Month: November 2019

Educational Benefits of Robots to Children

  Chris Moehle is the managing director of the Robotics Hub, a fund that focuses on identifying breakthroughs in robotics and helping to leverage these innovations into successful companies. As an advocate of robotic problem-solving, Chris Moehle dedicates his time to working with transformational robotics startups that have significant potential to shape the future landscape of robotics. In this role, he is well aware of the societal impact of robotics currently and yet to come.

Manufacturers of robotic educational toys are finding that playing with robots can serve as an important educational tool. One of the main points that sets apart robots from more passive toys is that children can learn from teaching a robot. They engage in a form of peer-to-peer tutoring when programming their robot toys. In a world where programming and software design is the most sought-after profession, learning the basics of programming from an early age is a clear advantage. Programmable toys also inject a sense of imagination and creativity that is good to associate with programming, rather than introducing children to a rote task that needs to be completed. With more such toys on the way, robots could become an essential force in shaping children’s futures.

Choitek Megamart – A Robot That Blends Science, Food, and Education

Since 2015, business executive Chris Moehle has been serving The Robotics Hub as managing director. In this role, Chris Moehle leveraged his experience in the robotics industry to assist the Pittsburgh-based whiskey producer Wigle in deploying its new robot that will aid in the malting of grains to produce whiskey.

Wigle collaborated with The Robotics Hub, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and the Food Studies Program of Chatham University to create a robot that will perform the repetitive task of malting grains. According to Meredith Grelli, co-owner of Wigle, traditional floor malting done manually by humans is not a very fun thing to watch. In floor malting, the grains are wetted to usher in the process of germination. Using peat as a source of fuel, the grains are heated to stop them from sprouting. This is done by hand with a rake.

In her desire to mix established tradition with new technology, Grelli called for the collaborative effort to create the robot Choitek Megamart. Choitek Megamart is the brainchild of CMU student John Choi. His passion for robotics fueled his work on the project for a year and a half.

Using arms that are assembled parallel to the ground, Choitek Megamart rakes the grain by moving to and fro on rails, a movement that resembles raking a zen garden. The movement is activated as electrical impulses are sent to activators through the robot’s “heart,” an Arduino Mega 2560. The robot uses open-source software. Choi said his creation gives robotics a place in the blending of science with craft distilling in the Pittsburgh community. While this has potential industrial applications at scale, this early version is focusing on communicating the process to human visitors.