Mission:

Robots on the Road is designed to introduce students in grades 5 through 8 to the field of robotics. Traveling Specialists from NASA's Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP) are currently visiting schools across the country to engage students in exciting, hands-on robotics activities. Specialists use LEGO®MINDSTORMS® robotics kits to challenge students to use problem-solving, team building, and critical thinking skills as they investigate one of eight different robots. The ROTR activities are designed to promote process skills that are necessary for students to be successful not only in the classroom, but in any discipline they wish to pursue later in life.
Read how Robots on the Road applies to the National Science Standards. (pdf, 78 KB)

About Robots on the Road:

Robots on the Road (ROTR) is brought to you by NASA's Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP), a team of educators dedicated to promoting STEM Education. For ROTR in particular, a team of traveling specialists follow a pre-determined route through the country and is currently providing support for WHEELS events. (In contrast to traditional AESP Specialists, traveling specialists are not based in any of NASA's ten spaceflight centers.) Teachers can request that ROTR visit their school by completing the online form. The specialists will work with teachers and/or districts submitting the requests to schedule an event while they are in that region. It is important to note that specialists can not accommodate requests for specific dates.

ROTR is designed to accommodate a group of up to 32 students in a one-hour session, however we also support informal opportunities (ex. libraries and science centers) to reach a greater number of students. We recommend having ROTR set up within a designated area for the day of the event and allowing groups up to 32 students to attend sessions throughout the day.

Why Robots?

A robot is a machine that is capable of performing some portion of its tasks using its own y inputs, independent of direct human control. Robots are designed to assist humans by carrying out tasks that humans can not perform, such as collecting samples from Mars during space exploration. The ROTR activities challenge students to use problem-solving, team building, and critical thinking skills to fully understand how the LEGO®MINDSTORMS® robots work; similar to the analytical process used by NASA scientists and engineers.

NASA has continually used robotic devices to explore and collect data from our solar system and beyond since the United States launched its first satellite in 1958. Explorer 1 was launched just prior to the establishment of NASA later that year. Specifically, robots have been used to collect data from Venus in 1962, the moon in 1966, and more recently from Mars during several explorations beginning in 1996. Today, NASA has more than fifteen functional robots exploring our solar system and many exciting plans for future missions. The NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows several areas where robotics is being used for space exploration.