Professor John Seng was cautiously optimistic before hosting a group of children from Cal Poly’s Preschool Learning Lab for a holiday meet-and-greet with Herbie the robot and his magic caboose.
The autonomous robot with the googly eyes and big smile is a continuous project directed by Seng with help from Robotics Club members. Herbie was designed to roam around Building 14 and serve as a goodwill ambassador, bringing joy to everyone he encounters.
Trouble struck, however, during an earlier visit with preschoolers.
The children were meeting Herbie as a Halloween treat last year when an extra-curious child gave the robot a push, knocking Herbie off his wheels and out of commission. Herbie was carefully carted away and later repaired, but the incident clearly revealed the need for more stabilization.
“Learn by Doing is the ideal way to learn, and I learned a lot,” said Seng with a chuckle after last year’s incident.
Seng and his students spent the following months building a trailer for Herbie with a special feature they debuted during last week’s gathering of the preschoolers.
“He’s feeling festive today,” Seng told the children as Herbie, donning a Santa hat, rolled around the corner to meet the new group. “And, he has extra stabilizers this year!”
The project got a financial boost when mechanical engineering student Garrett Kunkler received a 2022-23 Baker/Koob grant to construct a caboose for Herbie. He was aided by computer engineering student Christian Honein and computer science students Nathan Kuhn and Mayuri Prasad.
The aim was to provide the 3-year-old Herbie with more stability and to put a device on the trailer to engage preschoolers and expose them to STEM concepts – at a safe distance.
After lengthy discussions, the project team opted to mount a small screen to the trailer’s frame that displays a color spinner divided into several segments, each featuring a unique animal illustration. When a user presses an oversized green button on a handheld remote, the spinner rotates rapidly, eventually stopping on one of the segments and its accompanying animal sound.
“We decided on animal sounds because preschoolers are familiar with them,” Kunkler said. “They also get to have some interaction with the button but aren’t physically touching the device.”
The group of about 20 preschoolers was enthralled when Kunkler unveiled the magic caboose last week.
A flurry of little hands shot into the air as Kunkler asked who would like to push the button and set the spinner in motion.
The children shouted with glee when the spinner halted on a cat, immediately followed by a meow.
Subsequent spins elicited sounds from an elephant, sheep, monkey, frog, duck, horse, dolphin and bear.
“We keep adding more animals,” Kunkler said with a laugh.
The team explored multiple concepts before settling on the spinner design, according to Kuhn, who emphasized the main challenge lay in defining the final form of the product.
“We wanted something that was entertaining but couldn’t be damaged with a remote that was as simple as possible,” he said.
Kuhn and Kunkler both took delight in observing the preschoolers’ enthusiastic interactions with Herbie and his newly added caboose.
“The demo was really fun,” Kunkler said. “Kids were leaning up, trying to get as close as they could.”
But not too close, as Seng made sure the preschoolers kept a healthy distance while he answered their final questions.
“Does Herbie have teeth?” one preschooler asked.
“Just a smile,” Seng answered.
“Why does he have a smile?” another asked.
“He’s always happy,” Seng said. “His job is to bring joy to students.”
By Emily Slater
