Robots get their turn to hip hop

By PETER GRIFFIN

On the vinyl-covered floor of a classroom in Otara, a robot made of Lego jiggles along in a schizophrenic dance.

A wheel falls off and rolls away, then the Lego splits in two and crumples, its motor still whirring.

Two 12-year-olds at Clover Park Middle School, Elton Fesola'i and Hone Ropata, built the robot. Now they are on their knees picking up the pieces.

"Pity the robots can't fix themselves like in Terminator 3," said onlooker Mike Usmar shaking his head.

"They've been working three days non-stop on programming these robots," said Usmar, chief executive of the country's first Computer Clubhouse.

The idea is to get the robots to dance to music for at least a minute and not deviate outside a 3m square patch of floor.

On laptops the kids use software to programme the movements of the robots - which way the wheels will turn, how fast the robots will go.

The programs are sent to the robots via an infra-red link and the dancing begins - hopefully.

"With the robots, they're using some of the same software as the undergraduates at Auckland University," said Usmar.

The experiments are part of a new scheme under way in Otara, one that is being mirrored around the world. The programme is organised primarily by computer chip maker Intel and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. It is driven by money provided by some of the giants of technology.

On top of Intel's contribution, software companies put around $10 million worth of their products into the worldwide Intel Computer Clubhouse Network every year.

Software makers such as Adobe, Macromedia, Corel, Autodesk and Procreate provide software that is too sophisticated and expensive to be used in most classrooms.

The centres, with their creative and technology focus, have taken off overseas. They dot the globe from Panama City to Little Haiti in Miami, to Ireland, India and South Africa.

In Melbourne, the Fitzroy Clubhouse has a diverse range of members. As well as Anglo-Aussies, immigrants from Ethiopia, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan regularly gather to use technology.

"Most of the Fitzroy Clubhouse's members live in the local Atherton Gardens high-rise flats," according to the club's website (www.fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au/cclub/index.htm)

A group of Melbourne boys are using Flash animations to make a collaborative aliens movie.

Across the clubhouses, there's a strong focus on "digital story-telling". Kids, generally aged 10 to 18, use software to compose their own music, make videos and animations or edit photos. They chose their own topics and work in groups.

Otara's clubhouse is yet to be built, but there is a patch of land ready for it on the grounds of Clover Park Middle School.

The centre will sit on the school grounds but will not tie up school resources. The aim of the programme is education, not recreation.

"It's not an entertainment centre or a place to come and do homework," said Usmar.

He said the Otara community would be asked to pitch in with a fundraising campaign.

Usmar estimates the building will cost $180,000 to build and that the centre will have annual running costs of $120,000. He is depending on charity to fill the clubhouse with computers and equipment.

He is hoping local businesses keen to develop the local skills base will help. The school is a stone's throw from the research and development centre for Fisher and Paykel - a local leader in innovation.

While the kids are at school, adults will be invited in to use the clubhouse's resources.

"With all these facilities we're planning it would be a shame not to use it during the day," said Kane Milne, the clubhouse's director.

Intel will have nothing to do with the running of the clubhouse, but every year it sponsors educational scholarships for kids at the clubhouses around the world.

"If we get a kid going to Harvard, all the better," said Usmar.

With little in the way of Government funding for such projects, it would be up to the community to make the clubhouse work.

He said a meeting with Education Minister Trevor Mallard to tell him about the building of the centre produced a lukewarm response.

He said that for the Ministry of Education it was "too outside their box".

There was a philosophical difference between what the computer clubhouse represented and what the Government set out in its education policies.

"The idea of sharing ideas is very familiar to Maori and Pacific Island communities," he said.

"Let's use technology to work collaboratively because guess what? That's what the internet was built for."

Competition for Government funding for technology initiatives in education is strong.

For example, Timaru primary schools are waiting for Mallard to give his blessing and financial backing to a $2 million technology learning centre that will service all the schools in that area.

Clover Park principal Ann Milne said she was excited about giving the kids the chance to have a hand in setting the agenda for their learning.

"This is very much student driven. It fits the curriculum and the kids feel they've some ownership of it," she said.

With only 44 per cent of the school's 320 students having access to the internet from home, she was happy they would have a place to go after school to immerse themselves in the technology their families often could not afford.

It was a problem for under-funded schools, which never had enough resources to buy the equipment they needed and had to often cobble together their technology.

"When I see kids at affluent schools with second-hand equipment I'll see it as acceptable," said Milne.

At Clover Park, the girls team, 12-year-olds Selu Tonga and Rochelle Maletino, has gained the upper hand on the boys.

"The girls added some gears to speed up the wheels," said Usmar.

"The guys are into robot design and the girls are focused on the programming."