Monthly Archives: February 2017

South Hagerstown High School students from the Green Machine and Rebellious Misfits teams and the Synobotz Z team from Carroll Educational Robotics in Westminster, Md, were named tournament champions at Volvo Group Trucks VEX Robotics Qualifier.

There were 37 teams and more than 200 students battling their bots at the recent event held at South High.

The Green Machine team included Kent Ha, Maryanne Kimani, James Stell, and Cameron Hahn. The Rebellious Misfits team was comprised of Katie Custer, Xianvieve Hulbert, Brennen Rosage, Alex Wright and Dorian Johnson. The Synobotz Z squad included Chris Scott, Nolan Hintze, William Hoke and Alyssa Magaha.

The action-packed day required middle and high school students to execute the VEX Robotics Competition game Starstruck, which is played by scoring colored stars and cubes in zones and by hanging the robot on a hanging bar.

As tournament champions, the teams qualified to compete in two upcoming events. The first is the Maryland State Championship scheduled to be held from March 3 to 4 at Sollers Point Technical High School in Dundalk, Md.

The teams seek to continue to advance to participate at the VEX Robotics World Championship, the culminating event of the season held in April with the top teams from across the U.S. and around the world who seek to become world champions.

The second is the CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Championship, scheduled to be held from April 4 to 8 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The events are open and free for media, families and community members to attend.

To prepare for the competition, the teams worked together to design and build a robot using VEX EDR, that could quickly and efficiently solve specific obstacles and challenges that come with playing the VEX Robotics Competition Starstruck game.

The students apply what theyve learned about science, technology, engineering and math in order to build the semiautonomous machines.

An equally important set of skills is learned through the competition communication, project management, site management and the importance of composure, because students have to learn how to lose as much as they have to learn how to win.

South Highs Green Machine Robotics team earned the events top honor VEX Robotics Excellence Award.

Additional esteemed VEX awards were also presented.

Design Award IVM Bio-Quantum Clubs QH BioDragons team

Judges Award North Hagerstown High Schools Hubs team

Robot Skills Winner Carroll Educational Robotics Synobotz Z team

Dawn Reed, tech ed teacher at Smithsburg Middle, was recognized with VEX Robotics Volunteer of the Year award for her time and effort as adviser and coach to five teams from Smithsburg Middle and Senior High schools.

For more information, go to RoboticsEducation.org or RobotEvents.com.

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South High wins Volvo's robotics tournament - Herald-Mail Media

East Maine School District 63 is celebrating unexpected wins by the school district's junior high school robotics team, which amassed several awards and a berth to a state competition in the last two months.

A team of nine seventh and eighth graders at Gemini Junior High School competed Dec. 10 for the first time in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League Competition, school officials said in a news release.

As part of the competition, they programmed a robot to complete 13 "missions," according to the news release.

It was supposed to be a chance for the students to gain experience with the competition and be more ready for it the following year, officials said.

But the students went on to win several accolades at the first competition and a chance to compete in the state competitions that was held Jan. 28 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, according to the news release.

The Gemini school team called the Gembots -- included Christopher Alexander, Ronnette Bressler, Bushido Ellis, Sarah Hussein, Prapti Patel, Neelesh Patel, Hadi Rihawi, Halle Santiago and Hannah Suboni-Kaufman. They competed against 34 other teams at the December event and won the Rookie of the Year award and placed third overall then, school officials announced.

At the January competition, they competed against 63 other teams. They didn't place, but school officials are relishing the Gembots' efforts.

"These students are a powerhouse of intelligence and design creativity," said Kathryn Sjoholm, an eighth grade science teacher who also served as one of three advisors to the team. "Our future is bright because of these young minds."

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Gemini school robotics team wins in 'FIRST' competition - Chicago Tribune

The Telangana Minorities Residential Institutes Education Society (TMRIES) has tied up with Robotics Centre of Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology (MJCET) to impart robotics education to class 7 students of eight TMR schools in Hyderabad district as a pilot project. It would be extended to all other schools in the remaining districts of the State in a phased manner soon, according to B. Shafiullah, Secretary, TMREIS.

Robotics centre

He said the society was also planning to establish a full-fledged robotics centre where the students would get to do innovative and challenging projects like robominton, parent and child robot, quadcopter, ocean roverbot, spiderbod, cleanerbot etc and participate in various State-level and national-level robotics competitions.

