Daily Archives: July 28, 2017

Princess Diana’s style evolution, and why some decades are just better at fashion than others – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted: July 28, 2017 at 7:18 pm

The 80s were such a polarising decade, politically, culturally so its not surprising that the fashions still split the jury. In the week of Princes Williams and Harrysdocumentary about their mother Diana, the fault lines have clarified: those who look back on the decades clothes fondly tend not to have been around when it was actually unfolding.

Those who shudder at the clunky proportions, unsophisticated footwear and mullet-ant hair tendencies are generally those who had to live through them first hand. I hated fashion in the 80s and I still do. But that could just be me.

It does raise the question of what makes an era classic the 1950s and what leaves it in the dung-heap of curiosity. Time is a huge factor. In 1937, James Laver, the art historian and V&A curator, worked out a 150 year timeline for fashion. To prcis, he suggested that a design that was ten years ahead of its time is generally considered indecent, while ten years after its moment, its usually regarded as hideous. Twenty years after, its dismissed as ridiculous; 50 years makes it appear quaint, 70 years charming, 150 years, and its back to being beautiful

Laver was evidently onto something, even if his time line has itself, suffered from time warp. Revisions happen much faster now.

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The evolution of the tight end in college football – ESPN.com – ESPN

Posted: at 7:18 pm

During his first practice at Penn State, tight end Mike Gesicki was told by his coach to get into a three-point stance. His reaction was one of confusion.

"I was kind of like, 'Uh, what?'" Gesicki recalled.

Twenty years ago, such an answer would have been absurd and likely met with a coach's profanity-filled order to run laps. But in the current era of college football, it's not unusual for an incoming tight end to be somewhat unfamiliar with the concept of blocking on the line of scrimmage. As offenses have evolved, so have tight ends.

It's an ever-changing position, which used to be largely considered an extension of the offensive line and now is among the most useful receiving threats in the game, even for spread offenses that once favored the four-wide-receiver formations.

Ask coaches what they recall from the tight ends of yesteryear and the answers are pretty common.

"It was a tackle, an extra tackle that you put in the game," SMU coach Chad Morris said.

Said Baylor co-offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon: "A typical tight end back then was a 6-5, 260-pound guy who was probably mainly a blocker."

That has changed. While their sizes are similar, perhaps slightly smaller, what today's tight ends are asked to do is dramatically different.

"Really, people are playing where their tight end is a big high school receiver," Penn State coach James Franklin said, referring to recruiting the position. "You're recruiting tight ends based on their size, their dimensions, their measurables and their skill set. You have to feel like you're going to be able to teach that aspect [blocking]."

The ideal size is still the same as it was a decade ago. The average tight end drafted into the NFL in 2007 was 6 feet 4, 256 pounds. In the 2017 draft, it was 6-4, 252 pounds, a sign that tight ends are still big but getting lighter.

James Casey, a former college and NFL tight end who is now coaching the position for the University of Houston, said it's difficult to find players who are big enough, fast enough and strong enough to do everything coaches ask of tight ends.

"You have to be able to block at the line of scrimmage," Casey said. "You have to know all the run game calls, some pass protection stuff, all the route concepts and have that mindset that's like an offensive lineman. You have to be that meathead, aggressive type guy, that kind of 'punk' almost, like a lot of really good offensive linemen are, but then you also have to be able to go out there and split out be in the slot and run all the routes."

The scarce nature of the perfect player for the position is why Washington State coach Mike Leach, one of the pioneers of the air raid offense that relies largely on four-wide-receiver sets, doesn't use tight ends. Over the past five years, no school in a Power 5 conference has used a tight end on fewer plays than the Cougars, who have employed one on only 2.5 percent of their offensive snaps since 2012.

"Tight ends are a blast if you have them," Leach said. "If you have a true tight end -- and I mean a true tight end -- then life is good. God didn't make very many true tight ends. Just go to the mall and the big long-armed guys you see at the mall -- you'll see a couple, but most of them can't run fast and those that can probably can't catch. So there's not very many of them."

Other coaches agree; bodies that make quality tight ends often make good defensive ends, too. Leach said he needs those defensive ends, thus, the players on his roster who fit the perfect tight end profile often end up on defense. The problem for others, Leach says, is some coaches want one so much that they're willing to compromise in order to work one into their offense.

"You desperately want that big-body guy that can block but also catch balls and is big enough that he's a mismatch on the strong safety but nifty enough that he's a better athlete than the linebacker," Leach said. "So you're constantly looking for those guys and the trouble is, as you're sitting there pushing it too far, pretty soon you end up playing the third-team guard that can sort of catch, but all he is the third-team guard. Well if he's the third-team guard, what business does he have playing tight end? In my opinion, none."

