CBI and The University of Virginia Bring Robotics Education to Roanoke Students

UVA’s Medical Automation Research Center puts robots in camps and classrooms

ROANOKE, Va., (November 26, 2002) Freshmen high school students in Roanoke County are learning the fundamentals of engineering this year at the County’s new Center for Engineering, a program started with help from Carilion Biomedical Institute and UVA’s Medical Automation Research Center (MARC). MARC and CBI provided consulting services to help develop the program. MARC Robotics Education Outreach Program Coordinator Sarah Wood participated on the curriculum design team and served as a Curriculum Advisor. The program, located in the A.R. Burton Technical Center in Salem, provides an opportunity for students to study the profession of engineering, and develop basic understanding and skills that provide the foundation of an engineering career.

The successful launch of the Center for Engineering was one of several joint robotic outreach projects for MARC and CBI in 2002. Earlier this year, MARC conducted a robotics workshop for the Girls Investigating-Researching-Learning-Science (G.I.R.L.S.) Club at Cave Spring Middle School. The workshop was designed for young women interested in science and technology and featured a hands-on introduction to robotics technology. The “hands-on” approach also worked well over the summer as CBI and MARC worked with the Science Museum of Western Virginia to develop a robotics course for the summer camp program.  MARC designed a curriculum guide and donated robotics kits, which campers used to build their own robots and participate in an obstacle course competition.  Museum educators say the robotics session was their most popular program.

For more information about the Carilion Biomedical Institute, visit Carilion Biomedical Institute.

For more information about the Medical Automation Researach Center, visit www.marc.med.virginia.edu