Six teenagers from a Burundi robotics team have been reported missing after an international competition in Washington and two of them were seen entering Canada, police said on Thursday.

The four males and two females were last seen late on Tuesday afternoon when the robotics contest ended at the FIRST Global Challenge, police said. Authorities issued missing persons photographs of the six on Wednesday.

Two of the Burundians - Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, and 16-year-old Don Ingabire - were spotted crossing the United States border into Canada, District of Columbia police spokeswoman Margarita Mikhaylova said.

"We don't have any indication of foul play and we're continuing to investigate this case," she said. Police said they did not have information about how they were spotted or the nature of the border crossing.

Canada's Border Services Agency said it could neither confirm nor deny that the pair entered Canada.

Teams of teenage students from more than 150 countries took part in the competition, which was designed to encourage careers in math and technology. An all-girl squad from Afghanistan drew worldwide media attention when President Donald Trump intervened after they were denied U.S. visas.

Burundi has long been plagued by civil war and other violence. Fighting has killed at least 700 people and forced 400,000 from their homes since April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would run for a third term in office.

The Burundi Embassy in Washington said by email that it did not know about the robotics contest or if a Burundian team was attending.

Competition organizer FIRST Global said in a statement that its president, Joe Sestak, made the first call to police about the missing competitors. The non-profit group learned on Tuesday night that the Burundi team's adult mentor had been unable to find them, it said.

The keys to the students' rooms at Trinity Washington University were left in the mentor's bag and their clothes had been taken from the rooms, the organization said.

"The security of the students is of paramount importance to FIRST Global," the statement said. It added that FIRST Global had provided safe transport to university dormitories and students were always supposed to be under the supervision of their mentor.

The other missing Burundians were named as Nice Munezero, 17; Kevin Sabumukiza, 17; Richard Irakoze, 18; and Aristide Irambona, 18. Police said the students had one-year visas.

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Burundi teenage robotics team missing after competition in DC - CNBC

The robotics industry is at an important crossroads. As machines play an increasingly important role in our work and home lives, a lot of difficult questions will need to be addressed, from proposed AI regulation, to automation-related job loss, to the level of control and autonomy we bestow upon our robotic counterparts.

Earlier this week, we were honored to host many of the greatest minds in the field on the MIT campus the birthplace of much of this robotic innovation. Industry and university leaders joined us at TC Sessions: Robotics, including Amazon Robotics Tye Brady, Disney Robotics Martin Buehler, MIT CSAIL director Daniela Rus, ABBs Sami Atiyaand all three iRobot cofounders, Colin Angle, Helen Grenier and Rodney Brooks.

Its impossible to cover all of the topics in such a broad and groundbreaking field over the course of a single-day event, but we did our best, from drones and Disney to household robotics and launching a commercially viable startup in the space. It was an amazing day full of great talks and incredible robot demos.

Thanks to everyone who helped us fill Kresge Auditorium on Monday, and for those who couldnt make it out to experience the robotics breakthroughs first-hand, heres the next best thing.

Daniela Rus, the head of MITs interdisciplinary CSAIL lab, demoed four of her teams most fascinating robotics projects. Rus stated that her passion is working toward a world where robots are pervasive in our lives, and the devices on-hand were a good demonstration of that breadth. In one demo, a robot is created on a 3D printer, hydraulics and all. In another, an origami robot folds itself into shape and goes to work powered by a magnet, while another, created from sausage casings, is designed to be ingested to help retrieve dangerous swallowed objects like batteries.

Investors Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital, Helen Zelman Boniske of Lemnos and Manish Kothari of SRI Ventures talk with Connie Loizos about how robotics startups can grab and keep their attention. The panel also discusses the robotics hype cycle and whetherweve reached a tipping point for VC interest in the category.

Sami Atiya from ABB spoke to Ron Miller from TechCrunch about the future of industrial robotics, including how many jobs they could realistically take, how data could make them smarter and the actual potential for a hacked robot.

Robots may be replacing humans in the workplace here and there, but its more likely that youll be working alongside a robot than training it to do your job. Devin Coldeweytalked about the challenges and opportunities of collaborative robots withClara Vu (VEO), Jerome Dubois (6 River Systems) and Holly Yanco (UMass Lowell).

As artificial intelligence and robots grow in sophistication, so too do the ethical conundrums associated with them. How can we design these systems so that they reflect the best of humanity and not our greatest flaws? Devin explored these questions withDavid Barrett (Olin), David Edelman (MIT) and Dr. Brian Pierce (DARPA).

Elaine Chen of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship moderated a discussion about robotics startups featuring Helen Greiner of CyPhy Works and Andy Wheeler of GV. The group discussed finding venture capital and the ways in which the space has evolved over the last couple of decades.

Amazons Tye Brady expressed his views on the state of the robotics industry and how to build the ideal robotic system. By using Star Wars R2-D2 as a comparison, he talked about how companies can build robots. TechCrunchs managing editor Matt Burns then pressed him on Amazons ultimate plan to replace the human workers in its warehouses with robots, which he ultimately claimed is not Amazons goal.

Greg Kumparak spoke to Deepu Talla (Nvidia, VP and General Manager of Intelligent Machines), Heather Ames (Neurala, co-founder and COO) and Brian Gerkey (Open Source Robotics Foundation, CEO) about building the robot brain. They chatted on the state of AI, on how more standardization might be needed moving forward to help robots from different companies communicate and where students and other new entrants into the field should focus to make the biggest impact. Heather Ames also announced a partnership with Motorola Solutions that will allow police to tap Neuralas machine learning algorithms to let their body cameras find missing children amongst crowds of people.

Buddy Michini of Airware, Andreas Raptopoulos of Matternet and Jan Stumpf of Intel spoke to hardware editor Brian Heater about the state of the industrial drone industry. The conversation covered the rapid rise of drones as a robotics platform both in research and among consumers, and the ways in which unmanned aircraft are becoming an increasingly popular tool for surveying and data collection. The conversation also touched upon the regulatory and other technological limitations in mainstreaming drones for various tasks and how the technology is being used to help underserved communities.

iRobot CEO Colin Angle joined hardware editor Brian Heater for a fireside chat about how his company became the commercial backbone of the Boston robotics community. Angle discussed the many trials and errors of launching a robotics startup and why the Roomba was the exact right device to cement the companys place as the leader in household robotics. The CEO also offered up advice for new students making the move from university research into a commercial market and discussed the importance of funding from departments like DARPA in helping robot companies stay afloat.

Gill Pratt, CEO of the Toyota Research Center (TRI), joined TechCrunchs managing editor Matt Burns on stage to chat about TRIs work in building robots that assist the elderly. Pratt explained that this is a passion of Toyota and addresses a growing need to provided assistance and care to a quick-growing segment of the population. Burns later asked Pratt to comment on Elon Musks recent call to have the U.S. government regulate AI, saying the technology is the greatest threat to our civilization a notion not shared by Pratt.

Rodney Brooks of Rethink Robotics talks with Connie Loizos about his upcoming book, which he hopes will dispel talk of AI as an existential threat to mankind (along with a little requisite shade thrown Elon Musks way). The iRobot co-founder and former MIT CSAIL director also discusses the pain points of building a robotics startup and the ethics of autonomous vehicles.

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Watch all of the panels from TC Sessions: Robotics right here - TechCrunch

At the White House, President Donald Trump gathered a group of US service members in the Roosevelt Room to talk about the Afghanistan War.