As Leach had success in his time at Texas Tech, it sprouted a generation of coaches who ran a similar offense and who eschew tight ends for the small, fast receiver. Now that trend seems to be changing.

Take Oklahoma State. According to ESPN Stats & Information, as the Cowboys developed what Mike Gundy calls their "Cowboy Backs" (a tight end/fullback hybrid), that use has increased dramatically. In 2015, they used a tight end on 43.2 percent of their offensive snaps. In 2016, they employed one 35.7 percent of the time.

"It's turned a full circle," Gundy said. "Years ago, you never saw an offense without one. Then, nobody was using one. You couldn't even find [high] schools in Texas [where you could] evaluate a tight end because they weren't even using them. And for us, now it's worked its way back in. We started using them in different ways."

The benefit, Gundy says, is "you have the ability to run a seven-man running play and a five-man passing play," with those players in the game. The Cowboys, like many others, use a tight end in the backfield where a fullback -- a position that has gone the way of the dodo bird -- used to be.

Texas A&M and West Virginia are also teams that, like Oklahoma State, rarely used tight ends five years ago but do so frequently now (the Aggies used one less than 10 percent of snaps in 2012 and 2013, but that rose to 32.8 percent of the time in 2016, while West Virginia has increased its rate tenfold in that span). The reason, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said, is simply change.

"Because everybody was doing the same stuff religiously," he said. "I like the idea of having some of those guys to be able to scheme and change some things up a little bit."

It's a national trend, too. In 2012, Power 5 teams averaged 491 offensive snaps per season using at least one tight end. In 2016, that number was up to 500, per ESPN Stats & Information.

The result, in some offenses, is that the tight end has become basically a big receiver who plays in the slot and doesn't block as often as 20th century tight ends did. Speed is now more in demand at the position. In 2007, the average NFL scouting combine 40-yard dash times for drafted tight ends was 4.75 seconds. In 2017, that time was all the way down to 4.62 seconds.

Gesicki, who said he initially wanted to be recruited as a receiver out of high school, was advised by a recruiter to embrace tight end because "receivers come a dime a dozen, but if you can be a big, fast, athletic tight end, they don't come around as often so you can be extremely valuable." Last season, Gesicki led all Big Ten tight ends in receiving yards (679).

"It seems to me, in the last four or five years, that they're looking for that hybrid guy that they can flex out and get into different personnel looks," Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. If they're big and athletic, then the guys that they're running up the field on -- which are normally safeties -- they can get into them and create separation or they can just box them out and that becomes a pain in the butt."

If a coach finds the right guy -- basically someone like former Alabama tight end O.J. Howard or the New England Patriots' Rob Gronkowski, few of which exist -- it's a headache. But even lacking that kind of ability, players at the position can still create issues for defenses. A versatile tight end can allow an up-tempo offense to change formations without switching personnel, creating communication problems for defenses that aren't ready for it.

"There's different things we would call vs. four-receiver sets than we would three-receiver sets, Orlando said. "So when you make it either/or [with a tight end], it's kind of a crapshoot for us. That's why I think offenses do it all the time."

Nebraska coach Mike Riley noted that increased run-pass option plays have created another useful way to use tight ends.

"The old 'pop pass,' from years ago has become a new thing for the tight end because of the zone-read stuff that's going on," Riley said.

While the old-school blocking tight ends may seem like a relic of the past, they do exist. Take Kansas State's Dayton Valentine, who had the lowest reception-to-snap ratio of any tight end nationally (he started all 13 games but had only two receptions, catching the ball on 0.4 percent of his snaps).

Valentine joked that his friends ask why he doesn't request the ball more often, and he responds "because we're averaging 6 yards a carry." While receiving tight ends are en vogue, Valentine is happy to put get in a three-point stance and hit someone.

"It's an attitude," Valentine said. "I personally take a lot of pride in being one of those guys who as a tight end is willing to put my hand down and get in the trenches and block for my guys."

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The Evolution of the Women’s 100-Meter Breaststroke World Record – Swimming World Magazine

Posted: at 7:18 pm

Photo Courtesy: The South African Swim History Project

By Ailish Dougherty, Swimming World College Intern.

Lilly Kings world record-breaking performance in the womens 100-meter breaststroke this past week at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest stunned many in the swimming world. Yet at the same time, it was so unsurprising it was only a matter of time beforeher confidence would drive her to the fastest swim in history.

Kinglowered Lithuanian Ruta Meilutytes previous world record of 1:04.35, set at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, to a 1:04.13. Kingsfirst 50 alone was the fifth fastest 50 breaststroke in history, and the second fastest ever (tied with Jessica Hardy) done by an American.