At a recent programme, Mohammed Faisal, third year ECE student of MJCET and team leader of external academia programme, said the association would also help the engineering students in interacting closely with the schoolchildren and make them more socially responsible citizens.

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TMRIES to impart robotics education - The Hindu - The Hindu

MERIDIAN, Idaho (KBOI)

A Meridian robotics team is putting the final touches on a robot before it competes against several others around the region.

Team 'Bullbots,' based out of Mountain View High School, worked nonstop Saturday building their robot for the Idaho FIRST Robotics Regional Competition.

The robot will be competing against others the weekend of March 30. The goal is to create a 120-pound robot that can hang game elements on pegs, climb a rope, and shoot balls into a goal.

"We just, like, all decided on an idea really fast and we've just been able to go and it worked out very well," said Tiffany Jensen, the Bullbots team mechanical lead. "Our robot is actually going to be really good."

This is Jensen's second year on team Bullbots. She's been climbing the ranks and now leads a team of mechanics.

There are only a handful of girls on the team, and Jensen hopes her leadership will encourage other females to join.

The FIRST Robotics Competition provides a hands on approach to learning science, technology, engineering and math. Students also learn programming and electric work.

"I learn a lot more here than I usually do in school honestly," said Egan Schafer, the Bullbots team programming lead.

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Meridian robotics team gears up for Idaho FRC Regional - KBOI-TV

Pace University professor Rick Kline talks about the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. Tania Savayan/lohud

John Jay High School students Elliot Lear, 16, right, Michael Fischetti, 17, and James Lucassen, 15, control the robot they built during the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. (Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)Buy Photo

PLEASANTVILLE - Student Gregory Salguero sounded happySunday afternoon that his robotics team from Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES school was vying for the lead in the Hudson Valley NY FIRST Tech Challenge regional contest.

Salguero, of Mahopac, said his parents work in the engineering field and that he would be interesting in pursuing that field as well someday.

The team from Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, which is in Yorktown Heights, goes by the moniker Dead Voltage.

One of the Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES coaches, Gerry Markel, said it gets a new group of students ever year. "They've got to be quick learners," he said.

Twenty-eight teams of students participated in the regional event held at Pace University. Each match features four robots; one team's robot teams up with another's, and they face off against another alliance of robots.

For a 30-second period, students must tell robots what to do solely by using coding; during two minutes after that, the teams may use controllers to commands their bots.

John Jay High School students James Lucassen, 15, left, Michael Fischetti, 17, and Elliot Lear, 16, control the robot they built during the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. (Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)

Techno Chix Stefanie Gschwind, 14, of Chappaqua, left, Susanna Dummit, 16, of Chappaqua, Tara Venkatadri, 16, of Ardsley, Simran Arneja,14, of Monroe and Sophia Pao, 15, of Chappaqua with the robot they built for the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. The Techno Chix members are from the Girl Scouts Heart of Hudson in Pleasantville.(Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)

Tasks in each match include picking up a ball, which include hurling balls into a kind of basket that is suspended above the robots. Another task has robots seek to touch a beacon, changing its color.

The winner of the regional competition moves on to a competition in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Over at Peekskill High School's team table the Iron Devils student Aldaine Heaven said his becoming part of the team "started by just liking how machines work."

He said he plans to study in college something in the technology area, "programming, most likely."

Heaven said while the team was not vying for the top spots, at least as of mid-afternoon, that's OK. He said it's the fun that counts.

Carlo Vidrini, Peekskill High's coach and a co-coach of Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, said "the robotics program encompasses so many aspect of engineering," from electrical to software.

In a technological age, the students who participate are getting exposure to the tools and thinking skills they need.

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First Tech Challenge: High schools battle in robotics competition - The Journal News | LoHud.com

VEX Robotics and VEXIQ teams competed Saturday at Monroe County Community College.

Tessa Garlepied and her teammates steadied their robot, then drove the machine toward the middle of the ring before throwing the orange cube.

The teenagers then used their controllers to pick up several yellow stars and do the same.

Tessa, 16, is a member of Monroe Countys Team Virus VEX robotics team, which was among more than 70 teams that competed Saturday in either the VEX or VEXIQ contest held at Monroe County Community College.