And less than a mile away a group of teens, most of whom have never lived in an Afghanistan without Americans serving at war in it, symbolized another view of life on the ground: the young generation that has grown up with an international presence in the country and that wants and works to be connected to the world well beyond its borders.

"For this new generation, things are different," Mahboob told me. "They want to be leaders in science and technology. They are very proud, they have full confidence. When we asked them to compete, if they could represent Afghanistan in this competition, they all said, 'Yes we can.' "

"I was surprised," Mahboob says.

Mahboob was only the start. These girls are now surprising Washington and the world as they travel far from home and offer those they meet a glimpse of a new Afghanistan, one whose fate is not yet clear, but whose stakes most certainly are.

More here:

All-girl robotics team symbolizes a new Afghanistan - CNN International

Team Gambia at the First Global Challenge 2017, an international robotics event. Left to right: Sellou Jallow, Fatoumata Ceesay, Khadijatou Gassama, Ebrima Marong and Alieu Bah. Shelby Knowles/NPR hide caption

It was a story that made headlines around the world.

An all-girl team from Afghanistan applied for visas to come to the First Global Challenge, an international robotics competition taking place in Washington, D.C. this week.

And their visa request was denied.

They weren't the only team to face visa hurdles. The team from Gambia two girls and three boys was also denied when they first applied.

"Having no hope to come, we still worked," says the team's captain, 18-year-old Alieu Bah. "We never give up, no matter how hard the condition is. That's how we pushed and pushed and pushed until we finally reapplied and got our visa, and here we are now."

The opening ceremony at the First Global Challenge 2017. Shelby Knowles/NPR hide caption

The opening ceremony at the First Global Challenge 2017.

The Afghanistan team got its visas as well. Now both teams are in Washington, D.C., for the contest. Each of the roughly 160 national teams participates in several matches, hoping their robots earn the most points.

We spoke to the members of team Gambia to see what it's like to plunge into the world of robotics in their country where 48.4 percent of the population lives in poverty and what it's like to be a girl in the male-dominated world of science and technology.

None of the team members had any experience building robots before this competition, says Khadijatou Gassama.

"We didn't have anyone to help us with the design," she says, adding that the team watched videos and followed a guide provided by First Global to learn how to make their robot.

Khadijatou Gassama of team Gambia. Shelby Knowles/NPR hide caption

Khadijatou Gassama of team Gambia.

The theme of this first-time competition is "water issues." The Gambian team's robot, a cube-shaped device about the size of a large microwave, is designed to separate balls that represent water particles and balls that represent water contaminants and deliver them to different places.

Gassama and Fatoumata Ceesay are the two girls on Gambia's team. It's their first time in the U.S. They're both relatively soft-spoken but seemed confident as they interacted with their teammates. The girls spent some of their free time between matches working with their teammates to fine-tune their robot.

Gassama says she loves physics because it requires thinking outside of the box, coming up with new ideas and inventing new things. The 17-year-old's skill in physics led her professor to recommend her for the robotics team.

"It may not be complex, but I think it's efficient enough to take part in the competition," Gassama says of the team's robot. She graduated from high school this year and hopes to study nanotechnology. She's not planning to start college this fall it's too expensive, she says but instead wants to do an internship.

Both girls would like to inspire more young women in their home country to get into robotics.

"The [girls] that do not have it in mind can change their minds, because it's very interesting," says Ceesay, 17. She also graduated from high school this year.

Fatoumata Ceesay of team Gambia displays her country's flag at the First Global Challenge. Shelby Knowles/NPR hide caption

Fatoumata Ceesay of team Gambia displays her country's flag at the First Global Challenge.

Gambia, along with many other countries, still has a STEM gender gap.

As of 2011, about 20 percent of the country's researchers are female, according to a UNESCO report. That's better than Saudi Arabia and Nepal and comparable to the Netherlands (24 percent) and France (26 percent).

Hamba Manneh, charge d'affaires at the Gambian embassy in Washington, D.C., says the Gambian government makes an effort to include girls in all its government-sponsored events.

"If you neglect half of your population, you are likely to fail in any undertaking," he says. "Girls are very smart, they're just as smart as their boy counter[parts], so that's why they should always be center stage."

That's a sentiment shared by the young women at the competition. Laura Ortiz, a 10th grader on the Chilean team, says, "Many say that engineering and robotics are for men, and places like salons are for women. But I feel we all have equal rights to do what we like."

Gassama hopes she and Ceesay will inspire other Gambian girls to become interested in technology and look for solutions to some of Gambia's problems such as getting access to clean water for everyone.

"Especially during the rainy season, it's very terrible," she says. "Most of the places have boreholes and during the rainy season those have rubbish. People find it very, very difficult to get clean water."

"That is why more girls should get involved in this kind of stuff, because it's really, really important," she adds. "We want to build our nation, to make it a better place to live."

Continued here:

Meet The Other Robotics Team That Almost Didn't Make It To The Competition - NPR

Were pleased to report that a so-called Roomba for weeds, Franklin Robotics Tertill, won the TC Sessions: Robotics pitch-off. Because if theres a task that should be relegated to a robot, its weeding a garden.

For winning the pitch-off,Franklin Robotics was awarded an exhibit table in Disrupt SFs Startup Alley.

We actually tried to get away from the circular shape for a while, CEO Rory MacKean told TechCrunch ahead of the pitch-off appearance at TC Sessions: Robotics. We want something thats robust and rugged, with a rectangular shape. We wanted to make it look like a tractor: four-wheel drive, corners. But then the corners dont make sense. It would get itself into a situation where it was hard to back out without damaging anything. You cant turn in place without damaging plants.

The circular shape, along with built-in sensors, help the robot avoid contact with useful plants taller than an inch the company is also shipping the robot with small metal guards to keep it from bumping into younger plants. The Tertill is designed to spend its entire existence outside, drawing power through the large solar panel on its back to fuel the two or so hours a day that it does its routine garden maintenance.

The Tertill competed against three other projects for the spot at Disrupt SF. We thank all the participants of the event including the panel of judges that included Jeremy Conrad of Lemnos, Helen Greiner of CyPhyWorks, Daniel Theobald of Vecna and Melonee Wise of Fetch Robotics.

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Franklin Robotics' Tertill wins the pitch-off at TC Sessions: Robotics ... - TechCrunch

Ivanka Trump wears block-heel sandals and poses with students at the White House.

Courtesy of Instagram

Surrounded by student competitors from around the globe, Ivanka Trump was in the company of teens in colorful shirts and coordinated looks today at the FIRST Robotics Competition.

So it was a wise choice when the lifestyle brand entrepreneur arrived at the White House to greet competitors in an outfit that doesnt usually standout in a crowd head-to-toe black and white.

Taking to Instagram today, Ivanka shared an image of herself posing with the students. Great to welcome Teams USA, Afghanistan and FIRST Robotics Competition winners, Team Hungary, to the White House today! she wrote. Congratulations on a job well done. We are proud of you! #STEM. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

The special assistant to the president embraced a color-blocked silhouette that included a black sleeveless top and an airy white skirt complemented by black sandals.

Ivanka is no stranger to stomping around in stilettos, but for the day of academic revelry the busy mother of three gave her feet a rest in sleek style with block-heel sandals.

The footwear had around a 3.5-inch heel and ankle strap with a buckle closure.