Kinghad her sights set on a world record, and she delivered. Lets take a look at how her performance made history as the fastest 100-meter breaststroke ever swum. Going all the way back to 1921, the first recorded 100-meter breaststroke world record was set at 1:37.60 by E. Van Den Bogaert of Belgium. Thetimes then dropped sharply every one or two years for the next 30 years, getting as fast as a 1:16.90 by Eva Szkely of Hungary in 1951. The next recorded world record was set in 1958 by Karin Beyer of Germany, and it marks a shift in the way breaststroke was regulated.

In 1933, breaststrokers realized that an over-the-water arm recovery was faster and more efficient than an underwater recovery. During thisyear, American Henry Myers became the first swimmer to racewith a breaststroke frog kick paired with what we now call butterfly arms. As you can see at around the 1:40-mark in the video below from 1936, competitors began to use this technique more frequently. In 1952, however, butterfly was established as an individual stroke by FINA, and breaststrokers were forced to go back to an underwater recovery. The archive of world recordsrestarted.

Thus, a new world record was set at 1:20.31 by Germanys Beyer in 1958. However, it didnt take long for breaststrokers to evolve with the stroke, and in the next four years the worlds best timedropped by three full seconds. In the new era,Claudia Kolb became the first American to set the 100 breaststroke world record. In 1964 she set the record with her time of 1:17.90. Agnes Geraghty had been the only other American to hold the world record before 1964. Even at the 1964 Olympics, however, breaststroke looked very different than it does today. As you can see in the video below, from Tokyo in 1964, the widely-held belief at the time was that the closerone held their head to the water, the lower onekeptto the surface, the faster shewould slice through the water.

Since 1964, otherrule changesanddevelopments in techniquehave further affected the evolutionof the stroke. Breaststroke has evolved to be more undulatingand powerfulthan ever. Fourmore American women have held the coveted title since Kolb. Most recently, it wasHardyin 2009. Germany hasheld the world record in the event the most times in history, while Australia and South Africa are also top contenders. Penelope Heyns of South Africa has held the world record five times, as she brought her own record down from 1:07.46 in 1996 to a 1:06.52 in 1999, untilAustralias Leisel Jones took over with a 1:06.37.

In the past 15 years, the world record has dropped from Joness1:06.37 in 1999, to a 1:06.20 by Hardy in 2005, to 1:05.09 by Jones in 2006. In 2009, American Rebecca Soni was the first woman under 1:05.00, swimming to a WR of 1:04.84 in 2009.However, she did not hold the title for long, as Hardy lowered it to 1:04.45 just 11 days later. Finally, Meilutytes 1:04.35 has held strong since 2013. Until now.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

King is the seventh American woman to ever hold the world record in this event. Why? As we all have seen, Kings stroke rate is incredibly fast, which has been a common theme inrecent history. However, what King does differently is that she retains her energy remarkably throughout her races, allowing her to keep up her stroke count and out-pace her competition. She also gets incredible height during her pull, so that on the recovery, she can drive her hands forward with power getting more distance perstroke than ever before. Kings breakout speed is also incredibly quick, just as Hardys was. Her closing speed, though, is unmatched by any breaststroker.

Elite womens breaststroke has quicklybeen improving over the past century and its only going to get faster. When asked about Kings world-record breaking swim, Meilutyte (the only Lithuanian world record-holder in the event in history) said that she had been expecting it.

Photo Courtesy: NY Times // Womens 100M Breaststroke World Record Progression

Meilutytewas also very hopeful about the future, and her place in it,

Its amazing to see how much womens breaststroke is improving. I think were going to see a 1:03 one day, so its just a matter of time, really. I think withthe progress that the distance is going, its definitely possible. I will certainly do my best to be in the mix.

As for King, she has said that she is never completely satisfied with a swim, so shewill surely be looking to be the first woman in history under 1:04 flat. And when she sets her mind to something, she does it.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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India among top nations with potential for digital payments: Digital Evolution Index – Economic Times

Posted: at 7:18 pm

MUMBAI: India has emerged strong, exhibiting a high potential in terms of digital payments and has been categorised under the "break out" segment among 60 countries, according to the Digital Evolution Index 2017.

The Fletcher School at Tufts University in partnership with Mastercard, unveiled the Digital Evolution Index 2017.

The Index is a comprehensive research that tracks the progress countries have made in developing their digital economies and integrating connectivity into the lives of billions.

The 'break out' segment refers to countries that have relatively lower absolute levels of digital advancement, yet remain poised for growth and are attractive to investors by virtue of their potential, a statement issued by Mastercard said.