This is a difficult challenge, the homeschooler said. We havent done as well as we did at our last tournament but we are up against some really good teams.

Still, Tessa and her teammates were optimistic about their remaining matches Saturday afternoon and won their next one.

Tessa, who is in her fourth season of robotics, said she really enjoys the competitions. The team participates in about six contests a year.

Even though the competitions stress me out, I love the competitions, Tessa said. I also really like the building process.

Each season offers a different challenge. This year in the Starstruck contest, the student-constructed robots earned points for tossing stars and cubes across a large white fence. Teams could also earn points for having one robot hanging at the end of the match from their hanging bar.

This is a difficult challenge because you are constantly doing something all the time, Tessa said.

Matthew Nelson, 15 and a student at Monroe County Community College, is also a member of Team Virus, which had four groups competing Saturday.

In his group of four, Matthew agreed the competition was tough but he still enjoys participating.

I really like the camaraderie, he said. And I like that you really have to work as a team and depend on each other.

Teams from around the state participated in the event, which featured students from third grade through seniors in high school.

Sebastian Vanadia, 12, is a seventh-grader at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Pontiac. He and his three other teammates enjoy participating in the VEXIQ division, which is for younger teams.

Its fun to build the robot, Sebastian said. It took us a couple of hours.

The younger groups challenge Crossover was similar to their older counterparts having to get Hexballs across the other side of the match area. Points could also be scored when robots were parked or balanced on a bridge in the middle of the course.

Teammate Joshua Lyijynen, 12, said robotics is another way for him to use his hands to construct objects, which he has enjoyed for a while.

I love to build Legos and now with the robot I can help build something with a motor, Joshua said.

Robotics also gives participants the ability to think outside of the box, Joshua said.

I like it because you can be very creative, he said. We didnt like our first robot, so we built another one.

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Robotics competition events help teens express creativity - Monroe Evening News

If robots are taking jobs, should you invest in the robot makers?

Thats the argument behind a pair of outperforming exchange-traded funds that track the robotics industry, which could continue seeing strong growth as more positions get automated by machines or algorithms.

In a Jan. 23 note, UBS named automation and robotics as one of the two areas of technological innovation that would drive productivity over the coming decade, along with the digital data industry.

Both have the potential to profoundly transform the structure of our economy, disrupt existing business models, but also create substantial growth opportunities for those well-positioned to participate, the firm wrote, singling out the ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index ETF ROBO, -0.77% as a fund that would benefit from this trend, with the investment time horizon of a decade.

Another fund, the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF BOTZ, -0.76% is also tied to the automation trend.

While the funds could be seen as siding with the enemy, given how the loss of jobs is seen as a long-term crisis for the labor market, investors have taken to them of late, with their growing by significant margins. About $77.8 has moved into the ROBO fund since Novembers U.S. election, bringing its assets to $195.7 million, according to data from ETF.com, while $6.1 million has come into the Global X fund, accounting for about three-fourths of its total $8.1 million in assets.

The election was seen as a possible accelerator for the industry. While President Donald Trump made disappearing manufacturing jobs a centerpiece of his campaign, and the issue arguably tipped him into the White House, his victory could accelerate the trend.

Read: Amazon is going to kill more American jobs than China did

Trump has been critical of U.S. companies that outsource jobs to countries where labor costs are cheaper, calling them out specifically on Twitter. While this has resulted in some jobs not leaving the country, as well as other firms announcing domestic investments, if labor costs start rising because more jobs stay in the States, that could skew positive for the automation industry, said Jay Jacobs director of research for Global X Funds, who added that theres not a consensus on this yet.

Still, the funds have seen gains since the election. The ROBO fund is up 13.6% over the past three months while the Global X fund is up 10.5%. The S&P 500 is up 8.7% over that same period.

The move to automation is expected to continue regardless of government policy. According to Allied Market Research, the global industrial robotics market is seen growing at an compound annual growth rate of 5.4% through 2020, reaching a size of $41.2 billion by that point.

The trend could impact all manner of sectors. Last year, the White Houses annual economic report gave an 83% chance that automation will take a job with an hourly wage below $20. Andy Puzder, Trumps nominee for the position of labor secretary, has talked up the benefit of replacing human workers with technology saying that machines are always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, [and] theres never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex or race discrimination case. Puzder is the chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc., which operates the Carls Jr. and Hardees fast food chains.

