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Robotics programs have become the bread & butter here in OMSI's Tech Lab.  The workhorses are 14 LEGO Mindstorms NXT education kits (includes a rechargeable battery).  Two are for demonstrations while the other 12 are used in classes & workshops.  I find they are the best option in their price range because of the  wide range of ages & abilities they can accommodate.  They are all assembled as basic 3 wheel robots, and we typically don't have participants building with the LEGOS.

We offer several options for school groups called Reserved Labs.  Descriptions can be found here: http://www.omsi.edu/teachers/fieldtrips/reservedlabs/techlab.cfm
To run something like these you'll need a number of computers and one robot/computer.  You'll be able to accommodate 2 students on each; I don't recommend 3 but you can do it in a pinch.  We've got 12 stations so we can accommodate 24.  The students get a demo on robots then spend the rest of class programming their robots.

We've recently started accommodating home school groups as well.  The advantage to these groups is that they come regularly instead of once/year.  As a response we've developed an 8 week series of reserved labs that take programming to a much more advanced level.  We also offer an 8 week series where we coach them through the FLL challenge missions.

One of our most popular teacher workshops is Robotics Made Easy, where we provide teachers an introduction to some of the different robotics platforms and competition programs.  One of the most valuable partnerships we've had is with the local Robotics competition groups such as FLL

For demonstrations we're also experimenting with VEX kits, an iRobot Create, some MAKE controllers, a Kondo humanoid robot and will be getting a PLEO later this week.  

As Jonah said, these programs are profitable for our Lab, and if marketed properly you should be able to recoup your costs within a year or two.  If you've got more questions or ideas, please contact me.

David Perry | Lead Educator, Vernier Technology Lab
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Phone: 503-797-4585
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