Daily Archives: May 26, 2017

TechCrunch

Toyota Research's Gill Pratt is speaking at TechCrunch Sessions ... TechCrunch TechCrunch's first ever robotics event is fast approaching, and we're putting the final touches on an amazing programming line-up, which includes MIT's.. and more »

See more here:

Toyota Research's Gill Pratt is speaking at TechCrunch Sessions ... - TechCrunch

When Lisa Klein, a coach for Messalonskee High Schools Infinite Loop robotics team, opened her email and saw an invitation to travel to China for a competition, she was taken by surprise.

Her first thought was that the email came from China, Maine. She messaged her friend who works for FIRST For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, the nonprofit that promotes interest in science and mathematics and runs competitions for robotics teams and asked, Is this for real?

The invitation was for real, and it was coming from the China halfway around the world in Asia, not the one a half-hour away in Kennebec County.

Students from the FIRST robotics team at the high school, along with Klein, two mentors and two program alumni, boarded a bus Tuesday afternoon in Augusta to begin the journey to Qingdao, China, a city on the east coast south of Beijing and north of Shanghai. Two students, senior Michael Viens and freshman T.J. Petrill, represent the team. The two alumni are Gretchen Rice, who graduated last year and just finished her first year at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, and Justin Shuman, a student at Kennebec Valley Community College.

They will work with another team based in Qingdao and compete in the FIRST China International Competition starting June 2 at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Principal Paula Callan said the students arrived Thursday morning.

Obviously its exciting. Its intriguing, said Klein, who coaches the team along with Keith McGlauflin. You know, theres a little bit of nervousness going to a new country.

No one in the group has been to China before, and one of the students had never been on a plane, she said.

Theyre excited, though, Klein said, because the invitation was an honor for the program.

Infinite Loop, which started in 2007, is one of six teams in the United States invited to participate in the competition in China, which will feature 200 teams from around the world. In 2016, more than 2,600 teams from the U.S. competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST estimates that more than 52,000 teams worldwide are competing in different competitions. A group of students in Falmouth, called Team 172 Northern Force, also was chosen to compete.

We feel like its because weve made a name for ourselves, Klein said in discussing why her team was chosen, both through winning competitions and promoting interest in the fields of STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

For eight days, the students will build a 120-pounds-or-fewer robot with a team from China, whom theyve talked with over Skype. After a day of sightseeing, theyll spend three days competing before returning home.

The students are going over a little bit blind about how the process works, especially in such a short time frame, Klein said.

In a normal season, FIRST releases the new rules for the game in January and the students have six weeks to build a robot that complies with the rules, purchasing all their own materials. Then, they compete for another six weeks.

The rules are based on a theme. Last year was a medieval theme, with obstacles such as a water moat and rough terrain the robot had to get over. This past year, the theme was steampunk, and the robot had to collect fuel, deliver gears to airship pilots and then climb a rope to the airship for the last 30 seconds, among other things, said Klein, who was a mentor for five years before becoming a coach two years ago. The teams compete in groups of three versus three.

Despite the nerves about the short time frame, Klein said this will be a wonderful experience for the students, not only because theyll get to experience a different culture, but also because theyll be helping and growing with another team.

Infinite Loop was chosen in part, Klein believes, because the team knows how to help another team get started doing what they need to do.

The FIRST organization is paying for in-country travel, meals and lodging, and the students held fundraisers to pay for the international plane tickets and visa costs. The school also gave the group $7,500.

Infinite Loop, which has 16 student members, has won a number of awards in competitions over the years, including the engineering inspiration award and the gracious professionalism award. The team also has won the chairmans award, which Klein said is considered the most prestigious award at competitions, for five years in a row.

The award goes to teams that are a model others should emulate, according to FIRSTs website, as well as those that embody the purpose and goals of FIRST.

The students do a lot of outreach to promote interest in the STEM fields, Klein said, a major goal of the FIRST organization, which emphasizes that its about more than robots. They present demonstrations in classrooms or summer camps, mentor middle schoolers during Lego week and help other schools jump-start their own FIRST teams.

Weve gone to many, many schools and tried to get the interest going, Klein said, which is what FIRST is all about. They want to grow interest in STEM fields.