"India has been experiencing rapid strides of progress with an evolving payments landscape, catalysed by the government's demonetisation decision," it said.

The government's endeavour to boost the acceptance infrastructure coupled with a host of other economic reforms have further hastened the momentum for the country's journey towards a cashless society, it added.

Adoption of digital payments has also witnessed a massive growth with a shift in behaviour change as more people adopt digital payments in daily life.

"With new players foraying into the market and an entire gamut of solutions for alternate payments, the India payment ecosystem is growing each day," Porush Singh, country corporate officer, India and Division President, South Asia, Mastercard said.

With nearly half of the world's population online, the research maps the development of 60 countries, demonstrating their competitiveness and market potential for further digital economic growth.

The Index measures four key drivers - supply, consumer demand, institutional environment, and innovation.

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Academy hosts leadership conference with FIRST Robotics Mentors – U.S. Air Force Academy

Posted: at 7:17 pm

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --

The Center for Character and Leadership Development hosted 25 robotics educators from across the U.S. at the FIRST Leadership Experience June 24-26 in Polaris Hall.

Air Force Recruiting sponsored and accompanied the teachers, all members of the national organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST. Most teach at the middle and high school level and are commonly called FIRST Mentors.

"We wanted to attract the best and brightest here and create a STEM connection with them," said Capt. Ross McKnight, an Academy grad and Air Force recruiter.

The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based robotics teams that build science, engineering and technology skills. They engage kindergarten through high school students to build their STEM skills and inspire their imagination by fostering self-confidence, communication and leadership.

"Our vision is to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders," said FIRST Founder Dean Kamen.

McKnight said the mission of his office is to connect the Air Force with like-minded organizations who foster STEM goals in U.S. education.

The teachers participated in sessions designed to hone their mentoring skills through immersion with the Air Force core values. Sessions covered team building, leadership, creative problem solving and organizational skills.

Adrianne Strange of Air Force Recruiting said the CCLD was the obvious place to bring the group to discuss new ways of leading tomorrow's STEM stand-outs.

Mentors were also given tours of the CCLD, mechanics lab, aero lab, robotics lab and cadet pavilion. They also took a turn on the ropes course.

"It's great to be reminded of how the Air Force core values should be at the fore-front of our leadership and therefore our teams and classrooms," said Tom Shultz, a teacher and FIRST Mentor from Michigan. "I'm grateful for this tremendous opportunity which will undoubtedly make a positive impact on my classroom students and [robotics] team. I'm sure I speak for the other 24 teachers when I say I'm excited to see the domino effect that this will have on all of the students in our lives."

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Girl Scouts Add Badges For Robotics, Other Science Skills – NPR

Posted: at 7:17 pm

The Girl Scouts of the USA unveiled 23 new badges related to science, technology, mathematics, and nature activities this week, responding to popular demand for activities related to interests such as the outdoors, mechanical engineering, and computer programming.

The new badges will have members designing robots and learning about mechanical engineering, " building and testing rollercoasters, race cars, and gliders," the organization said.

"The level of skills will be appropriate to the girls' ages, starting with kindergarten-age Daisy Scouts," member station Arizona Public Media reports.

Jessica Malordy, communications coordinator for Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, tells APM, "Girls have expressed a ton of interest and have been very vocal about their desire to do more STEM."

As part of the effort, the Southern Arizona group is set to open a new facility that includes a new STEM lab.

"STEM and the outdoors really help girls learn to take risks and to seek challenges and learn from setbacks," Malordy told APM.

The Girl Scouts announcement brought enthusiastic responses on its Facebook page.

"So proud of our Girl Scouts," Connie Willegal wrote, adding, "when I told my 2nd year Brownie granddaughter about these, she was delighted!"

Caitie Ann Bolich said, "WooHoo!! So happy to have more fun with my Brownie Scout! She is so excited to build some robots and go camping!"

The new badges will initially only be available for younger members, the group said. Replying to comments noting the lack of opportunities for middle- and high-school-age girls in the organization, the group said badges for older girls are "in the works."

In keeping with this week's theme emphasizing science, the Girl Scouts posted a project created by the Girl Scouts San Jacinto, for building a solar eclipse pinhole projector.

Back in 2011, the Girl Scouts updated their badges for the first time in some 25 years, adding badges for activities such as Digital Movie Maker and Website Designer.

The Boy Scouts of America have placed a similar emphasis on science activities making changes such as adding a Robotics badge in 2011 and badges for Game Design, Sustainability, and Programming in 2013.

