Robotics engineering and ethics… My groups are having a hard time coming up with ideas… And the ideas that they gave us? Most of them seem good, but this one…
• How robots are engineered for farming, and the food production industry
o How to engineer a mechanical apple sorting system <– Does not make sense
How are your kids doing coming up with projects? I’m just scratching my head with some of these…
Yes. My kids are having a little trouble nailing one down too. We discussed 3 possible projects and thought the ethics angle was going to be too hard to find in the easy projects (Sea Turtle Rehabilitation and reef restoration/preservation by killing invasive species). This actually made the kids choose their least wanted idea, the one I think they can learn the most from. A happy outcome!
Sometimes the ethics come more from the results of using robots to do certain jobs. Loss of these jobs, cheaper products, environmental impact. Hope that is the kinds of ethical discussion they are looking for in the STEM project. I’m not sure.