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Two seventh-graders at Edgewood Middle School have been working with their teacher for weeks to Rowdy the Robot to ride a horse this weekend.
Though the Yamaha Motobot was a robot that learned to ride motorcycles, Rowdy may be the first humanoid to ride a horse. The 26-inch NAO robot will make the attempt this weekend at The Shipshewana Wild Wild West Show on an elaborate harness system.
Abbi Richcreek, Edgewood engineering technology teacher, said the idea began when she decided to purchase tickets for the Wild Wild West Show because her family owns and rides horses. She had a problem purchasing the tickets, so she called the Michiana Events Center and ending up speaking with John Malone, the producer of the Wild Wild West show.
“I started talking to him about one of my dreams of making a robot ride a horse, as I now have a robot that I received from a Dekko grant at Edgewood Middle School,” she said.
Malone said he loved the idea. Richcreek sent him photos and video of Rowdy, showcasing what the robot can do and of her students programming him.
“He was really excited, and he wanted to personally meet Rowdy,” Richcreek said.
She asked two students, Owen Stevens and Milana Whitaker, who she felt excelled and had a passion for working on special projects, to help turn Rowdy into a cowboy.
“I just asked them to put together a skit, but put it into a Wild West theme. And they did that,” Richcreek said.
Whitaker said, “She came up to Owen at first and asked if he was interested. He said yes. She came up to me and asked me, and I was so excited, I said yes.”
Stevens said they’ve been working on the project since mid-February.
“We made many skits to get them approved. We had three drafts but one final skit,” Whitaker said.
Richcreek then traveled to Shipshewana one weekend and played the students’ skit to Malone. He loved it.
“This has never been attempted before. It’s the first of its kind,” Malone said. He said to make it happen, a person would have to have a Liberty-trained horse, a trainer, a programmed robot and a complex harness — everything they’ll have for the show this weekend.
While Richcreek has horses, she doesn’t own any that have performed in front of people. Malone told her he would provide a horse. He also purchased a saddle for Rowdy since the saddle that Richcreek had was too big for the robot.
“So now we are on the path of having a robot ride a horse, for the first time, which we believe could be the first in the world. It is an exciting time, but also a little stressful. The horse is not from Indiana, it’s coming from another state, and it won’t be here until Wednesday,” she said.
On Wednesday, Richcreek, Stevens and Whitaker will travel to Shipshewana to meet the horse and its trainer to see if Rowdy can ride the horse.
This past weekend Richcreek went to Shipshewana to have Rowdy fitted for a harness that will be mounted to the saddle so he can maintain his balance while riding.
She said the horse could be a big factor as it’s never met the robot. After they meet the horse Wednesday, they’ll have to figure out what they’re going to do in their skit for the Wild Wild West show. On Thursday, they’ll have more practice with a dress rehearsal with all the other performers from the show at the Michiana Event Center.
Friday will be a normal school day, but afterward they’ll travel to Shipshewana for the 7 to 9 p.m. show, and then again for the show Saturday.
“We hope that the robot and the horse will work together well, as well as our two-student team, as they are going to program him and figure out how to make everything work together,” Richcreek said.
In programming Rowdy, Whitaker said they’ve been using a program called Choregraphe. Stevens began using the program in January, he said, while Whitaker only began familiarizing herself with it recently.
Stevens said Rowdy can recognize faces, do tai chi and kick a ball. “He can play soccer, too. He can drive a little plastic car,” he said.
Whitaker said he can speak and you can program his language. “He can say paragraphs, a story or play a song,” she said.
Each of Rowdy’s legs has bumpers, and he has sonar senses. He has two cameras for face recognition and tactical sensors. “Pretty much all of his appendages have all kinds of movement,”?Stevens said, noting that they haven’t figured out yet everything he can do.
Richcreek said Edgewood and Lakeview are the only two middle schools in Indiana to have the robot.
The two students are looking forward to seeing Rowdy on the horse.
“I think it’s going to be cool,” Whitaker said. “If we get him to do it, I will be pretty proud because it will be a challenge.”
“I think it’s going to be a challenge,” Stevens said. “But it’s going to be cool.”
“Whether this attempt is successful or not, I believe the most valuable part of this whole endeavor is that the students are learning problem solving and trouble-shooting skills, and they’re also going to incorporate that with working with others, including animals. So even if Rowdy is not successful, I think it’s a success due to the students learning what they’ve learned,” Richcreek said.