It would be no surprise if the brand were of her eponymous line. Ivanka has made many stylish appearances in her lifestyle label, which includes footwear, apparel, handbags and jewelry categories. (Marc Fisher Footwear holds the license to her shoe line)

Brand Ivanka has similar Emalyn block-heel black suede sandals that retail for $120, but the shoes are currently on sale for $89.99 onMacys.com.

Want More? From the Archives: Ivanka Trump Through the Year

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Ivanka Trump Stands Out in Comfy Heels at Student Robotics Competition Now Her Shoes Are On Sale - Footwear News

Robotics investing has taken off in recent years. Though it still represents a small fraction of overall VC spending, related deals are increasing in both frequency and size, with roughly $520 million invested across 40 deals in the first quarter alone, compared with roughly the same amount invested in 130 companies across all of 2014.

This week, we sat down with top robotics investors Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital, Helen Zelman Boniske of Lemnos and Manish Kothari of SRI Ventures to ask what theyre shopping for right now and what they hope to hear in startup pitches. You can see our sit-down below. In the meantime, some highlights from that conversation:

On why robotics investing has taken off:

Wolfe pointed to the outpouring of engineers, many of whom have been trained at amazing places like MIT under the tutelage of professors who themselves have started companies. He also cited the ebbs and flows of capital markets, noting that any time the hype increases, the cost of capital gets low, meaning more founders are able to raise money right now.

Wolfe further noted that robotics companies are making other robotics companies possible. Specifically, he pointed to the satellite company Planet, which captures photos that are then analyzed by the geospatial analytics company Orbital Insight, which then sells that research to its own customers, including retailers wanting a better idea of how many cars are in their parking lots.

Kothari meanwhile talked a bit about falling component prices and GPUs or specialized electronic circuits that are now a big part of the game and without which the uptick in robotics investing would not be possible.

Kothari also talked of the importance of software becoming far more sophisticated and thus easier for founders to use as a building block.

On whether theres enough follow-on funding for the many young robotics startups that have snagged seed and Series A-stage funding:

At the moment, cash is abundant, said Wolfe. There are new angels coming [into the industry]. There are new venture firms forming. There are corporate guys coming in. SoftBank is making a huge impact on this stuff [including with its huge new Vision Fund]. All of it means that the risk of raising early rounds and follow-on funding is very low, in his view as long as founders make products that are also good businesses. (The funding picture will invariably change, said Wolfe.)

Boniske said that in terms of later-stage funding, shes seeing venture firms in Series A and B deals and that for later-stage deals, strategics i.e., corporations with deep pockets and a need for new technologies are more commonly involved.

Like Wolfe, she, too, stressed that founders better make certain the unit economics of their robots work, given that a slowdown is inevitable.

What the VCs want to see in founding teams:

Kothari said he wants to see founders who are creative with their business models. People are now thinking about robot-as-a-service models and other things versus purely a [capital expenditure] play. Those capex plays were tough, and one of the points I make to our companies is if youre going to do a service model, you better find a way to recover your costs in six to nine months. If you cant do that, then you dont have a service model if you do have the proper mechanics, theres no shortage right now of capital to be had.

Boniske said it comes back to the founders and that, in her view, an ideal robotics founding team probably has three people: the CEO whos going to be the visionary and drive the strategy of the overall company; this person is going to be doing the fundraising and recruiting. It should also feature a technologist whos going to go and build out the engineering team and who ideally has a lot of robotics experience.

The third piece and its missing for a lot of teams, she said is someone who can communicate the exact value proposition for the customer and speak its customers language.

As for Wolfe, he said to dazzle him, basically, Yes, margins matter. Yes, the business matters. But in the early stage, what I recommend in two words is: make magic.I can tell you, sitting on the other side of the table, that when an entrepreneur comes to us, and we feel that magic has just been made that weve seen something that nobody else has seen, that weve seen something that came out of a sci-fi movie, that were sitting across from some scientist who is like some rebel thats trying to shape the world in their view thats the thing that gets us to part with our cash.

Original post:

Here's what robotics investors say they're looking for in startup ... - TechCrunch

An international robotics competition in Washington attracted teams of teenagers from more than 150 nations. The team that drew the most attention at the FIRST Global Challenge, which ended Tuesday, was a squad of girls from Afghanistan who were twice rejected for U.S. visas before President Donald Trump intervened. But there were even more stories than there were teams. Here are a few:

RESULTS:

Teams left with gold, silver and bronze medals in a variety of categories.

The Europe team won a gold award for getting the most cumulative points over the course of the competition. Poland got silver and Armenia bronze. Finland won a gold award for winning the best win-loss record. Silver went to Singapore and bronze to India.

There were also awards for engineering design, innovation and international unity, among others. The Afghanistan team won a silver medal for "courageous achievement." The award recognized teams that exhibited a "can-do" attitude even under difficult circumstances or when things didn't go as planned. The gold medal in that category went to the South Sudan team and bronze to the Oman team, whose students are deaf.

The 2018 competition will be held in Mexico City.

GIRL POWER:

Sixty percent of the teams participating in the competition were founded, led or organized by women. Of the 830 teens participating, 209 were girls. And there were six all-girl teams, including not only the Afghan squad but also teams from the United States, Ghana, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Vanuatu's nickname: the "SMART Sistas."

Samira Bader, 16, on the Jordanian team, says "it's very difficult for us because everyone thinks" building robots is "only for boys." She said her team wants to prove that "girls can do it."

The three-girl U.S. team included sisters Colleen and Katie Johnson of Everett, Washington, and Sanjna Ravichandar of Plainsboro, New Jersey. Colleen Johnson, 16, said her team looks forward "to a day when an all-girls team is going to be no more special than an all-boys team or a co-ed team, just when that's completely normal and accepted."

The team competing from Brunei was also all female, though a male member previously worked on the project.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS:

The team from Iran got some help building their robot from American students. It turns out that the competition's kit of robot parts including wheels, brackets, sprockets, gears, pulleys and belts was not approved for shipment to Iran due to sanctions involving technology exports to the country. So the competition recruited a robotics team at George C. Marshall high school in Falls Church, Virginia, to help. Iran's team designed the robot, and about five Marshall students built it in the United States.

The team explained on its competition webpage that "our friends in Washington made our ideas as a robot."

Because of the time difference between the countries, the three-member team and its mentor were sometimes up at midnight or 3 a.m. in Iran to talk to their collaborators.

Amin Dadkhah, 15, called working with the American students "a good and exciting experience for both of us." Kirianna Baker, one of the U.S. students who built the robot, agreed. "Having a team across the world with a fresh set of eyes is very valuable," she said.

TEAM HOPE:

A group of three refugees from Syria competed as team "Refugee," also known as team "Hope." All three fled Syria to Lebanon three years ago because of violence in their country.

Mohamad Nabih Alkhateeb, Amar Kabour and Maher Alisawui named their robot "Robogee," a combination of the words "robot" and "refugee."

Alkhateeb, 17, and Kabour, 16, say they want to be robotics engineers, and Alisawui wants to be a computer engineer. Kabour said it's important to the team to win, to "tell the world" refugees are "here and they can do it."

Alkhateeb also said living as a refugee has been difficult, but he hopes to someday return home.

"I will go back after I have finished my education so I can rebuild Syria again," he said.

Some 11 million people half of the Syrian population have been forced from their homes.

Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko .

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Afghan team among medal winners at global robotics event - ABC News

Monday morning in Washington, D.C., the girls finally walked on stage at the First Global Challenge, a competition in which teams from around the world maneuver a robot to collect and sort balls.

The Afghan girls, ages 14-16, were fittingly the last team to take their place. Minutes before the competition began, a cable on their robot failed. The girls nervously raced to replace it. Then they joined teams from Estonia and Gabon to compete against Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Ghana.

The broken cable was the last of many obstacles the girls overcame. The team became a media sensation after its members had their visa applications rejected twice. A half-dozen TV cameras filmed from the bleachers at DAR Constitution Hall, a couple blocks from the White House. The team could only make the trip after President Trump intervened at the last second.

Related: Afghan robotics team travels to U.S. after Trump steps in

From the second they signed up for the competition, they encountered adversity. First, the materials for their robot were held up in customs on their way to Afghanistan. They finally arrived, leaving the girls only two weeks to build their robot, far less than other teams.

But they persevered, under the guidance of Roya Mahboob, the CEO of Digital Citizen Fund, a nonprofit that gives girls in the developing world access to technology.

Mahboob, who organized the team, told CNN Tech she's a believer in technology's ability to create opportunities for women.

"For many of these girls, their life is already defined by family, the community and society. They have to marry, they have to stay at home, they have to raise the kids," Mahboob said. "This environment of working together to solve robotics problems gives them the feeling that they can do something much greater."

Mahboob points to her own life as proof of technology's impact on women. She grew up in Iran, an Afghan refugee. As a teenager she returned to her native country, and later started an IT company there. Mahboob said technology freed her from borders and culture. She found her investors outside Afghanistan and now lives in New York.

"We want to tell the men in our society that women can make it if you give them opportunity and the tools," Mahboob said. "This changes their family's view later on. They say, 'wow,' because this was always for the boys and the men."

The six girls have since taken up Mahboob's mission.

"We want to be a good example for girls," said Rodaba Noori, one team member. "We want to make our country a better place to live, work and get an education."

While their journey was about a lot more than being the best at sorting blue and red plastic balls, they've proven good at that too. Along with Estonia and Gabon, they beat Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Ghaha in their opening match Monday. The competition wraps up Tuesday afternoon.

CNNMoney (Washington) First published July 18, 2017: 10:58 AM ET

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How an all-female robotics team from Afghanistan ended up competing in DC - CNNMoney

A member of Libyas Team Impact works on his teams robot during the first day of the FIRST Global Challenge on Monday at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Over the past month, international media have been captivated by the story of a team of six teenage girls from Afghanistan who finally gained entry into the United States for a competition after their visa applications were twice denied. Politico reported on July 12 that Trump prompted the State Department to allow the team into the country. The girls arrived Saturday night in Washington, where they joined 162 other high schoolage teams for the FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition from Sunday to Tuesday. Trumps supporters and skeptics alike have applauded the president for his intervention, and his daughter Ivanka helped kick off the last day of the competition to celebrate women in STEM. Some have argued that the presidents small act of mercy does not excuse the cruelty of the travel ban he instituted.

The ban didnt just make travel nearly impossibleit was also a perpetual obstacle in acquiring funding for the team.

Afghanistan is not one of the six countries covered by the ban. However, the travel ban was a significant stumbling block for the team from Libya. Because of challenges presented by the ban, the Tech Impact team was only able to send two boys, 18-year-old Anis Jorny and 17-year-old Oumer Jehad, to the tournament. The three other team members, along with their adult mentor, were forced to stay behind in Tripoli, the nations capital. Theyve been cheering from a distance by watching a livestream of the games, which involve robots competing to complete tasks like collecting small plastic balls on a rectangular playing field.

The teams mentor and founder, Kusai Fteita, said over Skype, After four months of hard work, its really tough for [the other teammates and me] to just watch this on a screen.

Libya is in the throes of a sovereignty struggle between several militant factions. Since the Arab Spring in 2011, which toppled the reign of Muammar Qaddafi, no governing body has been able to step in and ensure stability. ISIS militants took advantage of the disarray and established a stronghold in Sirte, a coastal city, in 2015. Libyan forces just recently retook the city in December. Tripoli, where the team is based, is roughly 280 miles away.

According to the members of Tech Impact, the ban didnt just make travel nearly impossibleit was also a perpetual obstacle in acquiring funding for the team. Although FIRST will provide robot kits, flight tickets, and accommodations in Washington to those in need, it is up to the teams to pay for their own visa applications. The cost of a visa application is $160 per person, so it would cost almost $1,000 for the five-student team and their mentor. Furthermore, Fteita notes, rapid inflation due to conflict in Libya made it particularly difficult for them to find the money.

We wanted every nation to have some skin in the game, said Joe Sestak, president of FIRST. Teams are usually able to make sponsorship agreements with schools or local businesses that will donate the necessary supplies and money. However, Fteita struggled to convince any businesses in Libya to sponsor the team, largely because of Trumps travel ban.

[The businesses] told me, Because of the Trump ban, you will not get the visas, so why should I give you the money? Fteita recalled. Besides visa fees, sponsors often provide a space to meet and practice, uniforms and banners for the competition, and miscellaneous resources like a stable internet connection for research.

Without donors, the team had to improvise. Through a friend, Fteita was able to find them a meeting place in the cramped side room of a computer shop. The team has been toiling since April to build their robot amid instability in the country. Twice they were forced to stop practice to avoid gunfire from nearby skirmishes. The armed conflict has also crippled Libyas electrical grid, so the shop would often abruptly lose power for up to five hours at a time, leaving them unable to program the robots software. And lack of air conditioning during power outages made working in the shop unbearable, as temperatures in Libya can reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. But the team developed a system. [During power outages] we work on the [robots] structure and when the electricity returns, we work on the software, Mohammed Zeid, one of the team members, messaged me over Facebook from Tripoli.

They worked long shifts: 10 hours a week in the months leading up to the competition, and five hours a day in the two weeks right before. Some team members had to walk for 45 minutes in the blistering Libyan heat to travel to the computer shop while others took hourlong bus rides.

Shortly before the competition, the team was finally able to find a sponsor willing to take a chance on paying for the visa fees. Yet the sponsor would only pay for the people who had a good shot at getting an application approved under the travel ban. The team decided that Jorny and Jehad were the best candidates, since they had applied successfully for visas the year before the ban was in effect in order to attend exchange programs in the U.S. They boarded a flight to Tunisia to apply at the U.S. embassy (the U.S. does not have an embassy in Libya) and came straight to the competition in D.C. after getting visa approval. The coach and their remaining three teammates17-year-old Zeid, 14-year-old Abdularahman Abu Spiha, and 17-year-old Yaseen Mohamedwere dejected. (Yaseen Mohamed had exams during the competition, so it is unclear whether he would have been able to attend anyway.)

When asked about his reaction to learning that he wouldnt be able to go to the competition, Zeid messaged, Shock! Disappointment! Bad! Frustration! But I always try to remember that I worked for Libya and to improve my country.

