SOUTHFIELD – Picture this: more than 100 autonomous robots built with Lego RCS microcomputer bricks following a parade route without human control. That’s the scenario for the first Lawrence Tech Thanksgiving RoboParade.
The parade isn?t scheduled to take place on Thanksgiving Day to rival Detroit’s big show on Woodward Avenue, rather on Saturday Nov. 18 starting at 11:30 am in the Buell Management Building on LTU?s campus. The event is open to the public, and admission is free. Opening remarks start at 9 am, with each team making individual presentations starting at 9:40 am.
The robot parade is the brainchild of associate professor of computer science CJ Chung, who said he is always looking for new ways to get students hooked on computer programming at a young age. Now he has capitalized on a time-honored Detroit tradition by organizing a Thanksgiving parade for robots built and programmed by kids.
Chung?s latest promotion grew out the computer camps he held at Lawrence Tech this past summer to give students in grades 5-12 the opportunity to make and program robots. He needed a way to keep their enthusiasm alive.
He got his inspiration from Charles F. Wendel of the J.L. Hudson Company, who in 1924 organized a parade down Woodward Ave. to promote his store?s Toyland display. Wendel?s idea became Detroit?s longest-running and most beloved tradition.
Now Chung hopes to start another tradition for the Detroit area. More than 100 students have built and programmed autonomous robots that can follow the parade route and start and stop without any human help. The robot platforms are built with Lego RCX microcomputer bricks, and students have added other materials to make their robot floats unique.
Since 2000 Chung has run Robofest, an annual international competition that culminates in the spring when hundreds of students come to Lawrence Tech for the championship round.
?Any competition is tense, because only a few teams win,? Chung said. ?With a parade, everyone involved is a winner.?
