This article describes BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology), a hands-on robotics program founded by Texas Instruments engineers Ted Mahler and Steve Marum. BEST links educators with industry to provide middle and high school students with a peek into the exciting world of robotics, with the goal of inspiring and interesting…

Will there be radical changes in the workplace by 1997? Four predictions, two full of gloom and doom and two full of promise, are common in current literature. One recent theory holds that we are facing a polarization of American society through the erosion of the middle class. Another gloomy prediction suggests that not only is the middle class…

A case study of machine vision was conducted to identify and analyze the employment effects of high technology in general. (Machine vision is the automatic acquisition and analysis of an image to obtain desired information for use in controlling an industrial activity, such as the visual sensor system that gives eyes to a robot.) Machine vision as…

After surveying the history and current status of online database searching, this report offers a timeline describing four stages of possible developments for online systems. In the first stage, an expert interface assists CD-ROM-based searching by offering advice about search strategies. Advantages are that search logic can be refined with the…

A computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) Physical Modeling Systems Design project was undertaken in a time of rapid change in the industrial, business, technological, training, and educational areas in Australia. A specification of a manufacturing physical modeling system was drawn up. Physical modeling provides a flexibility and configurability…

A course was developed to introduce students at a community college to four major areas of emphasis in emerging technologies: FORTH programming language, elementary electronic theory, robotics, and artificial intelligence. After a needs assessment indicated the importance of such a course, a pretest focusing on the four areas was given to students…

This curriculum guide provides ideas for implementing technology education in grades 7-12. It assumes a basic understanding of the four clusters of manufacturing, construction, communications, and power/transportation and is meant to supplement and reorganize this approach with up-to-date information and activities. One way to present a variety of…

This paper describes the new technologies most likely to affect the number and types of jobs in the U.S. economy over the next two decades. These work-affecting technologies are presented in the context of the continuing evolution of the U.S. work force into a distinctly new, third era. Chapter I discusses the transformation of the United States…

A futurist addresses two questions concerning world peace and the implications of using robots. In the section on peace (part 1), recommendations for world peace include: (1) implementing peace education as a mandatory part of education; (2) establishing a Department of Peace in each country to create a societal infrastructure for implementing…

Describes some of the program characteristics and activities in the Technology Education Program at Bellevue High School (Washington). Discusses the programs involvement with robots, lasers, plotters, and computers. (TW)

These teaching guides are meant to supplement the seventh season (1996-97) of the PBS Series "Scientific American Frontiers". Episode 701 is entitled "Inventing the Future: A Tour of the MIT Media Lab" and the teaching guide contains information and activities on a virtual pet dog, computers of the future, a smart car designed…

Described are the historical uses and research involving the discipline of artifical intelligence. Topics discussed include: symbol manipulation; knowledge engineering; cognitive modeling; and language, vision and robotics. (Author/DS)

Presents an annotated bibliography of works related to the subject of computers and the humanities. Groups items into textbooks and overviews; introductions; human and computer languages; literary and linguistic analysis; artificial intelligence and robotics; social issue debates; computers' image in fiction; anthologies; writing and the…

This 18-month pilot project, which ran from October 1, 1987 to March 31, 1989, developed a prototype robotic arm for educational use by students with severe orthopedic disabilities in the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools. The developmental effort was intended first, to provide direct access to currently available instructional materials and, second,…

Noting that work is partly a social activity, and that workers' psychological and emotional needs influence their productivity, this paper explores avenues for improving human-robot cooperation and for enhancing worker satisfaction in the environment of flexible automation. The first section of the paper offers a brief overview of the…