Daily Archives: February 15, 2017

Team examines the evolution of wooden halibut hooks carved by native people of the Northwest Coast – Phys.Org

Posted: February 15, 2017 at 9:22 pm

February 15, 2017 Jonathan Malidine displays a halibut hook made by Jon Rowan, a Tlingit master carver. The hook has caught fish; note the scratches from teeth on the lower arm. Credit: University of California - Santa Barbara

The Tlingit and Haida, indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast (NWC), have used carved wooden hooks to catch halibut for centuries. As modern fishing technology crept into use, however, the old hooks practically disappeared from the sea. But they thrived on landas decorative art.

The hook's evolution from utilitarian tool to expression of cultural heritage is the subject of a paper by Jonathan Malindine, a doctoral student in UC Santa Barbara's Department of Anthropology. In "Northwest Coast Halibut Hooks: an Evolving Tradition of Form, Function, and Fishing," published in the journal Human Ecology, he traces the arc of the hook's design and how its dimensions have changed over time.

"I used to be a commercial fisherman in Alaska, and also lived in a Tlingit and Haida community," Malindine said. "So, the intersection of fisheries and Alaska Native art has always fascinated me. These NWC hooks are really effective at catching halibut, and also are intricately carved with rich, figural designs. Between the technology and the mythological imagery, there's a lot going on."

Halibut hooks, often called wood hooks, are part of a sophisticated apparatus for catching the flat, bottom-dwelling fish that can weigh more than 500 pounds. Constructed in two pieces of different woods, they look something like an open fish mouth from the side, with a barb, facing backwards, lashed to the top piece. When the fish tries to spit out the hook, the barb sets in its jaw. Hooks were carefully carved to maximize their potential for catching fish, and their shape and size varied depending on the size of halibut they were used for.

But as modern fishing technology displaced traditional gear, wood hooks began to change, varying greatly in design and dimension from early versions. These "art hooks" were created as decorative objects, often depicting animals important to NWC traditions and using materials such as abalone inlay.

It was that transition in the hooks, from utility to art, that Malindine studied. To do so, he examined, photographed and took detailed measurements of every intact NWC hook109 totalin the collections of the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of the American Indian. He found that "in the case of NWC halibut hooks, shifting function drives the shift in materials, dimension, and meaning," he writes in the paper. "The NWC halibut hook has largely ceased to function to catch fish, and its dimensions are changing to favor decorative and symbolic content over utilitarian/functional requirements. Nowadays it is primarily designed to link Alaska Natives to their ancestral heritage, and the art buyer to a tangible representation of NWC mythological and artistic tradition."

In addition to its contributions to academia, the research will benefit NWC carvers of wood hooks. Malindine has shared his work with them, allowing them to see what the hooks looked like as many as 150 years ago. "The Alaska Native carvers and Tribal members with whom I've shared these images and dimensional measurements are just happy to see them," he said. "These hooks are part of their cultural heritage, and have basically been locked away in storage facilitiessometimes for a hundred years.

"I've specifically given the images and measurements I produced to several Alaska Native artists and carving instructors, so they can use them in their classes when teaching students to carve halibut hooks," he continued. "Hopefully these images and measurements will be really useful in that type of classroom setting, especially for creating accurate reproductions."

Malindine's study of the hooks came through his participation in the Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) program, which is funded by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. He was one of 12 graduate students chosen from around the country to learn to use museum collections as field sites for research.

"There are vast numbers of important objects hidden away in museum collections facilities that are rarely studied," he said. "The SIMA program taught us how to approach studying museum objectsfrom theory of material culture, collections management, conservation and object handling, to photography, research design, data collection, analysis and eventual publication of results."

As Malindine noted, wood hooks are still more than curiosities or museum pieces. "I was fortunate enough to interview two of the very few people who still fish with traditional wood hooks," he said. "One of them, Jon Rowan, claims he has as much, if not more, success using wood hooks to catch halibut than he does using modern fishing gear. These have stuck around for a reason: They're very good at catching halibut. Of course most people don't want to risk losing a valuable and beautiful carved NWC halibut hook, so almost everyone these days uses commercially produced circle hooks that cost a few dollars each."

Casey Walsh, an associate professor of anthropology and Malindine's graduate advisor, called the examination of wood hooks solid science that places it in a human context. "Jonathan's paper is a great example of the explanatory strength of a holistic approach to understanding humans," Walsh said. "He skillfully combined environmental, social and cultural elements to tell us why halibut hooks matter, not only for basic sustenance, but also for people's relationships with each other and their creative, artistic lives."