On Monday, as the first day of games came to an end in Washington, Jehad and Jorny sat slumped in the corner of the robot repair pit bleary-eyed and overwhelmed. After winning one match and losing another, they had plans to modify their robot, a small metal vehicle that resembles a steampunk wheat combine. A small Libyan flag is posted on the front-right corner of the machine. Not having our mentor here is hard. He usually helps us brainstorm, Jehad said. Also Mohammed [Zeid] has more experience with mechanics so its hard to make the changes without him. Jehad and Jorny had to consult with their mentor and teammates back home through a Facebook chat in order to make the necessary tune-ups for their four upcoming matches the next day.

When asked about the Libyan teams particular challenges, FIRST president Sestak said, We thought there was a fair opportunity for them to [raise funds]. But they were unable to raise funds from sponsors. I was not privy to the reasons, but sponsors were not supporting them already. He noted that the four teams representing other countries affected by the travel ban Sudan, Iran, Yemen, and a team of Syrian refugeeswere nevertheless able to find money for the visa fees. (Somalia was unable to form a team.)

Though teams from other countries affected by the travel ban were indeed able to get their visas, many had similar difficulties finding sponsors and had to pay the fees themselves. The team from Iran also ran into skepticism from potential donors concerning their ability to enter the country under the ban, so they paid for the visa application fees out of pocket. Families of the team members from Sudan paid the fees after initial problems finding sponsors. The mentor for the team of Syrian refugees dipped into his own teaching salary to afford the visas for him and his students, and the students from Yemen received the funds from their local gifted students program. In addition, the team from Gambia, though not technically impacted by the travel ban, initially had its visas denied. The State Department reversed its decision shorty before the competition.

Team Impact ended up winning just one out of its six matches. The result wasnt what the team members had hoped, but now they have their eyes set on the 2018 competition in Mexico City. As the two packed up their robot after the closing ceremonies, Jehad told me, Next year Libya is going to do great. I hope the whole team will be able to make it. Fortunately for them, Mexico doesnt have a travel ban.

This article is part of Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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How Trump's Travel Ban Hobbled a Libyan High School Robotics Team - Slate Magazine

Dozens of Fort Worth's brightest high school students battled it out in a tough competition.

The group gathered at Texas Wesleyan University for a robotics competition. But it's much more than just a contest.

The robotics class came down to a final showdown of mechanics and the mind. The robots were evenly matched. The brains and competitive spirit come from the students who built them.

"I let her be the competitive side, said student Louis Anguiano. I just get to have fun. I built the robot.

Teammate Yendy Avila is competitive. But when she thinks about winning, it's about securing a future.

"At first, I wanted to be a robotics engineer. But after that, I found out I wanted to be an animator, she said. This helps me a lot by knowing more about the movement and how it works."

The competition is a clash of titans students with a driving force. They're from four Fort Worth high schools taking a summer robotics class at Texas Wesleyan University.

The class is part of Upward Bound, a college prep program. Many of the students in it will be the first in their family to go to college.

The object of the competition is for the teams' robots to pick up letters and spell TX WES by tacking them up on a board. But there are several ways to score points.

The big prize is a stuffed toy. It's good for a lot of extra points if your robot is first to snatch it up and drop it in a tin box.

The enthusiasm from the students tells you it is a lot of fun. It is a lot like a crossroads with no stop sign. But it's the path these students will have to learn to negotiate to succeed.

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Fort Worth students battle it out in robotics competition - FOX 4 News

Wai Yan Htun, an 18-year-old member of the Myanmar team who stopped by the Afghan table after the first three rounds to offer a taste of Myanmar peanuts and get the teams signatures on his shirt, said: We love them. Theyre like superheroes in this competition.

Colleen Elizabeth Johnson, 18, one of three teenagers representing the United States, said: Theyre celebrities here now. Theyre getting the welcome they deserve.

Before their first match Tuesday morning, the six Afghan teenagers were paired with the United States and four other all-female teams to compete in a demonstration match for Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and adviser. Ms. Trump then spoke briefly to the crowd, applauding the students work and dedication.

For many of you who have traveled great lengths to be here, we welcome you, she said, turning to smile at the six Afghan girls. Its a privilege and an honor to have you all with us.

She shook hands with the teenagers and posed for pictures before she left and the rounds continued.

Competition takes place in arenas built in the center area of Constitution Hall, where teams of three, equipped with kits that includes wheels, gears and two video game controllers, chase down blue and orange balls, which represent clean and contaminated water. In two-and-a-half-minute rounds, teams guide the robots to sweep the balls into openings based on their color.

Its way more fun, way more exciting than bouncing a ball, said Dean Kamen, one of the organizations founders and inventor of the Segway. Thats not a competition out there. Thats a celebration.

It was certainly a celebration for Roya Mahboob, a renowned Afghan technology entrepreneur who interpreted for the teenagers and came on behalf of her company, Digital Citizen Fund, a womens empowerment nonprofit that sponsored the Afghan team for the competition.

The six students were chosen from an initial pool of 150 applicants. They built their robot in two weeks, compared with the four months some of their competitors had, because their kits shipment was delayed.

Im just proud that we show the talent of the women, Ms. Mahboob said. We see that there is change.

The Afghan robot, named Better Idea of Afghan Girls, lurched across the terrain for the first round and skirted out of bounds, but 15-year-old Lida Azizi, a teal-colored fishtail braid dangling from underneath her white head scarf, flashed her teammates a thumbs-up as they cheered in Dari and applauded. As the competition progressed, they continued to make adjustments as they got used to driving their robot, an Afghan flag carefully attached. (The team has jumped to 69th place from 115th, out of about 160 teams.)

Alireza Mehraban, an Afghan software engineer who is the teams mentor, said this was an opportunity to change perceptions about the girls country. Were not terrorists, he said. Were simple people with ideas. We need a chance to make our world better. This is our chance.

Yet with more than 150 countries represented in the competition, the Afghan teenagers were not the only students who overcame bureaucratic and logistical challenges to showcase their ingenuity. Visa applications were initially denied for at least 60 of the participating teams, Mr. Kamen said.

On Monday, with the news media swarming the Afghan girls, a team from Africa five Moroccan students who also got their visas two days before the competition huddled in a downstairs corner to repair their robot, which had been disassembled for last-minute shipment. An American high school built a robot on behalf of the Iranian team when sanctions on technology exports stopped the shipment of their materials kit. And on Sunday, the Estonian team built a new robot in four hours before the opening ceremony, the original lost in transit somewhere between Paris and Amsterdam.

But it was the Afghan team and Team Hope, which consists of three Syrian refugee students, that ensnared the attention of the competitors, the judges and supporters.

The high school students exchanged buttons and signed shirts, hats and flags draped around their shoulders. The Australian team passed out pineapple-shaped candy and patriotic stuffed koalas to clip on lanyards, while the Chilean team offered bags with regional candy inside.

God made this planet for something like this, all the people coming together as friends, said Alineza Khalili Katoulaei, 18, the captain of the Iranian team, gesturing to the Iraqi and Israeli teams standing nearby. Politics cannot stop science competitions like this.

After an award ceremony Tuesday night, the Afghan team is scheduled to attend a reception while some of the teams are slated to spend a couple of days exploring Washington. When they return to Herat, the third-largest city in Afghanistan, the Afghan teenagers plan to celebrate with their families and continue to work with their communities.

I want to be the young leader of robotic technology in my country and show the talent of Afghans, be an example for Afghan women, Rodaba Noori, 16, said.

She said she would remember the sisterhood she had formed with her teammates, the safety in the United States and the kindness of the people they had met.

We want to take the best examples of humanity back, she said.

