One of NICC's newest instructors is a little different than other instructors

One of Northeast Iowa Community College's newest instructors has two long metal arms coated in red with black joints, weighs 165 pounds, contains three built-in cameras and can be programmed with a laptop computer.

Obviously, "Baxter" is not your typical NICC instructor--he is a research robot being utilized primarily by Mechanical Engineering Technology students at NICC.

"Baxter operates with Intera 3 production software and functions through Robot Operating System (ROS)," explains NICC Mechanical Engineering Technology instructor Bill Byrd.

NICC students are learning to program Baxter to perform movements, such as moving his arms, picking up an item on a table or even hugging children, as the robot recently demonstrated at the STEM Festival at NICC Calmar.

"In production settings, robots are able to do assembly, material handling and can do a lot of quick reproducible situations you might be working in," says Byrd.  "Programmers are also working on personal assistant applications, such as assisting nurses in a hospital setting or helping those who need assistance with mobility," Byrd adds.

The robot was provided to NICC through a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The robot has a humanoid configuration and is designed with human-work capability, vision guided movement, object detection and behavior-based intelligence. Baxter's other features include two-hand operation, capability updates through new software development, 360-degree sonar and range finding sensors, and an integrated safety system.

"Robotic technology is changing very rapidly. In only one year, we will see more applications and software available for Baxter that will enhance his abilities," Byrd predicts.