Monthly Archives: April 2017

Some students shine on the athletic field. Others, however, have talents to showcase in a smaller arena, using computer programming technology and a mechanical robot.

At Glynn Middle School, those students can find their niche on the new lego robotics team, which is currently in the preparation stage ahead of its next season this fall.

Sidney Carter, the career exploratory technology instructor at Glynn Middle, started the team last year and sent them to the first competition, where he said they placed fifth among nearly 20 teams.

Now theyre going to have a year under their belt when theyre seventh graders, and Ill have a new group of sixth graders who will come with them, he said. And were looking forward to them being veterans now.

Lego Robotics competitions are high stakes and high intensity, Carter said. Two minutes and 30 seconds are put on the clock, and each team has to complete as many challenges as possible using their programmed robots.

Challenges include moving items around the board, avoiding collisions and building objects.

Theres always something that can go wrong, he said. You could set the robot up and its off by just an inch, so when it goes to make this turn it turns short and hits the barrier.

The students program the robots using a laptop. Each programmed command makes the robot do a single action, and Carter has already found that the young students are skilled programmers.

They get to clicking and they know the short cut keys, he said. Because its Lego, theyve made it all graphic-based, so inside of having to read code and all these complicated symbols, its pictures.

The students are learning problem-solving skills with an added element of creativity, Carter said.

I give them a challenge and theres 90 ways to solve that challenge, he said. And they have to find one that they know enough of to be able to plan it, get it done and build it.

Programmed commands are chained together, and the chains may fill up entire computer screens, he said. If one mistake exists, the students have to comb through the entire page to find it.

Its ridiculous, he said. Their patience is amazing, to see them go through that process.

Ben Mahony, a seventh grader on the team, said he loved getting the chance to compete.

I get to create things, he said. The competition was pretty cool. Its fun, you get to build things and program robots.

But more importantly, Carter said, the Lego Robotics team is offering these students a place to develop team building skills and show off their robot programming skills, which hadnt previously existed at Glynn Middle.

Carter said the teams success surpassed his expectations last year, and hes looking forward to how much better theyll be next year, with an additional year of practice.

Last time, he said they only put in about a month of practice before the big event.

Its like we didnt have spring training, we missed out on that, he said. So for us to have done as well as they did and be able to hold their own as far as being able to compete with these other teams was great.

The program is the first of its kind in Glynn County, and Carter said he hopes to see it grow.

Were hoping that eventually its going to catch on to the rest of our middle schools, he said.

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Lego robotics program teaches programming, problem solving skills - The News (subscription)

A high school teacher in a black coat enters the classroom. Good morning, he says to the students before starting his lecture, with his right hand busily scribbling something on a blackboard and his left holding a physics textbook.

Then, while holding the chalk and the textbook, he points at a female student and asks a question. The student answers.

OK, thats correct, he says, giving her the OK sign with his third hand.

A third hand?

The 28-second YouTube video titled Three-handed Sensei (jtim.es/OFd530aIiZV), was created by Tokyo-based prosthetics venture Meltin MMI Co. It epitomizes a future envisioned by its 29-year-old CEO, Masahiro Kasuya, where not only amputees but also able-bodied people can wear artificial limbs to boost their physical capabilities.

If someone who has only one hand gets an artificial hand as an extension of the body, why cant people with two hands add a third hand? he said in an interview last week at his office in Tokyos Shibuya district. The video presents such a scenario in a somewhat joking way, but Im dead serious about realizing it.

Kasuya develops prosthetic hands that move intuitively in response to bioelectric signals, subtle charges released by the muscles when people move their limbs.

Kasuya joined the venture set up by Hiroshi Yokoi, his professor at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo, in 2013 while he was still in the doctorate program. He became the CEO in February.

Kasuya, who received a Ph.D. in engineering, said he has always loved all things mechanical and robotic. One of his primitive but ingenious childhood inventions was a device that closes a window automatically in the middle of the night. He filled a plastic bottle with water and tied it to a window frame. Then he attached the bottle to a timer salvaged from a broken air fan. When the timer reached zero, the bottle would be dislodged and fall, shutting the window.

I knew I wanted to be a robotics engineer from early on, he said.

Kasuyas interest in making a brain-machine interface also comes from his childhood.

In school, he said he was often bullied for being different. His teachers did not like him, either, because, being a child prodigy who excelled at math and physics, he often spotted their mistakes and challenged them in front of other students.

As a child, Kasuya often felt that words alone could not quite convey his pain of being bullied and ostracized, he said, adding that he wondered if there was a more intuitive, nonverbal way to convey it.

When you put your experience into words, you lose a lot of crucial information in the process, he said. You can describe the pain you felt by saying, Its as painful as hitting a sharp object with your pinkie, but if the person you are talking to had never hit a sharp object with his or her pinkie, that person would never understand how it really feels.

