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Associate Professor Dawn Tilbury demonstrate the operation of the NSF ERC-RMS Reconfigurable Factory Testbed for girls participating in the Sally Ride Science Festival. |
Associate Professor Dawn Tilbury has helped inspire girls in grades five through eight to explore the world of science by participating in two Sally Ride Science Festivals. The objective of the festivals is to increase the number of girls who have a foundation for and interest in further education in science, math and engineering.
The festivals are named for astronaut Sally K. Ride, the first American woman to orbit the earth, and take place around the United States. They feature lectures and workshops for girls as well as activities for their parents and teachers about how to support girls’ interests in the sciences and math. Sally Ride gave the keynote address, answering girls’ questions about her experiences in space – meeting a real astronaut was a highlight of the day. A street fair with hands-on activities, music and food contributed to the festival atmosphere.
During the Ann Arbor festivals, students from the Engineering Research Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems demonstrated the operation of the Reconfigurable Factory Testbed, giving the girls a firsthand look at how two wax blocks are turned into a small toy train.
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After the demonstration, girls who attended the workshop also learned how to program robots to pick up a raquetball and drop it into a funnel. Each girl teaches one point in the path, and then the instructors replay the path on automatic, demonstrating how it can be sped up or slowed down. "They see the benefits of automation--how fast the robot can move," said Tilbury. "Of course sometimes the ball falls out of the fixture, but the robot doesn't notice and just keeps moving. So they also get to see the limitations."
Tilbury plans to assist again at the next Ann Arbor festival to be held in fall 2005. "I think it's important for girls to get interested in science at a young age," she said, "and that's why I support the program."