Even higher-paying jobs arent completely immune. Finance has seen the rise of robo advisers, while 12% of the holdings of the Global X fund are tied to the health technology sector.

A lot of people talk about automation with respect to manufacturing, and while thats a big issue this also impact military-related companies, medicine, with biomedical device makers, and of course transportation with self-driving cars, Jacobs said.

Nvidia, a leader in self-driving technology, announced partnerships with Bosch and Audi at CES 2017. Rob Csongor, Nvidia's automotive general manager, talked to MarketWatch about the company's promise to have a self-driving car on the road by 2020.

Such stats could make anyone fret about their job security, but the outlook isn't completely bleak, as far as machines taking over.

Given currently demonstrated technologies, very few occupationsless than 5 percentare candidates for full automation, wrote the McKinsey Global Institute in a report published in January. However, almost every occupation has partial automation potential, as a proportion of its activities could be automated. We estimate that about half of all the activities people are paid to do in the worlds workforce could potentially be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies.

The most susceptible activities, it said, were in highly structured and predictable environment, as well as data collection and processing.

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Robotics-focused ETFs see big gains, Trump could hasten trend - MarketWatch

More than a hundred students on 50 teams from schools across the state competed Saturday at the annual Belding High School Vex Robotics Tournament at Belding High School. Daily News/Cory Smith

BELDING All across the state of Michigan, robotics clubs are growing in popularity.

It has taken off so much so in recent years, according to Tom Daller, a Belding High School teacher, the competitions are starting to require an extra stage for competition. Instead of preliminary tournaments to decide which teams will go to state competitions, preliminary tournaments will be the deciding matches for regional competitions.

After regional competitions, qualifying teams will then move onto the state level and, if successful, they can get the chance to be invited to the worlds competition.

The popularity of robotics showed during Saturdays tournament at Redskin Arena at Belding High School. Fifty teams from across the state came together to compete in the mornings qualifying matches. Some of those lucky teams were able to move past the qualifying rounds into the main event the tournament to decide which teams would move on to compete at the state level.

There are 70 students involved with the robotics club both at the middle school level and the high school level, according to Daller. He said one of four Belding teams who made it to tournament play made it to the semifinals of the tournament. The rest fell to their opponents during the quarterfinals.

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In previous years, students have made it further into tournament play, but Daller said the club has grown in size more rapidly in recent years and more students are involved.

As a coach Ill make the sacrifice (of more quality time with individuals) to give more students an opportunity to be involved with this program, Daller said.

Daller said some of the students who competed Saturday have never built a robot before and there is a learning curve associated with that process.

There are some shining stars in the middle school teams, he said. And this way theyll have four years in high school (to be involved in robotics).

Not only were there more students participating than in previous years, but Daller said parents have been more involved this year than in previous years.

Its Dallers hope that other people from the community will continue to take an interest in the robotics competitions and the different areas of knowledge students need to utilize in order to be successful in tournaments like Saturdays.

Theres so much knowledge I think there are a lot of individuals out there that have the background in design and have that time to spend. We need to start looking to those people to pass on that knowledge to these kids, he said.

Despite the challenges students from Belding teams faced Saturday, they remain determined to figure out where they can improve and make the necessary changes.

For C.J. Bunce, a 16-year-old sophomore, one of the best parts about being involved in the robotics club is to be a part of a family.

Everybody here is a family, no matter where youre from. Everybody is friendly with each other, he said.

Bunce plays football and is involved in track, as well. He said the competition in those sports is much more fierce and people on other teams arent as willing to offer support or advice during a competition.

Bunce said he recently broke his hand, which left him unable to play football. In order to fill his time, he got more involved with robotics and has been interested in it ever since. He said his favorite part of the process is to build the robots while his least favorite part is programming the robot.

Luckily, Bunce said, other teammates offer their support and help him with the programming portion of the competition.

We all help each other out when someone needs help, even if were further behind, he said. We have to work together to get further.

A teammate of Bunces, Zach Brown, 16, another sophomore, said he also really enjoys building the robots. He said hes learned other valuable skills being part of the robotics club, including how to communicate effectively with teammates and total strangers.

I just think (building robots) is a useful skill to have, Brown said.

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Belding hosts largest robotics competition in history of event - Greenville Daily News