Originally posted here:

Afghan Girls' Robotics Team Won Visas. Now for the Real Contest. - New York Times

Right now, roboticist Daniela Rus main aspiration is to have a world where anyone can have a robot, where anyone can use a robot, the MIT professor told TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics on Monday.

Rus, who is also the director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, said that though the world of robotics has certainly made recent advancements, her dream isnt possible quite yet.

But just remember that only two decades ago, computation was a task reserved for an expert few, because computers were large, expensive and hard to use, she said. All that changed now everyone uses computers and I believe in the future, tasks will be equally changed by artificial intelligence.

What followed throughout the one-day robotics event organized by tech media company TechCrunch was the musings of many immersed in the robotics world as to where we are exactly in the timeline of robot advancement, and how that advancement will affect humans.

Basically, were just at the beginning of developing robots, and were still pretty far from many developments and from the sci-fi situation of robots taking over the world.

In a talk about robots, AI and humanity, experts discussed the difficult goal of creating a robot consciousness, which would allow artificial intelligence to make ethical decisions and follow social cues.

If you look at theology, humans are born without common sense, said Dr. David Barrett, a professor of mechanical engineering at Olin College. Its an acquired skill a little bit is better than none, a little bit more is better than that, until you get to a level of confidence to perform a job and interact with people. Computers and AI are far from that baseline point.

Even though the tech behind robots still has a long way to go, people are already thinking about how robots and humans will coexist. If you fear robots taking over the world, or just all your job options, dont worry.

I think there is sometimes a misconception that automation is all about a direct line march from all people to all robots, said Clara Vu, VP of engineering at Veo Robotics. Really, in many ways, humans and robots have very complementary strengths: Robots can be fast and strong, but humans have flexibility and judgment.

When people are looking for robotic solutions to problems, Vu said, theyre looking for ways robot and humans can work together.

There are already more than 80,000 robots working in Amazons warehouses and fulfillment centers, said Tye Brady, chief technologist for Amazon Robots, at TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics on Monday.

Though the robotics world is still developing, Brady doesnt expect or want robots to replace humans completely at Amazon.

Humans are really great at creative problem-solving, abstraction and generalizations. Robots are really good at crunching numbers, pulling data, lifting heavy objects and moving with precision, he said. We have to think about how we can build systems that bring the strengths of each of these components together.

To Brady, that collaboration will look like a symphony of humans and robots fulfilling orders in a way the world hasnt seen.

That collaboration will extend into other businesses as well, like helping first responders or law enforcement officials react to a crisis.

Heather Ames of Neurala, a Boston-based deep learning software company, unveiled at the TechCrunch event a partnership between Neurala and Motorola Solutions in which artificial intelligence can help find a missing child.

The description of a missing child can be sent to body cameras on the uniforms of officers, she said, so that thousands of eyes are scanning the crowd looking for a lost child. The same system could also be applied to finding suspicious packages.

Drones can help first responders assess a catastrophic event, said Buddy Michini of Airware.

They can take a drone for getting an overview of whats happening and put [help] at, say, the most crashed building, he said, adding that Airware sent drones to assist with a recent earthquake in Italy.

And robots can even be integrated right onto the human body, to augment human skills. David Perry from Harvard Labs demoed an exosuit at the event that straps robotics right onto someones legs.

This has two main applications, he said: to enhance the natural ability of healthy people and to restore ability that those with a physical impairment may have lost. For the first use, Harvard Labs has been working with the military to put these robotic pants onto soldiers, so they dont get as tired while walking and carrying packs that often weigh more than 100 pounds.

The machine doesnt control the user, Perry explained, but follows his moves, whether walking up a hill or stepping over rough terrain, combining the strengths of both robots and humans together in one use.

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The future of robotics means robots and humans will work side by side, experts say - Metro US

Credit: Shawn Hunt and Microsoft Vancouver

Transformation Mask is an experiential sculpture piece that brings art and technology together as it morphs from bird mask to human-merged-with-machine. Its the result of a collaboration between Canadian artist Shawn Hunt and Microsoft Vancouvers in-house maker space, The Garage, and leverages electronics and mechanical engineering in a physical transformation, before beginning an immersive holographic experience with the HoloLens.

But while the project is certainly interesting enough from a technical perspective the way it blends 3D-printed and robotics elements with HoloLens mixed reality holograms via Bluetooth is sure to get anybody with a penchant for geeky tinkering very excited what makes it truly ground-breaking is the way it uses those technologies to explore aesthetics, identity, and artistic expression in new ways.

Shawn Hunt is a successful Vancouver-based artist who like many people in British Columbia is of mixed descent, combining Scottish, French and indigenous Heiltsuk heritage. Rather than seeing that conflict of identities as a problem, however, Hunt has always leveraged it as a part of his art:

I have never felt like I really belonged to any one particular movement, culture, category, or clique. As an artist this has given me an incredible amount of freedom. I dont feel that my work is conceptual, traditional, artefact or craft. It is neither ancient nor modern. Instead, I feel as though my work has elements of all of these categories. This is a freedom that allows me to distort, subvert, hijack and remix these categories in order to offer new points of view. I want to challenge the viewers preconceptions. I like the idea of art being like a catalyst, or a flash point. I think art is most powerful when it poses questions, not when it gives the viewer the answers. My goal is to make the viewer think.

So it made perfect sense for him to take this subversion and remixing to the next step by incorporating cutting-edge technologies in his work. That led him to accept Microsofts invitation to essentially come and play with all the shiny toys in their impressive Vancouver HQ. Hunt and his team of artists then collaborated with a host of designers and engineers to explore how Robotics, 3D-Printing and Mixed Reality could help tell traditional stories in a new and powerful way.

The raven in Heiltsuk mythology is seen as the ultimate trickster and that fluid identity seemed like a perfect idea to explore using those tools. The interactive installation they came up with features a bird mask in a traditional indigenous design which gradually morphs into a cyborg through a mixture of physical robotics mechanisms and virtual Mixed Reality elements. As the experience unfolds, the mask appropriates the traditional aspects of metamorphosis with the transformation from bird mask to human, yet in this adaptation the human mask has been altered, upgraded, and merged with the machine. Incorporating aspects of technology, sound and space, each part of the work reflects Hunts interest in how we understand and identify with the term indigenous.

This work presents a new trajectory for engagement and exploration of First Nations practice; one that points towards technology and innovation as aspects that expand traditional practices and opens new avenues for interpretation, says Hunt.

The process started with the production of a paper prototype of the mask, and the team also employed a variety of traditional methods, from initial hand drawn sketches to a full size foam core mock up. These were then replicated into a digital prototype mounted on an aluminium skeleton for hinge measurements. True to traditional form, there are no straight lines on the raven (a concept diametrically opposed to polygonal hard surface 3D modelling) and complex compound curves were lofted to generate the primary beak and head surfaces while procedurally generated hex patterns filled the voids for the ravens eyes and nostrils.

At every step, the structures were digitally recreated and animated to avoid complications in the hardware build phase. Overall, the mask required nearly 300 hours of 3D-printing time. The model was digitally sliced into over 20 sections to meet printer specifications, with components assembled on open beam aluminium rails with interlocking elements between the printed pieces. The finished mask was made up of over 20 individually 3D-Printed components and measured over a meter.