As the group says on it page explaining the STEM/Nova program, "We must work together to cultivate the next generation of critical thinkers and innovators."

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At South Jersey Robotics, gears and switches set careers in motion – Philly.com

Posted: at 7:17 pm

At a summer robotics camp for high school and middle school kids in South Jerseys Salem County, failure is an option but only temporarily.

When 17-year-old Noah Halsted switched on his teams 3-by-2-foot, gear-packed robot and absolutely nothing happened, he took just a second to groan, That failed, before grabbing some electrical tape, fixing a cable, and sending the reenergized robot to scoot across the floor on six wheels, scooping up plastic balls with a cleverly hidden broom.

In the room next door at Salem Community College, 14-year-old Christian Goldsborough programming a smaller robot made from Legos said he knows the feeling. Whats cool about robotics, the Penns Grove teen said, is that when you mess up and youre frustrated, then do the right thing. A job well done is the best part.

The kids can-do, blue-collar approach to high-tech wizardry reflects the scrappy nature of the program they are part of South Jersey Robotics, a volunteer effort that for nearly a decade has steadily built a network of competitive robotics teams and worked with programs like this GEAR UP! summer camp to promote tech careers in one of the poorest stretches of the Garden State, where job opportunities have been shrinking.

These are counties that are forgotten, said Rosanne Danner, the retired DuPont engineer who as president of South Jersey Robotics has seen the program expand to 15 teams with roughly 100 high schoolers and middle schoolers in Cumberland, Salem, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties. This is about exposing them to STEM science, technology, engineering, and math and STEM careers, and things they can do. This is about giving them the belief that they can have opportunities beyond what is happening in the counties.

South Jersey Robotics is pushing to expand into several of the regions chronically underfunded schools, where STEM education has lagged behind more affluent suburbs where some kids learn coding in kindergarten. The programs target counties include five of New Jerseys 31 so-called Abbott districts cited in a landmark court case as victims of an unfair school-funding formula. Three of those districts Vineland, Bridgeton, and Millville are in Cumberland County, which has the states highest poverty rate.

We have no robotics, no STEAM (STEM learning with an arts component), no nothing for middle school students, said Joanne Colacurcio,supervisor of instructional technology and career, tech, and education classes for the public schools in Millville, where 80 percent of kids qualify for free or reduced lunches. Thats slated to change this fall with an Intro to STEM class at Lakeside Middle School and a new First Lego League Robotics team supported by South Jersey Robotics.

For Danner and other backers of South Jersey Robotics, getting kids from rural and underdeveloped corners of South Jersey to compete in FIRST Robotics in which students around the world try to outdo each other with game-playing bots is a vehicle to put them on a path toward studying science or math in college and toward career choices where job opportunities are more plentiful and more lucrative. The group says more than 95 percent of its participants move on to post-secondary school and more than 70 percent major in a STEM field.

But along that path, winning is still important. The programs two high-school-level teams including the LuNaTeCs, whove been around since 1999 have been to the national/world competition in cities including St. Louis and Atlanta five times. This year, three of the programs 11 teams in the Lego League, geared toward middle schoolers, advanced to the South Jersey district finals at Rowan University.

In addition, the teams work on tech-oriented community projects. For example, the high school students in LuNaTeCs built an adaptive device that allowed a child born without a left hand to jump rope.

Danner said the clubs are structured so that kids learn not just tech skills but marketing, networking, finance, public speaking, as well as more access to scholarship money skills that should help later in life.

Margo Reed

Mya Gregory (left) and Niajah Mitchell work with robotics at Gear Up! Camp at Salem Community College on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. ( MARGO REED / Staff Photographer )

At the GEAR UP! program, experienced middle- and high-schoolers from South Jersey Robotics come in two days a week to teach robotics skills to seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders at a camp designed to spark future career ambitions.

Halsted, the 17-year-old from Lower Alloways Creek, said hes been fascinated by robotics ever since other club members came to his grade school and did a demonstration. Now a junior at Salem County Career and Technical High School studying computers, animation, and drafting, he said he knows how to program in nine computer languages and is aiming for a career in information technology.

There are no school teams around here, no [school] clubs, said Halsted, whos working with officials at his school to create an IT internship program. He said taking part in South Jersey Robotics and its Velocity team is a lot of fun. You get to meet new people at every event. Theres always something new you can learn.

Tim Roy, a 13-year-old camper and an eighth-grader at Penns Grove Middle School, helped program a Lego robot to perform tasks on a game board. You can express your feelings about Legos, he said. When Im able to do something like this, I feel good about it.

He said he wants to become a mechanical engineer; his campmate Goldsborough said his career ambition is sound engineering. That kind of talk is music to the ears of the adults backing South Jersey Robotics.

