observe how Cozmo picks up the cube. If the cube is not directly aligned with Cozmo, observe how Cozmo intuitively adjusts his angle to approach the cube.

Teacher Resources 1.10

Below is a list of the tasks on Handout 0.2 along with their solutions. Click Here(Page 13-ish) for a tutorial of Calypso’s interface.

Set up my AI-IN-A-BOX™ See Quick Guide
Teach Cozmo to recognize me and say “Hello”
Teach Cozmo to recognize his cubes
teach Cozmo to say my name
Teach Cozmo to say the names of objects he recognizes Download Calypso File: Naming Algorithm 
Teach Cozmo to move toward a cube
Teach Cozmo to navigate to a cube and leave it
Teach Cozmo to express “playful” when he gets near a cube

Teacher Resources 1.11

Activity: Manually driving Cozmo (Teleoperation)

Activity: Manually driving Cozmo (Teleoperation)

With the controller, users can manually drive Cozmo and control his movements. This is not powered by AI, but it gives the students a chance to experience the control of a robot, and it can be used to differentiate robot and AI functionalities. Moreover, students enjoy this activity.

One activity that a teacher may incorporate includes having one student manually try to pick up a cube while Cozmo’s AI competes to pick up the same cube or its own cube. This could be used to demonstrate several points: AI’s intuition, competition between humans and AI, robots versus AI, among other points.

In Calypso, input the following:

  1. Press “Backspace”(Windows)/ “Delete”(Mac) to enter execution mode.
  2. You can now manually direct Cozmo around using the left stick.
  3. The right stick controls his head movement and the Left and Right Bumpers control his lift.
  4. Students can try to pick up a cube on their own using these manual controls.