Texas Patent of the Month – July 2021
Trashbots Inc is a comprehensive robotics platform that aims to bring the industry to the people. They found that a lack of access was the key limiting factor to expanding STEM education in schools and home. Many students do not have reliable access to computers, internet, and software needed. It would obviously be quite difficult to organize the administration of hardware and software to every single student. Instead, Trashbots, Inc. has designed a robotics and computing learning platform that is able to maintain functionality with commonly available household items.
The trashbot is made of a few pieces, including pucks, gears, axles, and “starting trash” (rubber bands, popsicles etc). The puck is circular with slots evenly spaced around the circumference. It also has a drive socket. The platform uses a battery, motor and processor to receive programs. The robotics learning platform can teach students to control the operation of a stepper motor. The parts of the machine can be used to allow students to build machines, structures, and systems which are controlled by the platform – effectively building robots at an early age. The key pieces included in the kit can then be combined with any household items as needed to develop the structure or robot you want. They utilize a “system of systems” design paradigm alongside microprocessors and controllers capable of running high-level programming languages like Javascript without increasing the cost, to maintain a low-cost “available-to most” solution. Alongside the device, they have designed projects and lessons to help begin developing skills in the engineering and robotics world.
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