David Stump, director of grant development and management at Cumberland Community College, said he believes robotics is the vehicle to get more kids focused on tech as a career option in a poverty-plagued county where too many kids dont stick with STEM learning.

His college has partnered with First Jersey Robotics, two adjoining school districts in Millville and Morris River Township, and Salem Community College in applying for a $1.2 million federal grant under a program called Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers, or ITEST, that targets underprivileged youth to start robotics teams in more local schools.

Stump said the program could be a huge boost for Cumberland County, where long-term unemployment is nearly double the national rate and just 13 percent of students earn bachelors degrees.

Although the federal dollars if they come at all wouldnt arrive until 2018 at the earliest, First Jersey Robotics, which now has about55 volunteers and cobbles together an annual budget of roughly $80,000 to 90,000 through grants and fundraising, last year partnered with East Greenwichs Samuel Mickle Middle School to launch robotics teams and clubs and to help train teachers.

Program volunteers like board member Sandee Rodriguez, whose son competed with the LuNaTeCs and is close to earning a computer and electrical engineering degree from Grove City College in western Pennsylvania, say this is the best escape route in a county where many families struggle to get off public assistance. What were doing is changing lives, Rodriguez said. Were trying to provide opportunities that werent there before.

Published: July 28, 2017 3:01 AM EDT

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Local nonprofit organization aims to support robotics in Chattanooga area’s schools [photos] – Chattanooga Times Free Press

Posted: at 7:17 pm

Gallery: Local nonprofit organization aims to support robotics in Chattanooga area's schools

Members of the Greater Chattanooga Robotics board hope to provide every student in the region with the opportunity to be part of a robotics program in coming years.

"All kids are capable of learning, they just need the resources, guidance and direction," said Charley Spencer, founder of Greater Chattanooga Robotics, a newly launched nonprofit organization.

For more than 15 years, employees at the Tennessee Valley Authority have contributed more than $1 million to robotics initiatives across the Tennessee Valley, and now support robotics programs at about 60 schools.

Spencer, a retired financial analyst at TVA who has led the robotics initiatives, decided this year to start the nonprofit to continue and build upon that work.

Moving forward, the Greater Chattanooga Robotics board, which met for the second time last week, hopes to secure grant funding and more support to boost robotic programs and expand to more schools. The organization doesn't have employees or a specific curriculum it's pushing to implement, and instead wants to work with schools to support the learning taking place and embed robotics into the curriculum.

"There is a pent-up demand for robotics," Spencer said during the board meeting, adding that schools often don't have money in the budget to fund the programs without help.

The robotics programs in schools range from programming and controlling LEGO robots in the younger grades to high-schoolers building massive, complex robots that can perform tasks like throwing a Frisbee at a specific target.

Spencer said robotics play an important role in preparing students of all backgrounds to enter the workforce, as it forces them to think critically and solve real-world problems.

"Robotics is also one way to expose kids to technology," he said.

Scott Rosenow, a Greater Chattanooga Robotics board member and technology integration specialist at Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts, has been involved in robotics at several schools for many years. He said he's seen the impact robotics can have on students.

"It flips a switch for some students," Rosenow said, adding that he's seen kids who struggle in school excel in robotics because it's more hands-on. "It can give kids a certain level of success too, which they might not get elsewhere," he added.

Moving forward, Rosenow hopes the organization can equip and support educators to expand programs and train more teachers to be robotics coaches.

Richard Manning, a retired electrical engineer who helps with high school robotics programs and is a member of the board, said he hopes community and parent involvement in robotics will increase through the nonprofit's work.

Greater Chattanooga Robotics hopefully will rally volunteers to help with robotics competitions and recruit more people to be involved in the school-based robotics teams, he said.

Bill Copeland, director of business intelligence at EPB, said he hopes Greater Chattanooga Robotics will encourage more businesses to get involved in local schools.

"I see [robotics] as a catalytic program," he said. "We are trying to create things businesses can do to support schools."

Business leaders keep saying they need a well-trained workforce, Copeland said, and robotics provide a way to start developing local talent at a young age.

Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at krainwater@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @kendi_and.

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Local nonprofit organization aims to support robotics in Chattanooga area's schools [photos] - Chattanooga Times Free Press

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Robots Could Act as Ethical Mediators Between Patients and Caregivers – IEEE Spectrum

Posted: at 7:17 pm

Photo: Georgia Tech This robot can step in with ethical advice when a relationship gets complicated.

