Reginald champ compton
Our Big Robot Dog
In 2022, the Jefferson County Public School district granted our request to purchase an industry standard robot. We have followed the developments of the incredible engineers at Boston Dynamic, and we dared to dream big. We began a campaign to raise funds for the purchase in 2020. We were told "no" a number of times, but we used our rejection experience to further develop our pitch. The district recognized the skills that the members of the Centrons displayed, and they agreed that Central High School was the perfect school for such a purchase.
The Unveiling
We received the bot in late March, and we gave it an unveiling ceremony for the local media on April 13. It is named after a teacher's dog that used to come to school with her for nine years. The original Reggie was loved by all. Unfortunately, we lost him early 2022. Our new Reggie is named after the best darn canine of all time.
Projects
Our students immediately started designing projects and writing code that will work with Reggie. Shown above is a prototype foam ball launcher that can be used during pep rallies and football games. Another group of students is tapping into Boston Dynamics' SDK to write Python codes to guide the bot.
Travels and Visits
Since we received Reggie, we have taken him to a number of appearances. It went with us to Knoxville for the FIRST Smoky Mountain Regional, and it also showed up at the Kentucky STLP Championships in Lexington. We have made many appearances at other schools, and the bot is a fixture at the Louisville Maker Faire every year. He's Central's best ambassador.
Boston Trip
In April of 2022, members of our Technology Student Association (TSA) were able to take a trip to visit Reggie's birthplace - the Boston Dynamics corporate offices! We were treated to a factory tour where we witnessed numerous Spots running around and a demonstration of the most advanced humanoid robot in the world, Atlas! The trip was made possible by some very generous Speed School alumni.
Got manipulation?
Reggie was upgraded in 2023 with an arm. This completely changed the dynamic of the robot. Our project began to focus on using the robot for manipulating its environment. We sent our lessons to Boston Dynamics to help them create a high school curriculum guide.
The Case Study
Boston Dynamics selected Central's robotics program for a case study involving robotics in education. The result was several articles, a webinar, and a documentary video about how our students use Reggie in the classroom. The video and our finished curriculum were unveiled in Dember 2023. We hope that our shared experience can help other schools attain industrial standard robotics for their classrooms.
https://bostondynamics.com/case-studies/spot-inspires-learners-central-high-school/