The masks behaviour was achieved through an array of electronics, sensors, processors and mechanical elements. An ultrasonic range finder detects the presence of an attendee and automatically triggers the experience. Three linear actuators attached to an aluminium skeleton drive the primary phases of motion. Several microcontrollers work in unison to control individual addressable LEDs and behaviour states for the ravens eyes projected through Windows phones. The mask transforms with the help of three linear servos driven by two microcontrollers, and communicates with itself and the outside world through electromagnetic and optical signals.

Modified LED strips line the inside of the mask triggering the hardware and software cues throughout the various stages of the experience. The HoloLens impressive computing power orchestrates all these elements, synchronizing the software and hardware over a Bluetooth connection.The holographic experience, where the animated volumetric drawings appear in concert with particle simulations and spatial sounds, was sequenced and rendered in real time using Unity3D. To design it, Shawn started by familiarizing himself with a range of technologies. Drawings that started as volumetric digital sculptures in Tilt Brush were later refined using 2D digital inking to perfect the traditional lines and forms Hunt intended to express. The 3D drawings were further enhanced with purpose-built skeletal systems to create organic animation. Sound was also a key part of the experience, with custom sound design being implemented first, inspiring the timing and intensities for visuals rather than adding it at the end. The result is a powerfully synchronized audio-visual-mechanical experience.

Art comes in many forms, can easily transcend cultures and utilize technology to become something new. Life is all about these infinite possibilities and combinations, says Andy Klein, HoloLens Mixed Reality Designer.

And thats precisely what makes the Transformation Mask such an interesting use case for HoloLens and Mixed Reality Technology: Rather than separating artistic and technical functions, these were very closely blended throughout the conceptual, design and execution phases of the project. Just as the traditional indigenous masks blurred the line between human and animal, reality and myth, technology brings together human and machine, the physical and the virtual. It is clear that if we are to create compelling, engaging and inspiring content that also resonates culturally with audiences, thats an approach that content makers would do well to learn from and adopt.

Read next: Welp, even ships are hackable now

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How 3D-printing, robotics and mixed reality created this HoloLens art piece - TNW

March 2010: Affordable Care Act is signed into law

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the day after Obama signs the bill, says, "Repeal and replace will be the slogan for the fall." Days later, McConnell also criticizes the process in his weekly address: "Democrats decided to go the partisan route and blatantly ignore the will of the people."

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he'll give power and flexibility back to the states: "If elected President, I will repeal Obamacare and replace it not with another massive federal bill that purports to solve all our problems from Washington, but with common-sense, patient-centered reforms suited to the challenges we face."

After Obama is re-elected, House Speaker John Boehner says the GOP will not keep pursuing attempts to repeal Obamacare and calls it "the law of the land." He backs down after an uproar from conservatives and rank-and-file Republicans.

Obama vetoes a 2015 GOP bill to repeal parts of the ACA. That plan would have done away with key parts of the law, including the individual mandate, subsidies for people who buy private health insurance, and the expansion of Medicaid.

After the veto, newly elected Speaker Paul Ryan says, "The idea that Obamacare is the law of the land for good is a myth So, next year, if we're sending this bill to a Republican president, it will get signed into law."

Sen. Ted Cruz says, if elected, he will "repeal every word of Obamacare." Presidential candidate Donald Trump says his administration will "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act at nearly every stump speech.

After the House repeal and replacement stalls in the Senate, following a Congressional Budget Office estimate that 22 million fewer people would have health coverage, Trump pushes a repeal now, replace later strategy one that has no chance. HHS secretary Tom Price maintains that the GOP plan's deep Medicaid cuts "would not have individuals lose coverage."

And Vice President Mike Pence makes big promises for the Senate's Obamacare replacement plan, including beefed-up tax credit and a no-exceptions coverage model for people with pre-existing conditions. When drafting the Senate's bill, McConnell engages in the same closed-door strategy that he criticized Democrats for in 2010.

The fate of the Senate's bill hinged on three Republicans, and yesterday two more confirmed "no" votes put the bill over the edge. But McConnell is calling the senators' bluff by scheduling a new repeal-only vote on the same bill that passed in 2015 but three "no" votes killed that too.

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Robotics experts dismiss Musk's call for AI regulation - Axios

Their team shirts didn't say "Afghanistan" and their name badges were handwritten, not typed, suggesting the last-minute nature of their entry into the United States. But the Afghan girls competing Monday in an international robotics competition in Washington were clearly excited to be representing their nation.

The team of six teenage girls was twice rejected for U.S. visas before President Donald Trump intervened at the last minute. They arrived in Washington from their hometown of Herat, Afghanistan, early Saturday, and their ball-sorting robot competed in its first round Monday morning.

"We were so interested, because we find a big chance to show the talent and ability of Afghans, show that Afghan women can make robots, too," said Rodaba Noori, one of the team members. She acknowledged, though, that the team "hadn't long, or enough time to get ready for competition."

The girls' struggle to overcome war, hardship and U.S. bureaucracy on their journey to the U.S. capital has made their team stand out among more than 150 competing in the FIRST Global Challenge, a robotics competition designed to encourage youths to pursue careers in math and science.

The U.S. won't say why the girls were rejected for visas, citing confidentiality rules. But Afghan Ambassador Hamdullah Mohib said that based on discussions with U.S. officials, it appears the girls, who are 14 to 16 years old, were turned away due to concerns they would not return to Afghanistan.

Speaking with the assistance of a translator who summarized their remarks, 14-year-old team member Fatemah Qaderyan, said that she was "grateful" to be able to compete. Her teammate, 15-year-old Lida Azizi, said she was a little "nervous" but also excited to be playing and "proud."

Though there was a crush of media attention, the girls looked much like other competitors, wearing jeans along with white headscarfs. Their microwave-sized robot, like that of other teams, displayed their country's black, red and green flag.

"I'm so happy they can play," said their mentor Alireza Mehraban, a software engineer. He added: "They are so happy to be here."

While teams had up to four months to build their robots, the Afghan team built theirs in two weeks before it had to be shipped to reach the competition in time, Mehraban said. He said the girls had a day to test the robot in Afghanistan before it needed to be mailed.

On Monday, they were making adjustments and practicing in between rounds. When a chain seemed to come loose on a part of the robot that moves up and down, a competition judge recommended a larger part, and another team provided one.

Like others in the competition, the girls' robot can pick up and distinguish between blue and orange balls. To score points, teams deposit the blue balls, which represent water, and the orange balls, which represent pollutants, into different locations. The teams play in alliances of three nations, with two alliances competing head to head. The three-robot alliance that scores the most points in a game wins.

Mehraban, the team's mentor, said their robot managed to score one or two points in the first game. The team has two more games to play Monday and three games Tuesday.

Associated Press reporter Josh Lederman and Associated Press video journalist Noreen Nasir contributed to this report.

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Afghan girls robotics team competes after visa obstacles - ABC News

With two words Team Afghanistan the crowd in the stands at DAR Constitution Hall erupted into a deafening roar Sunday as the teenage girls made their way onto a sprawling stage,waving their countrys flag and wearing headscarves in matching colors.

Their triumphant entrance on the stage at theFIRST Global Challengerobotics competition marked the end of a long and uncertain journey to the United States. As of last week, their dream of traveling to what has been billed as the Olympics of Robotics had been shot down when their visas were denied, despite two grueling trips from their home in Herat, in western Afghanistan, to Kabul for interviews with U.S. State Department officials.

