From: fredm@media.mit.edu (Fred G Martin)
Subject: MIT LEGO robotics papers now on-line
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 00:06:33 GMT

Hello everyone,

I have received many requests for more information about LEGO robotics
projects at MIT.  I will try to get back to you all individually, but
until this happens, let me announce our FTP file server, which now has
several recent papers on-line.

The group doing most of the LEGO projects at MIT is known as the
"Epistemology and Learning Group," housed at the MIT Media Lab, and
under the leadership of Dr. Seymour Papert, the inventor of the Logo
programming language.

Several papers from our new "E&L Memo Series" are now on-line.
Printer-ready PostScript files and Macintosh Word 4.0 or LaTeX source
files are provided for each memo.

Following this note is an index of the papers presently available;
more publications are available by writing to our group's secretary at
the address indicated.

For FTP access, use anonymous login to "kame.media.mit.edu."  Go to
directory "pub/el-memos."  Retrieve the README file there, and then
get whichever papers you like.

Information about the MIT 6.270 LEGO Robot Design Competition is
available from the same FTP server, in the directory "pub/fredm."

Happy FTP'ing.  Please let me know if there are any problems printing
files.

	Yours,

	Fred Martin

-----------------< file: ftp/pub/el-memos/README >------------------------
"The E&L Memo Series"

The files in this directory are publications of the Epistemology and
Learning Research Group at the MIT Media Laboratory.

Files are gradually being installed here as time permits.  For a full
list of our publications, please write to us at the following address:

	Logo Publications
	Epistemology and Learning Group
	The Media Laboratory
	The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
	20 Ames Street room E15-309
	Cambridge, MA 02139

----------------------------------------------------------------------
This directory includes PostScript-ready versions of the Memo series.
Most of the papers use the Palatino font and therefore must be printed
on a PostScript printer that supports this font.

When FTP'ing the files over to your local machine, make sure to use
'binary' mode because they are stored in compressed form using the
Unix compress utility.

If you have a PostScript printer connected directly to your Unix
system, you should be able to print out the files using the following
command:

	zcat memoNN.PS | lpr -P<your-printer>

If you are using a printer hooked up to a Macintosh network, and your
Macs are still running System 6, you will probably have to reboot the
printer and then issue the print command from Unix to get things to
work.  (This will remove the conflicting LaserPrep dictionary from the
printer's memory.)

If you can't print directly from Unix, you should first uncompress the
PostScript file ('uncompress memoNN.PS' at the Unix prompt) before
uploading it to your PC or Mac before printing (unless you want to run
uncompression from your desktop machine).  You will need a utility
such as "SendPS" to send the PostScript files directly to your
printer.


Most of the papers were produced in Microsoft Word 4.0 for the
Macintosh.  Binhex'ed versions of these Word files (with standard
".hqx" suffix) are provided in addition to the PostScript print-outs.

A few of the papers were produced using LaTeX.  In these cases, a tar
file consisting of all of the .tex and graphics files is provided in
addition to the PostScript print-out.

This directory is maintained and supported by Fred Martin
(fredm@media.mit.edu).  Questions, problems, suggestions,
encouragement should be directed to him.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS DIRECTORY CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING PAPERS:


memo8.PS.Z	"LEGO/LOGO:  LEARNING THROUGH AND ABOUT DESIGN"
memo8.hqx	by Mitchel Resnick and Stephen Ocko
		September 1990

Most classroom problem-solving activities focus on analytic thinking:
decomposing problems into subproblems. Students rarely get the
opportunity to design and invent things. In this paper, we describe
how LEGO/Logo, a computer-based robotics environment, supports a
variety of design activities. We examine how students using LEGO/Logo
can learn important mathematical and scientific ideas through their
design activities, while also learning about the design process
itself.


memo9.PS.Z	"XYLOPHONES, HAMSTERS, AND FIREWORKS:
memo9.hqx	the Role of Diversity in Constructionist Activities"
		by Mitchel Resnick

The Constructionist approach to education goes beyond traditional
hands-on activities in that it aims to give children more control over
finding and defining the problems they work on.  But the goal of
``making projects personal'' is not necessarily easy to achieve.  This
paper examines a collection of LEGO/Logo projects from a teachers'
workshop, exploring the factors that led to a flourishing of
personally-meaningful projects.  In particular, it discusses the
importance of diversity in Constructionist activities.


memo10.PS.Z	"CHILDREN AND ARTIFICIAL LIFE"
memo10.hqx	by Mitchel Resnick and Fred Martin

Artificial Life is a new field in which researchers study living
systems by trying to build artificial versions of them. In this paper,
we argue that ideas from Artificial Life research can and should be
shared with children. We describe various computational tools
(including LEGO/Logo and Electronic Bricks) that students can use to
build artificial creatures. By building and programming artificial
creatures (and discussing and thinking about how the creatures
behave), children can explore some of the central ideas of Artificial
Life---ideas like feedback, levels of organization, and emergence.


memo11.PS.Z	"OVERCOMING THE CENTRALIZED MINDSET:
memo11.hqx	Towards an Understanding of Emergent Phenomena"
		by Mitchel Resnick

In a growing number of domains, researchers are recognizing the
advantages of decentralized models and approaches.  But there is a
problem:  People generally have difficulty reasoning about
decentralized systems (and the emergent behaviors characteristic of
such systems).  When viewing the world, people tend to assume
centralized control even where none exists.  This paper examines why
people tend to view the world with a ``centralized mindset,'' and
describes a new computational environment (called *Logo) that people
can use to create and explore decentralized models. Using *Logo,
people write rules for thousands of interacting ``creatures,'' then
observe the group behaviors that emerge.  For example, people can
simulate the emergence of foraging trails in an ant colony, or the
emergence of traffic jams on a freeway.  By designing such emergent
behaviors, people can begin to develop heuristics for thinking about
decentralized systems.


memo13.PS.Z	"BRAITENBERG CREATURES"
memo13.tar.Z	by David W. Hogg, Fred Martin, and Mitchel Resnick
memo13cvr.PS

This paper describes 12 autonomous ``creatures'' built with Electronic
Bricks. Electronic Bricks are specially-modified {\sc lego} bricks
with simple electronic circuits inside. Although each Electronic Brick
is quite simple, the bricks can be combined to form robotic creatures
with interesting and complex behaviors, similar to the fictional
machines described in Valentino Braitenberg's book {\em Vehicles}
(1984).