*ADVANCED STUDIO - Recommended for High School Students, Post-High School Gap Year Students and/or Returning NuVu Students*

Imagine this: It’s Saturday night and you’re at your favorite restaurant with your friends. You’re excitedly looking through the menu for your favorite pasta dish, when you hear “Hello there, do you have any questions about the menu?” You suddenly look up, and instead of seeing a waiter, you see a big-eyed robot staring back at you! This may seem like you’ve beamed into a sci-fi Star Trek film, but this is really what happens at Robot Restaurant in downtown Harbin, in China's northern Heilongjiang province. Here, robots greet newcomers at the door, introduce the cuisines, take orders, deliver food, collect empty dishes, and even entertain diners as they eat. Even an automated dog which sits at the tables entertains children! Cooking and food robots of all shapes and sizes are invading the culinary scene and are even being introduced into our home kitchens. Moley Robotics’ “robot kitchen” that unveiled this year, consists of a standard kitchen and a pair of large robotic arms with humanoid hands that stir, drizzle and garnish. The arms follow a recipe created by a human who has cooked it wearing cyber gloves, while being filmed by 3D motion capture technology. What do you imagine will be the food robot of the future? The robo-food revolution is here. Are you hungry to design the next generation foodbot that will change the world? If so, be a part of our design team and take part in a cook-off at the end of the studio to determine who’s got the ultimate foodbot chef!

In this studio, students will learn the basics of electronics, microcontrollers and computer programming (using the Arduino environment). They will also learn how to integrate the computer with external sensors (from simple switches and buttons to heat/temperature, light, gas, touch) and actuators (such as motors, lights, speakers, solenoids, valves, fans) to allow them to turn their ideas into fantastical foodbots! We will empower students with the physics (electricity and magnetism), engineering, 3D modeling, robotics, and programming skills they need to bring their foodbot vision to reality!

Register here!

Focus Skills/Subjects/Technologies:

   Design

   Physics (Electricity, Magnetism)

   Engineering

   Programming

   Robotics (Arduino)

   Electronics

   Digital Fabrication (Laser-cutting, 3d Printing)

   3d Modeling

Prerequisites:

• Enrolling students must be any of the following:
  • High School Student
  • Post-High School Gap Year Student
  • Returning NuVu Student
• Students must have prior programming experience

Coffee is an essential part of everyone's morning routine, but the machines we use to make it are really boring. Most coffee machines are nothing more than a black box, where grounds go in and a piping hot beverage comes out. Coffee would be so much more interesting if you could see what's going on. That's why I created the CoffeeBot, with a transparent case and lots of lights to help you see whats going on. My design was inspired by the Briggo Coffee Haus, with it's rotating door to display the coffee. My first prototype was made of cardboard, so it was impossible to see inside. I also wanted it to fresh grind the coffee, and add milk, sugar, and the like. However, I realized that I would never be able to finish this, so I simplified my design, with no add-ons and using pre-ground coffee. After these major design changes, I built my final prototype made of wood and acryllic.