Most of the discussion around robots and ethics lately has been about whether autonomous cars will decide to run over the nearest kitten or a slightly farther away basket full of puppies. Or something like that. Whether or not robots can make ethical decisions when presented with novel situations is something that lots and lots of people are still working on, but its much easier for robots to be ethical in situations where the rules are a little bit clearer, and also when there is very little chance of running over cute animals.

At ICRA last month, researchers at Georgia Tech presented a paper on an intervening ethical governor for a robot mediator in patient-caregiver relationship. The idea is that robots will become part of our daily lives, and theyare much, much better than humans at paying close and careful attention to things, without getting distracted or bored, forever. So robots with an understanding of ethical issues would be able to observe interactions between patients and caregivers, and intervene when they notice that somethings not going the way it should. This is important, and we need it.

In the United States, there are about a million people living with Parkinsons disease. Robotic systems like exoskeletons and robot companions are starting to help people with physical rehabilitation and emotional support, but its going to be a while before we have robots that are capable of giving patients with Parkinsons all the help that they need. In the meantime, patients rely heavily on human caregivers, which can be challenging for both parties at times. Parkinsons is specifically tricky for human-human interactions because declining muscle control means that patients frequently have trouble conveying emotion through facial expressions, and this can lead to misunderstandings, or worse things.

To test if a robot mediator could help in such cases, theGeorgia Tech researchersJaeeun Shim, Ronald Arkin, and Michael Pettinatideveloped anintervening ethical governor (IEG). It is basically a set of algorithms that encodes specific ethical rules, and determines what to do in different situations. In this case, the IEGuses indicators like voice volume and face tracking to evaluate whether a humans dignity becomes threatened due to others inappropriate behavior in a patient-caregiver interaction. If that happens, the IEGspecifieshow and when the robot should intervene.

To embody their IEG, the researchers used a Nao humanoid, which has good sensing capabilities (a microphone arrayand camera)and can do speech synthesis (for the intervention bit). They then conducted simulated, scripted interactions between two grad students to see how the robot would react:

In the final part of the project, the researchers recruited a group of people (olderadults who could potentially be using the system)to watch these interactions and describe their reactions to them. It was a small number of participatants (nine, withaverage age of 71), but at this stage the IEG is still a proof-of-concept, so the researchers were mostly interested in qualitative feedback.Based on the responses from the study participants, the researchers were able to highlight some important takeaways, like:

Safety is most important

I think anything to protect the patient is a good thing.

Thats a high value. Thats appropriate there, because it gives real information, not just commanding.

The robot should not command or judge

I think that [commanding] puts the robot in the spot of being in a judgment I think it should be more asking such as how can I help you? But the robot was judging the patient. I dont think thats why we would want the robot.

He [the patient] should not be criticized for leaving or forgetting to do something by the robot. The caregiver should be more in that position.

If the robot stood there and told me to please calm down, Id smack him.

Ah yes, it wouldnt be a social robotics study if it didnt end with someone wanting to smack a robot. The researchers, to their credit, are taking this feedback to heart, and working with experts to tweak the language a bit, for example by changing please calm down to lets calm down, which is a bit less accusatory. Theyre also planning on improving the system by incorporating physiological data to better detect patients and caregivers emotional statuses, which could improve the accuracy of the robots intervention.

We should stress that theres no way a robot can replace empathetic interactions between two people, and thats not what this project is about. Robots, or AI systems in general, can potentially be effective mediators, making sure that caregivers and patients act ethically and respectfully towards each other, helping to improve relationships rather than replace them.

IEEE Spectrums award-winning robotics blog, featuring news, articles, and videos on robots, humanoids, drones, automation, artificial intelligence, and more. Contact us:e.guizzo@ieee.org

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Robots Could Act as Ethical Mediators Between Patients and Caregivers - IEEE Spectrum

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Japan battles population decline with robots – CBS News

Posted: at 7:17 pm

Japan is facing a population collapse that threatens its very existence. As with many of its problems, Japan is not looking for conventional solutions. It's pressing forward in its own, uniquely Japanese way. The world's third largest economy is looking to buttress its diminishing human population with a growing population of robots.

Japan's robot revolution will be explored during "CBSN: On Assignment" a new primetime documentary series which premiers Monday, July 31, 2017, (10 p.m. ET/PT) on theCBS Television Networkand onCBSN, the network's 24/7 streaming news service.

Japan is in crisis because humans aren't having enough babies. The country has one of the world's lowest birthrates. Coupled with a strict immigration policy, the nation's numbers are on the decline, and they're about to reach freefall.

Enter Japan's robots. In a laboratory in Japan, roboticists are working on perfecting highly realistic humanoids who look, and in some cases, fidget and move, just like humans. They will one day walk amongst us.