One day, he saw a TV program about cyborg engineering and its implications on surgical robots and prosthetic hands, and was immediately fascinated, he recalls, because he felt that this particular area of technology addressed his desire to relay human experiences more accurately and nonverbally, such as through brain waves and other biological signals.

Today, Kasuyas research is crystallized in two technologies: software to analyze bioelectric signals, and robotic hands that respond to such signals as collected from sensors attached to the arm to replicate real hand movements.

Research into electromyography or the electrical recording of muscle activity has a history of more than 50 years and has made significant progress recently.

But his company, Meltin MMI, has a competitive advantage over other firms, Kasuya argues, with cutting-edge technology that can analyze the subtle differences in waveforms that show up in electromyograms and interpret what they mean in terms of human hand moves.

Through our algorithm, we can identify the waveform for each of the rock-paper-scissors gestures, he said, referring to the game, adding that few other firms have achieved this.

The firms robotic hand, meanwhile, is controlled by 36 wires connected to a motor box. Kasuya demonstrated these technologies by attaching three electrodes to his right arm and moving his right hand in various directions. The sensors picked up Kasuyas muscle signals, which were immediately transmitted to his PC and made the prosthetic hand move naturally in sync with his hand and with no time lag.

The prosthetic is covered with an extremely elastic rubber glove that has fine wrinkles and nail shapes printed on it so it feels like real human skin. When I shook the robotic hand, it felt as though I was shaking the delicate hand of a woman with thin, long fingers, not just because of the high-tech glove but also because I could feel the robots subtle pressure changes on my palm.

Kasuyas expertise has tremendous potential to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. He has participated in a project for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease, to help them manipulate objects remotely by moving facial muscles.

Last October, he entered Cybathlon 2016, the first international competition for robotics technologies designed for people with disabilities, in Switzerland. His team was one of only three participating from Japan.

But the technologies applications will be limited if their only users are amputees.

Kasuya said there are currently three types of prosthetic hands on the market and that two are decorative prosthetics the hard, mannequin types that dont move.

Myoelectric prosthetics are expensive ranging from 1 million to several tens of millions of yen each and they are not covered by the public health care system or government subsidies. Only a few dozen are in use in Japan, Kasuya said.

The firm is therefore trying to market bioelectric signal sensors to a larger group of people to explore their use as wearable health monitors. A joint project with doctors is already underway, but it will take at least a few years for such a device to clear regulatory hurdles and become commercially available, he said.

Kasuyas lofty ambitions to remove physical barriers for all people remain intact, however.

My ultimate goal is to create a society where anyone with a brain can live the life they want to, he said.

Right now, Im focusing on electromyography and robot arms, but eventually, I want to develop technologies that can read all biosignals, including brain waves. If this is achieved, we can create robots that are controlled by bedridden people to care for themselves.

Maybe such people can go out after the care is given, he added, grinning. Of course its the robotic versions of them that go out, but they would feel like they are going out themselves.

1988 Born in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture

2006 Graduates from Waseda Universitys faculty of science and engineering

2010 Obtains a masters degree in engineering at Waseda University, enters a doctoral program at the University of Electro-Communications

2013 Joins Meltin MMI

2014 Becomes the ventures chief operating officer

2016 Obtains a doctoral degree, participates in Cybathlon 2016, the first international competition of robotic technologies for people with disabilities

2017 Becomes CEO of Meltin MMI

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Robotics whiz envisions prosthetic limbs for all - The Japan Times

From Thursday, April 6, to Saturday, April 8, high school and middle school students from around the country gathered at Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the National Robotics Challenge. Matthew Hatcher/ The Marion Star

A competitor focuses all his attention on his match in the combat robots competition on Saturday at the National Robotics Challenge at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.(Photo: Matthew Hatcher/ The Marion Star)Buy Photo

MARION - From high school to the industrial workplace is the goal for someof the competitors at this year's National Robotics Challenge.

Tri-Rivers Career CenterRAMTEC seniors Matthew Craig, Kierstyn Graber and Tom Poorman claimed the gold medal in the pick and place high school competition. The trio was one of the teams in consideration for the Honda Innovation Award that was eventually presented to the Adventure Bots team from Portage County in eastern Ohio.

The RAMTEC studentshope theirsuccess at the NRC and the skills they've developed will catch the attention of potential employers.

"I want to get a job in the industry and work and learn more about the FANUC robots and Yasakawa robots and what else there is out there," said Graber. "Whether I go on to college or not depends on whether I get offered a job by the end of the school year. It also depends on the company. Honda and Whirlpool have their own training programs and Worthington Industries will pay for you to go to college while you're working for them."