The Messalonskee students have helped create 13 teams in the area, including programs in Hallowell, Livermore Falls and Brewer. Sometimes, they chat via Skype with students farther away in towns such as Brewer, or they offer to share their building space at Wrabacon Inc. in Oakland with other teams that dont have a place to work.

I just think that this is a wonderful opportunity for them to get hands-on learning, Klein said, adding that the students not only learn about engineering, but also about business.

At Messalonskee High School, students run the program like a business, she said, working together on a $60,000 budget, which is funded through donors, sponsors and $5,000 from the school. There are meetings and captains, as well as positions such as treasurer.

They get the business aspects as well as the STEM aspects, she said.

FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, an inventor and advocate for science and technology, to inspire young people to take part in more science and technology programs.

Now more than 460,000 students worldwide are involved in one of the FIRST programs, and interest in the STEM fields is rising. Studies on the effects of the robotics program show that it encourages students to do better in school and strengthens their skills in leadership and problem-solving.

According to an evaluation of the effect of FIRST programs by the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in 2011, 83 percent of students who take part in FIRST programs were interested in becoming an engineer or a scientist, and 92 percent increased their interest in going to college.

A Brandeis University study from 2005 found that FIRST participants were twice as likely to major in science or engineering than their peers, and 33 percent of women participants majored in engineering.

More than 75 percent of FIRST alumni also enter a STEM field as a student or professional, according to a survey conducted by FIRST.

Madeline St. Amour can be contacted at 861-9239 or at:

[emailprotected]

Twitter: @madelinestamour

Go here to read the rest:

Messalonskee High School's robotics team competing in China - Press Herald

WYFF Greenville

Stanley Robotics Introduce A Parking Robot WYFF Greenville Stan the Parking Robot makes all of your parking needs a snap, thanks to Stanley Robotics. Advertisement. Try not to cheer on this record-setting Plinko performance. Vuz |. Updated: 2:22 PM EDT May 25, 2017. Advertisement. Advertisement. Share. Driven by humans parked by robotsRTN Newspaper Watch a robot valet park a carMotor Authority Stan the robotic parking valet gets to work at Paris airportFox News all 7 news articles »

Continued here:

Stanley Robotics Introduce A Parking Robot - WYFF Greenville

Sphero garnered lots of attention nearly two years ago for making an interactive BB-8 that could roll around the house and respond to The Force Awakens. Now the company is broadening its Disney partnership with a new toy based on the main character from Cars, Lightning McQueen. Kids can drive it around, play games, and hang out with the toy. Though it feels strange calling this thing a toy, because its almost too dismissive a term for a device that incorporates such serious robotics.

The product is controlled through a companion iOS / Android app over Bluetooth. Kids can play a mobile game that has them help in a virtual pitstop to outfit cars. Lightning McQueen, the actual toy, will speak up every now and again to offer advice or reminders of what tools to grab. Similarly to BB-8, kids can also watch Cars with the toy, and itll make comments throughout. Also, they can drive the car around the room and even drift, like in the movie. It has a 30-foot range, should last about 40 minutes while driving, and travels up to six mph.

Frankly, the actual play aspects of this car arent whats intriguing about it. Instead, its the hardware and software effort behind the scenes. I only spent around 20 minutes demoing Lightning McQueen, and from that time, it was immediately clear how much robotics work went into this toy. This is Spheros first device to talk, for example, so the team had to figure out how to get its mouth to move in a semi-realistic manner. The designers ended up using a soft plastic so its malleable but also able to handle a head-on collision.

In addition to its moving mouth, the car has a trapezoidal 320 x 120 LCD screen that depicts McQueens eyes. These eyes had to be expressive to match whatever was being said, too. Sphero employs on-staff animators who specifically designed each animation of the car to ensure it looked accurate while live rendering in response to its use. Theres around 300 phrases on board.

Theres really just a ton of hardware in this thing. It has five capacitive touch sensors installed, so it reacts to being touched. The Sphero team built a custom suspension that gives McQueen a sense of life, similarly to how it moves in the movie. There are five motors inside for pushing the car up and down and across the room, with a sixth motor inside its mouth. An ambient light sensor turns the headlights on and off, and the toy has three processors to run everything.