Explore further: Study finds circle hooks lower catch rate for offshore anglers

More information: Jonathan Malindine. Northwest Coast Halibut Hooks: an Evolving Tradition of Form, Function, and Fishing, Human Ecology (2017). DOI: 10.1007/s10745-016-9884-z

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The Tlingit and Haida, indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast (NWC), have used carved wooden hooks to catch halibut for centuries. As modern fishing technology crept into use, however, the old hooks practically disappeared ...

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Team examines the evolution of wooden halibut hooks carved by native people of the Northwest Coast - Phys.Org

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New Interactive Tool Shows The Evolution Of Wind Power Around The World – CleanTechnica

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Published on February 15th, 2017 | by Joshua S Hill

February 15th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill

A new interactive web tool created between the Global Wind Energy Council and renewable energy software company Greenbyte allows users to witness The Evolution of Wind Power between 1981 and today.

The Evolution of Wind Power was created based on data provided by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) tracing the evolution and growth of the worlds wind energy fleet, working right through to the most recent GWEC annual report published earlier this week. According to Greenbyte, The interactive map reveals the cumulative installed capacity per country, continent and the world between 1981-2017.

The map is a visual representation of the figures outlined in the Global Wind Energy Councils annual statistics report, which showed China was still leading the way, installing 23 gigawatts in 2016, bringing their cumulative installed capacity up to over 168 GW. The United States and Germany followed, with strong performances from India, the Netherlands, and Turkey.

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Tags: Global Wind Energy Council, Greenbyte, GWEC, The Evolution of Wind Power

Joshua S Hill I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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New Interactive Tool Shows The Evolution Of Wind Power Around The World - CleanTechnica

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Humons presents an atypical dance evolution – Detroit Metro Times

Posted: at 9:22 pm

El Club in Southwest Detroit is littered with glow sticks, blow-up palm trees, and balloons. A pair of DJs with skipper hats on are warming up the room with tech-house jams. A few people are already dancing. Unaware this was a themed party, I've got a tiny umbrella in my gin and tonic.

The vibes are warm and fresh, and for a minute, I forget we're in the middle of a Detroit winter. My friend picks up a balloon to volley across the room. The balloon says "Humons." We smile to each other and watch it bounce from human to human until it finds an empty, human-less zone. Both of us track its slow and graceful surrender to the floor while activity whirls around us. So far this is what the night is observing, human-watching girls dressed in smart '90s rave garb, and boys in sweaters, Hawaiian leis, and knit caps.

Washed in a zig-zagging row of bright white lights, two figures emerge onstage. My focus locks on the mic where the man behind the music stands in a royal blue bomber jacket, accompanied by a drummer, who wears a neon green cap on top of a mess of long curly hair. Starting from their single, "Underneath," the show progresses seamlessly, and by the end I'm elbowing my friend, going, "Who knew this would turn into a house show!"

Humons is the creation of Ardalan Sedghi aka Ardi. He's unassuming, with an honest face and an effortlessness about him. He's not trying to win your affection; he's here the same reason you are, to share something with the community he moves within. There's a feeling it was never his intention to get attention, yet here we are.

"I've been writing music since I was a young lad in middle school... that would be around 2003," Ardi says. "Humons started in 2013 and that is the first time I had set to write and release music with some sort of intention or coherent theme."

His setup is simple: a laptop for some backing tracks, a keyboard, a controller designated to a drum machine, and a small vocal effects box that's locked on the mic stand. Oh yeah, and there's the mic. Humons would be a complete one-man live operation if not for the addition of drummer Mike Higgins, which Ardi says, "definitely stepped the live show up a notch. I'm grateful to have his talent and energy onstage."

An eclectic mix of minimal electronic, pop, and experimental sonic animation born from a process and method that continues to evolve with each track Humons draws most of their influence from Detroit. "We are blessed with some of the world's best electronic music be it at Movement or at TV Lounge on any weekend," Ardi says.

At this El Club show, the material Humons is sharing is the recently released Spectra EP most of which was recorded at Ardi's home studio, "aka my bedroom," he says, "but I did some additional recording at Assemble." The mixing and mastering for Spectra EP were done at Assemble with producer/engineer Jon Zott (Tunde Olaniran, JRJR, BRNS, ect.). "He is absolutely great to work with," Ardi says of Zott. "He took the EP to the next level with his production prowess."

The album, while pristine in its original form, will be reimagined into a full package of remixes that will come out each week over the next five weeks. The first, a remix of "Underneath" by Detroit-based Mega Powers already dropped at the beginning of the month. Other Detroiters who will join the party are Jon Zott and Monty Luke. Elsewhere, there is Color War from New York and Diamondstein from Los Angeles. "It's a cool project for me," Ardi says, "not only because I'm a fan of what all of them are doing musically, but also because three of the five artists were involved with either Spectra EP itself or were a part of the EP release party."

