Starburst waits patiently for McCuiston to give her another command. Starburst waits patiently for McCuiston to give her another command.If you ask Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts students what robotics can do, their answers might surprise you.
Fourth- through eighth-graders involved in the school’s after-school robotics program are currently working with East Brainerd’s The Ark Pet Spa & Hotel to figure out how robotics can help pet owners train their animals.
“When people hear robotics, they think robots – which, of course you would – but that’s just like a third of what we actually learn and do for the competitions,” said Karen West, a teacher involved in the after-school robotics program.
For the CSLA students, the experiment is strictly conceptual, and focused on the “Animal Allies” theme of this year’s First LEGO League annual competition. First LEGO League, a partnership between LEGO and the students and science-focused nonprofit First, offers an opportunity for students to compete locally, and potentially internationally, each school year.
“It’s about finding an innovative way to improve interactions between animals and humans,” West said of this year’s theme, which students have until early next year to figure out. ” They want to improve pet training for owners by coming up with a robotic trainer that could possibly do some of the work while the owners are gone.”
That’s where The Ark’s resident trainer, Taylor McCuiston, comes in – along with her German Shepherd Starburst.
McCuiston and Starburst have been working with the students to help them pinpoint key aspects of dog training they need to keep in mind while attempting to create a way for robotics to play a role in dog training.
Such factors include possibly recording the owner’s voice to mimic tone or a pitch the dog recognizes, and making certain the animal associates the robot with something positive, like a treat.
“It’s all about reinforcement and being consistent,” McCuiston told the students. “You have to look at it like when you’re at home. If your mom says ‘Get down here on the count of one, two, three,’ you already know something bad will happen if you don’t get down on three, right? It’s the same for dogs.”
To learn more about The Ark, visit thearkspa.com or call 521-8888.
To learn more about the First LEGO League, visit firstinspires.org.
“We’re very excited to have them here partnering with us and learning from Taylor,” The Ark owner Jay Floyd said.