Overall, the product involves 450 parts and took 17 months to build. I will say the device isnt totally seamless; you can still hear the motors crunch, and it makes some of those off-putting robotic clicking sounds. But generally, it wasnt too distracting, and Im impressed by what Sphero pulled together.

The toy will be out this summer for $299.

See the article here:

Sphero's new interactive Cars figure features impressive robotics - The Verge

KINGWOOD Three young people from Preston County helped their robotics team win an international contest.

Henry Cerbone, Andrew Moorehead and Christopher Ballard are members of Mountaineer Area Robotics (MARS) Team 2614 in Morgantown.

The team recently won the Chairmans Award the top honor at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics annual championship. The award means the team is a member of the competitions Hall of Fame.

MARS, which has 45 members, competed against more than 15,000 students from all over the world in St. Louis, Missouri.

The competition has a few components. Most visible is the robot game. Team members design, build and control a 120-pound robot to play a 3-on-3 game on a 24- by 48-foot field, Cerbone said.

He is one of the robot programmers. Moorehead is a machinist who makes parts using a CNC router, lathe, milling machine and other tools. Ballard is also a machinist, who plans to try programming.

Teams dont have to score the highest in the robot game to have a chance at winning a prize, because there is a lot more to the event. They also get points for robot design and for presenting a five-point business plan.

Judges also observe how they work together and interact with other teams.

At regional competitions, Moorehead was part of Tucker Teams, which helped struggling teams get their robots working and able to perform tasks, he said. This establishes excellent ties with other teams and shows that, although we are at competitions to compete, we are graciously professional and ready to help opponents whatever the situation.

To win the Chairmans Award, teams are judged on their outreach (starting new teams) and commitment to sharing inspiration about science, technology, engineering and math.

FIRST recognizes teams who have done amazing things to change the culture in their communities and spread FIRST and STEM programs in their communities and throughout the nation and world, said MARS mentor Alex Stout, whose late uncle Phil Tucker co-founded the team. The Chairmans Award is the most prestigious honor in FIRST. In fact, the only way to enter into FIRSTs Hall of Fame is to earn the Chairmans Award at the world championship. Even winning the world championship with the robots doesnt enter a team into the hall of fame.

There are around 3,000 teams in existence and around 5,000-6,000 teams that have ever existed, and 26 are in the hall of fame, Stout said. Among the perks of winning the chairmans award at the championship is that we are now invited back to the championship every year.

The MARS mission is to inspire youth throughout the state and the world, and its motto is We came to be inspired. We stay because we are. We will become the inspiration.

And they have. Cerbone said, There are more FLL robot teams than middle school football teams.

Some of the outreach MARS did at West Preston School in Arthurdale resulted in 20 new FLL and 20 junior FLL teams, eight of which MARS will fund.

In addition to getting younger students excited about STEM, MARS mentors teams and helps run competitions. Those activities happen year-round. MARS, which is 10 years old, started building FIRST Lego League teams in middle schools. Those teams build small robots of Legos and compete on a table, similar to a ping-pong table.

Those teams have grown from 20 to more than 110, MARS founder and mentor Earl Scime, chair of WVUs physics department told The State Journal. There are more than 250 robotics programs in the state now. We dont do it all ourselves. Our NASA partner at (Independent Verification & Validation Facility) has played a critical role. Some of the staff there are alums of MARS, and that really helps coordinate things.

There are many roles on the team for people with mechanical savvy, outreach and PR skills or a talent for entrepreneurship, Cerbone said.

To join, Cerbone said, members dont have to be the brainiest or a STEM superstar. Just as welcome as straight-A students are those who work to maintain a C average to get to stay on the team.

Moorehead said its a chance to work with students from all over Monongalia, Marion and Preston counties.

Were represented by so many different schools, he said. Homeschooled kids can join in, and that is amazing. If I cant join team sports, its really cool that I can do this.

Moorehead and Ballard are homeschooled. Moorehead graduated this spring and he will attend West Virginia University for mechanical engineering in the fall. Cerbone will be a junior at Preston High next school year. Cerbone said he would like to study robotics engineering in college and maybe work for Google robotics one day.