Poorman recently attended Automate 2017 in Chicago with RAMTEC instructor Ritch Ramey. Held every two years, it's a showcase of the latest in robotics, vision, motion control, and similar technologies that draws attendees from all over the world.During the event, Poorman had the chance to network with industry leaders.

RELATED:National Robotics Challenge award winners

PREVIOUSLY:Taking care of business: Robotics talent showcased

"We were being eyeballed as high school students and I handed some resumes out," he said. "It was intimidating, but at the same time I was honored to even speak with them. They wanted to know what I was into, what I want to do, my personal interests, my goals. It was pretty amazing."

A judge watches as a combat robot match unfolds on Saturday during the National Robotics Challenge at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.(Photo: Matthew Hatcher/ The Marion Star)

Craig said the RAMTEC program allows students to pursue certification and advanced training that prepares them for the workplace.

"We've done Parker hydraulics andYasakawa (robotics) training. We'll be certified (in Yasakawa) by the end of the year," Craig said. "We have our OSHA 10 (certification). We've been trained in FANUC (robotics) tool handling. We get (progammable logic controllers) training. Some of us have training with Universal Robots and FANUC welders."

Poorman said he believes that he and his RAMTEC classmates have "a leg up" on students who don't receive career and technical training in high school.

"We've been introduced to a wide variety of concepts," he said. "What it comes down to is what we decide in the end. If we want to go and get mechanical engineering or electrical engineering (degrees), we have some of the basic classes already. If we want to pursue something else, we understand how everything is working at the moment."

Middle school students taking part in the National Robotics Challenge spend time working on their robots together. (Photo: Matthew Hatcher/ The Marion Star)

The National Robotics Challenge wrapped up Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Officials said more than 1,000 competitors and 350 robots competed in the event.

Andrew Carter is the Life In Marionreporter forThe Marion Star. Contact him at eacarter@gannett.com or 740-375-5154. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewCarterMS or Facebook @LifeInMarionOhio.

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Robotics students ready for workplace - Marion Star

JOLIET The Joliet Cyborgs team has advanced to the FIRST Robotics World Championship.

The championship will take place from April 26 to 29 in St. Louis. The Joliet Cyborgs is made up of students from Joliet Township High School District 204 whove constructed a robot named Cerberus to compete.

The team has been competing in the Midwest Regional FIRST Robotics Competition against 3,100 other teams worldwide, according to a District 204 news release.

Its a big deal; its a big honor to get that far. The kids are really excited right now, said Thomas Connelly, a team mentor and Joliet Central High School teacher.

Team member Ruth Pina said she is extremely proud of the Joliet Cyborgs. She said that when she went to the competitions, she was sort of expecting to be the only girl there, but she saw many other girls, including those in leadership roles.

Thats kind of a big thing I get from it, Pina said.

The Joliet Cyborgs team has participated in the Midwest Regional FIRST Robotics Competition for the sixth year in a row. The team is divided into groups focused on building, programming, designing, marketing and organizing.

The teams robot, Cerberus, is equipped with a 12-volt car battery and is able to move around, climb up a rope and pick up plastic whiffle balls that it can shoot. The students put the robot together under a tight six-week schedule with limited resources and under strict rules.

With the world championship coming up, the Joliet Cyborgs team is seeking funding to offset costs for the event. Connelly said the team is raising money through corporate sponsors, but others can make donations through the districts alumni website.

District officials said in a news release that the team provides an important introduction to real-world science, technology, engineering and mathematics problem-solving in addition to providing important financial aid opportunities to students.

Over 90 percent of Cyborgs students continue on in STEM fields, building on what they have learned in the [robotics program], a district news release stated. More than 75 percent of the Cyborgs students are first-generation college students, and a quarter are first-generation Americans.

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Joliet robotics team advances to world championship contest | The ... - The Herald-News

The Fondy Fire robotics teamwhich includes youths from the New Holstein and Kiel areacelebrates its win in the Wisconsin Regional to send it to the World Championship in St. Louis.

The Fondy Fire robotics team came home from their first competition of the season with three prestigious awards.

The team competed at the Wisconsin Regional in Milwaukee from March 23-25, where they were the competition champions, won the Excellence in Engineering Award, and had a student named a FIRST Deans List Finalist. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international K-12 not-for-profit organization founded to inspire young peoples interest and participation in science and technology. The FIRST Robotics Competition for grades 9 to 12 is an annual competition that helps young people discover the rewards and excitement of education and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The program challenges high-school studentsworking with professional mentorsto design and build a robot, and compete in high-intensity events that reward the effectiveness of each robot, the power of team strategy and collaboration, and the determination of students.

(Please see the April 6 issue of the Tri-County News for more on this story.) Subscribe to our E-Edition of the Tri-County News Or, just give us a call at 920-894-2828

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Area robotics team qualifies for World - Tri-County News