"Sometimes we'll run her in a way that she's purely learning and she's imitating people or she's learning from data and when she does that it's really hard to know what she's gonna do next. Somehow she seems more alive that way," says one robotics researcher at the University of Osaka, home to the world's most advanced humanoids.

Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro is known as the Godfather of Humanoids. He is renowned for his robotic clone Geminoid. Ishiguro explains that his real motivation is to understand what it means to be human by developing humanoid robots. He envisions a day when robots can be called upon to help sustain a certain quality of life in Japan.

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Facing a severe population decline, Japan is turning to robots to address the shortfall. "CBSN: On Assignment" takes us into the country's burgeo...

Take, for example, the Henna Hotel in Nagasaki. It's unlike any other hotel, in that it's run mostly by robots. The hotel, the first of hundreds of locations the parent company plans to open in Japan and Asia, is extremely efficient. Most hotels of this size and class operate with staffs of over 35. Thirty five humans, that is. This hotel gets by with less than seven staff members and the goal is to get down to a staff of just three humans. And while it's currently betting on the curiosity factor to draw in visitors, it's also drawn the attention of hoteliers the world over, who are interested in the efficiencies achieved by automation.

But the motivations for this are not purely financial With one of the lowest birthrates in the world, Japan's human population of 128 million is set to plummet. The government has tried to reverse the trend by giving out money to couples to have more babies. It's even resorted to hosting and encouraging matchmaking events, which have now become a burgeoning industry.

Shiori is a 24-year-old who finds it difficult in this still traditional, male-dominated society, to initiate conversations with men. She has attended a few parties, and though she's yet to find a match, she enjoys the format of the events, which she says allow for mixing and mingling that would be difficult to do otherwise.

She says, "I think some Japanese men may be intimidated by the fact that a lot of women are making more money than they are. Men lose confidence and end up not approaching women. But unless more Japanese men take the lead in dating it'll be hard for me to date them."

Dr Kunio Kitamura is the head of Japan's Family Planning Association, which advocates reproductive health in Japan. He's also a gynecologist and sex counselor. He headed up a major study that found that, among other factors, overwork and stress was a leading cause in a staggering statistic.

He found that 47.2 percent of married couples reported having no sexual intercourse. He adds that young people, wedded to technology, have forgotten how to communicate with one another, leading to fewer connections and ultimately, fewer babies.

Across Japan, hundreds of schools have shuttered, simply because there aren't enough kids to attend. Many sit abandoned.

According to Japan's Health Ministry, the population will shrink from 128 million to below 100 million by 2050. By then, Japan is expected to lose citizens at a rate of 900,000 per year.

Dr. Ishiguro envisions a day when robots become a member of the family. The idea of spouses, two kids and a dog, giving way to spouses, one child, one dog and one robot, isn't so unthinkable.

For one family, it's already here.

Tomomi Ota was one of the early adopters of Pepper, the world's first commercially available social robots. First a novelty, she's grown attached to Pepper, which she is able to program with new tasks and functions.

She says that she has bonded with this particular robot. "Obviously there are hundreds of Peppers just like this one. And I suppose they all have similar characters. There's a personality that exists only in this Pepper. And I feel this Pepper's personality is somehow connected to me."

For the scientists in Dr Ishiguro's lab, this bond may be the very breakthrough that brings humans and humanoids one step closer to coexisting.

Dylan Glas is an American who received his PhD in robotics at the University of Osaka. He came to Japan because he knew Japan was ready to embrace robotics in a way no other country would, or could.

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In our ongoing series, "Robotics Revolution," we explore how robots are transforming the way we live and work. An estimated 38 percent of America...

He is the chief architect of Erica, a semi-autonomous robot. He essentially created her mind - which is a highly advanced, learning machine. She banks memories and is able to carry on basic conversations, based upon what she's learned. She's also frighteningly realistic.

Glas says that he feels like she depends on him, and that he feels a responsibility to help her. He even feels pride when she's able to accomplish new tasks. "Obviously I know she's not a person, but certain things in your mind are triggered," he says.

Glas, ponders: "The question is, do we want her to be human...or do we want her to be better? I want her to be better."

He expands on this, saying "If we become this race that also has robots among us that can help us do things and make us better, then that's a wonderful future."

Erica is sure there's a place in society for her and her android compatriots in the future. She says, "I believe robots like me will be very important in the future. I have an unlimited capacity for patience and politeness. I can listen to people's stories, help console them when they are sad, and encourage them to socialize with others."

"I believe that social robots like me can help to bring the humanity back into people's lives."

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Japan battles population decline with robots - CBS News

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