But first, MARS will travel to FIRST headquarters in Manchester, N.H., in July, where they will be honored alongside Thunder Down Under (winner of the championship held in Houston this year). They will watch the two winning alliances from the Houston and St. Louis championships compete against each other. And they will have dinner at FIRST Founder Dean Kamens estate.

View original post here:

Preston youth compete on world-class robotics team - The Exponent Telegram (press release) (registration)

Published: Fri, May 26, 2017 @ 12:00 a.m.

By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI

abartolomucci@vindy.com

Austintown Fitch Robotics hosted its first open house on May 2 at Fitch High School.

The open house was hosted to introduce the robotics program to the community, students and people from other schools. There were several in robotics at the event to give information to the guests who attended and had questions.

The point was to get the community to understand this is what we do. It also gives us a recruitment effort to get all the kids in the community to come out and see that this is here and they know there are robotics in the schools, if they want to join a robotics team were here, said Andy Yantes, Robotics mentor.

Austintown is one of the only school districts in the area that offers a robotics program for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. This year, there are 70 students in the robotics club in Austintown. There are seven teams throughout the school system and each team consists of 10 students. The open house showed demonstrations of FIRST robotics programs that are available for the students in every grade.

FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology - was created in 1989 to spark young peoples interest and participation in science and technology. FIRST is a non-for-profit that designs accessible and innovative programs that will motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math.

I like being able to endorse STEM in the community, said sophomore Elise Yantes. I like not only being able to show our program, but I also like being in a program that you can help the community and we volunteer as much as we can. Its really nice to be somewhere where we can help as much as teach.

There have been more younger girls that have shown interest in the robotics program and STEM. Part of that is due to the fact that they are seeing how fun it is and all of the different opportunities being in a program like that can bring them.

One of my favorite parts is getting to show younger girls what its like to be a part of an engineering field, just because theres so few, said sophomore Taylor Baer.

Students in robotics enjoy being given the opportunity to show what they do, where they go and how they form bonds with each other by being part of a special program. Being able to showcase the different projects the students work on gives the community an idea of what the program is about and sparks the interest of students and makes them what to join.

Original post:

Open house showcases robotics program - Youngstown Vindicator

By Joselyn Villalobos Staff Writer

A few weeks ago, the Sitting Bull Academy robotics team competed in the Greater Los Angeles Botball Tournament, finishing in 11th place out of 22 teams in the region and earningan Outstanding Documentation trophy for a perfect score in their engineering process.

Botball is an educational robotics program that allows middle and high school-aged students to team up and build two fully autonomous robots that are eventually entered into a tournament.

The students may not touch or interact in any way with their robots once the game begins. All of the robot actions and reactions must be programmed by the students, Sitting Bull junior high technology teacher Larry Kendall said.

Sitting Bull's team of seven students began working on their robots on Feb. 12. In previous years, the teams could work on their robots during school, but this year all work was limited to after school hours.

Our team started practicing just Tuesdays and Thursdays after school until 4 p.m. By the end of the season, we were meeting five days a week after school until 5 p.m., Kendall said. In all, the students invested hundreds of hours of their time.

In the tournament, there are multiple point opportunities for completing tasks, which can be done in any order. Sitting Bull received recognition from the judges and organizers as the only team in the nation to attempt and successfully complete the empty the fertilizer hopper challenge.

The point values were not huge, but the fact that we did this where no one else even tried was a big deal for our team, Kendall said.

The students are required to submit extensive documentation of their planning and engineering process online throughout the season. For the first time, Sitting Bull Academy exceeded limits in a perfect score, earning them an Outstanding Documentation trophy for their planning in the tournament.

Apple Valley Unified School District spokesperson Kristin Hernandez shared an additional "fun fact":

"Five of the seven students on the team were female," Hernandez said. "STEM fields have historically been predominantly male and it's exciting to see so much female participation."

Sitting Bull Academy is hopeful they will compete in the Botball Tournament again next year.

The rest is here:

Sitting Bull students awarded in robotics tournament - VVdailypress.com