But after their plight made international headlines,President Trump intervened at the last minute to grant the girls passage to the United States, and they arrived Saturday.

[Afghan girls team can travel to U.S. for robotics contest after being denied visas twice]

Standing in the busy hallway of Constitution Hall Sunday, while her teammates tinkered with their robot nearby, Fatemah Qaderyu said she was elated to finally make it here. The 14-year-old wantsto study computerscience when she gets older.

We feel really good that we can show our talents here, she said. She said she hopes to show the world what girls like her are capable of: Afghanistan is not just a place of war. Afghan girls can build robots and compete in global competitions.

The three-day competition draws teams from 157 countries and some multinational teams representing continents. One group Team Hope is composed of refugees. FIRST Global has long hosted competitions in the United States, but this is the first year it is hosting an international competition. The team representing the United States is composed of three girls, who marched into the auditorium for the parade of nations to the Woody Guthrie song, This Land is Your Land.

[These girls have built robots since they were toddlers. Now theyre competing on a world stage.]

FIRST Global founder Dean Kamen, an inventor known for creating the Segway, said the competitions objective is not just to teach children to build robots and explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math. He also hopes it drives home the lesson of the importance of cooperation across languages, cultures and borders.

FIRST Global is getting them at a young age to learn how to communicate with each other, cooperate with each other and recognize that were all going to succeed together or were all going down together, Kamen said.

Mondays competition began on the central stage. Hundreds of participants crowded around their robots in the hallways, making last-minute adjustments and filling the space with a nervous, excited energy.

On the central stage in the auditorium, the playing field consisted of a large raised platform with artificial grass, and a river painted blue where plastic balls some orange and some blue flowed out at the start of the matches. The objective is to collect and sort as many balls as possible, with theblue and orange balls representing clean and contaminated water, respectively.

Three teams were paired together to form alliances that then were pitted against other alliances to win games. But as in any competition, there were unseen challenges. Some robots got stuck on the terrain. Others had driving mishaps and could not navigate the ramps of the playing fields.

But the competition also forged some unlikely partnerships. Before one morning match, the teams from Belarus, Israel and the Solomon Islands gathered in a circle, put their hands together and cheered Team Hydro! When an alliance of the teams from Luxembourg, Malta and Palestine bested their opponents, the Palestinian girls squealed with delight and high-fived the boys from Luxembourg.

Anika Duffus, a 17-year-old from Kingston, Jamaica, said her alliance lost its morning competition, an outcome she attributed to first-match jitters. Their robots color sensor, which helps it sort the orange from the blue balls, failed and balls got stuck in the robots elevator. She said she learned that communication as much as technology prowess is key to the competition.

I feel that the communication could have been a lot better, Anika said.

The international nature of the competitioncame with complications. Besides the girls from Afghanistan, the team from Gambia also had visa delays, according to the Associated Press, before their applications were also ultimately approved. Because of sanctions, Global FIRST was unable to ship a robotics kit to Iran, where a group of teenagers awaited the parts to build a robot.

That might have spelled the end of the teams shot of going to the world championships. But the organization introduced the Iranian team to a group of teenage robotics enthusiasts at George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Va., calling themselves Team Gryphon. The team in Iran sketched out blueprints on the computer and sent the designs to their counterparts across the ocean and then corresponded over Skype.

Sunday, the team flew the Iranian flag at their station next to the flag of Team Gryphon a black flag with a purple silhouette of the gryphon as a sign of their unlikely partnership. For Mohammadreza Karami, the teams mentor, it was an inspiring example of cooperation.

Its possible to solve all of the worlds problems if we put aside our politics and focus on peace, Karami said.

Kirsten Springer, a 16-year-old rising junior at Marshall High, said she didnt want the Iranian team to be locked out of the competition just because of the sanctions.

Everybody should be able to compete and to learn and to use that experience for other aspects of their life, she said.

Sharif Hassan contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this story misspelledthe name of Kirsten Springer. This story has been updated.

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After visa delays, Afghan girls' robotics team arrives in DC for global competition - Washington Post

After years of research and development, Reach Robotics has closed a $7.5 million Series A, co-led byKoreaInvestment Partners (KiP) and IGlobe, to bring its augmented reality bots to market in a big way. The Bristol-based startup is looking to expand into the U.S., and the team is exploring opportunities for growth into other European and Asian markets.

Reach Robotics first product, MekaMon, launched last fall. Todays round comes after the company produced and sold an initial run of 500 of its four-legged, crab-like, bots. MekaMon fits into an emerging category of smartphone-enabled augmented reality toys like Anki.

Silas Adekunle, CEO of Reach Robotics, tells me the influx of capital will be used to make some strategic hires and increase brand recognition through marketing. This is the first time the startup has announced a funding round. Adekunle tells me his experience raising capital wasnt easy; as they say, hardware is hard.

It was hard to pitch in our early days because people didnt believe, explained Adekunle.

MekaMon sits somewhere between toy and full-fledged robot. Unlike the radio-controlled RadioShack robots of yesteryear, MekaMon costs a hefty $329. At first glance this can be hard to swallow, but Adekunle remains adamant that he is building a platform and not a line of toys think PS4 instead of an expensive, single-use robot collecting dust on a shelf.

Outside of retail sales, another avenue for the company to make money is through partnerships within the entertainment industry. Adekunle says that Reach would never go out of its way to deliver a specific product for a client, but he always keeps an eye out for overlap where a partnership could occur with minimal operational changes.

People are taken aback that something could be this realistic, asserts Adekunle. If you strip back the product and lose that, then you dont have an innovative company.

Because Reach is selling software-enabled hardware, it has the opportunity to collect all sorts of interesting data that it can use to fine-tune its products. The startup is able to track retention in aggregate and look at how people actually use their robots. Moreover, if MekaMon suffers leg failure, Reach can analyze indicators like temperature readings and torque.

Adekunle insists on keeping the Reach Robotics team interdisciplinary one employee helped shape the way robots move in the Transformers movie series. This same team is focused on empowering the next group of developers who will build on the MekaMon platform and create new use cases, beyond the companys initial vision for the product.

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Reach Robotics closes $7.5M Series A for its augmented reality bots - TechCrunch

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Q&A: TechCrunch COO explains what to expect at robotics event on ... - Metro US

WASHINGTON (ABC7)

Maybe the FIRST Global Challenge does not yet get the attention the Spelling Bee garners every year, but there are some very intelligent kids at the robotics competition in D.C. all this week and some very resilient ones as well.

It is the world cup of robots. More than 150 countries represented in what is also described as robotic Olympics. Teams go head-to-head using science, technology, math and engineering. Best robot wins. But one team, an all-girls team from Afghanistan, had to climb another mountain before their robot did some climbing at the event.

Their travel visas to the U.S. were denied not once but twice. President Trump actually stepped in and the girls were competing Monday even though they received their official building kits for the contest just two weeks ago, much later than other teams.

One of the girls, Fatemah Qaderyan said through a translator that she has a great feeling that she is here,and is happy to be representing Afghanistan at the international competition.

The White House reached out to the State Department and Homeland Security. The six girls from Afghanistan were granted temporary parole status, meaning they can be in the country very briefly without a visa. The competition ends Tuesday night.

"Show yourself to the world," said team mentor Alireza Mehraban. "They can do it. They can make it.

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Inaugural FIRST Global robotics competition kicks off in DC - WJLA