‘This will put them ahead of the game’: New robotic dog gives JCPS school rare opportunity – Courier Journal

Meet Reggie, Spotbot robotic dog that calls Central High School home

Central High School was only one of two schools in the country to receive this robot dog designed by Boston Dynamics.

Michael Clevenger, Louisville Courier Journal

Reggie is not an average dog.

Central High School's "newest mascot," according to Jefferson County Public Schools,doesn't have fur, but itcan complete math equations. Itdoesn't have a tail, but soon it'll have a crane. It can't bark, but itcan hold a can.

Central is now just one of two schools in the country to own a Spotbota four-legged robot that can walk and sit, but also makea 3D mapof theschool and perform other tasks.

The robot is named Reggie and was designed by Boston Dynamics Engineering. It came with a $77,000 price tag, which was paid with federal grant funds, according toChristopher Brown, one of the coaches of the Louisville Centrons Robotics Team.

Reggie gives Central's STEM students a unique opportunity to develop programming and coding skills as the school's robotics team competes at events.

"The cool thing about this is it gives our kids an opportunity to just be above where everybody else is and have everybody catch up to them," Brown said.

Who's running Waverly Hills?: The bitter feud over Louisville's most famous haunted site

The robotic dog can create3D scale maps, using its camera to track locations in front of it. It can survey an area while being controlled from another location. It can report dataand even complete difficult math equations.

Of course, it's a dog, too it doesn't have fur, but Reggie can sit, run and act out other canine behavior.

The school is waiting for a mechanical arm that will be attached to the robot dog. That $60,000 addition willl be acquired on a loan from the company to help Central develop a robotics curriculum that other schools can later use. This add-on will help Reggie perform more tricks, like pickingup objects.

These tricks were put on displayin a recentSamuel Adams commercialshown on Super Bowl Sunday, where the Spotbotwas featured holding cans of beer.

Brown said amid an ongoing labor shortage, robots like Reggie can help supply the demand for workers and help businesses.

Brown, who has taught at Central for 15 years, said his students will tour other schools and businesses to showcase the robot's skills and the work done by the robotics team.

Students like Bismah Rana, Gia Patel, and Jayel Boyd plan to showcase this work on their college applications. They are all juniors at Central and helped with Reggie's coding and programming as part of a team of more than a dozen students.

Home for sale: Are you a Louisville fan in the market for a $4 million home? Chris Mack has a deal for you

Cyber engineering students will travel to Boston this month and tour the Boston Dynamics headquarters, along withHarvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They will meet the engineers that work with the Spotbotwhile they're in the city, Brown said.

There are somestereotypes of the West End, Brown said, that he hopes the robotics team's work can help put to rest.

"Central High School is a great place to be, it's a great place to teach, is a great place to work," he said. "To have this opportunity for our kids is amazing."

Reach Ana Roco lvarez Brez at abrinez@gannett.com; follow her on Twitter at @SoyAnaAlvarez

Originally posted here:

'This will put them ahead of the game': New robotic dog gives JCPS school rare opportunity - Courier Journal