Having lived in Detroit for the last five years, Ardi is cognizant of the limitations of such a city, as well as the undeniable benefits, which, at times feel like intangible energies rather than citable stats supporting the fact that Detroit is indeed growing from more of an artist "launching pad" to something of a viable "home" meaning that artists won't have to keep leaving to expand their reach, their creativity, their income. But maybe leaving is also part of a necessary process, an experience that any creative might eventually embark upon. One has to remain open, become cultured, grown in a scope that is not always accessible so far removed from the entertainment capitals of the world. We've all noticed a definite shift, growth, and rebirth in Detroit over the years, but I was curious of Ardi's thoughts on what has changed to alter the struggle. The fan base? Raise the ceiling? I had to ask.

"As with most places there's definitely pros and cons," Ardi says. "It's easy to survive as an artist financially and there is a lot of hidden talent here, but it's hard to grow beyond a certain level because the industry hasn't been around for a while and there simply aren't that many folks living in the city to build a local following."

If that sounds like the same old problems, well they are, but Ardi seems confident that things are gaining important momentum.

"In the past, it's felt a bit isolated in terms of everybody just doing their own thing, but I think that's starting to change, especially with groups like Assemble Sound," he says. "I'm definitely hopeful about the music scene here, as we start building resources and connections helping our local talent develop into its potential."

That said, Ardi is playing it safe Humons isn't a full-time gig. "Both from a financial and a personal standpoint, I don't think it's the move for me right now," he says.

Not surprisingly, being able to support yourself as a full-time artist is one of those unicorns of the industry a fantasy for most, rare way of life for some those who have talent, luck, dedication, and an amazing work ethic on their side. That said, sometimes that part-time job is fuel too offers balance. We've always been a working-class city. Maybe that balance of jobby-job and artist is unique to what makes Detroit artists such an impressive breed as it's a lifestyle that begs respect rather than the opposite.

"I have been putting in more energy and time into it since about last October leading up to the release of Spectra EP," Ardi says. The opportunity was there to keep on keeping on a natural progression of well-timed successes and good live shows that has allowed Humons the pleasure of riding out that wave.

As for the future, Ardi isn't making any predictions, just figuring out his personal evolution as it goes. "I'm getting more and more interested in dance being a main goal as it relates to live shows," he says. "There is such a great energy that comes with a group of people dancing together."

This interest will likely translate to the next batch of songs he's writing alongside aforementioned co-producer Jon Zott and drummer Michael Higgins. This year they'll all be in the midst of creation, getting heady in the studio, having fun, vetting out ideas, and learning in the process.

"It's a good challenge," Ardi says, "and I think the result will be great with the live drums and synth takes." He hopes to have a new album available by the end of the year.

Other than that, Humons is working on designing some T-shirts. As to his long-term plans, he's keeping it pretty loose. Ardi doesn't imagine a typical music career for himself atypical is more of his flavor anyway, but his goal maintains a basic simplicity. "I want to keep writing music, getting better, playing live shows, and building an audience so that the music is being heard and enjoyed."

The tracks mentioned in this article can be found at soundcloud.com/humons.

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Makeblock’s Lego-like ‘Neuron’ teaches kids robotics and code – Engadget

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There are six kits available: Explorer, Explorer Pro, Light Wizard, Science Lab, Smart Life and All-in-One. Each is equipped with basic blocks like a light sensor and adjustment knob, with the different kits featuring specialized blocks geared toward a child's interests, like cold cathode, WiFi and camera blocks. Others include a voice sensor, Bluetooth, ultrasonic and display module.

Once your kit is set up, you can program it using Makeblock's mBlock, a graphical and flow-based programming system, with "no prior coding knowledge necessary," the company says. It also promises steady updates to allow for new projects and capabilities. mBlock is based on Scratch 2.0, a code teaching program, so it should be easy for kids who've done some Arduino programming to pick up.

Other features include remote control via WiFi (letting kids water plants or feed pets via a smartphone), high durability, third-party software (including Microsoft's Cognitive Services AI platform) and Lego compatibility, presumably letting you marry Neuron with Mindstorms, or at least use Lego blocks as structural elements in projects.

The Makebot Neuron project is launching on Kickstarter starting at $69, meaning you're taking a mild risk ordering it. However, the Shenzhen, China-based company says its products are in over 25,000 schools, and it has done a bunch of successful Kickstarter campaigns, including the mBot robot building kit (above), Codeybot code-teaching robot and Airblock drone-cum-hovercraft, which garnered $830,000 by itself. The Kickstarter campaign launches next week, and we'll update this post with a link once it does.

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Makeblock's Lego-like 'Neuron' teaches kids robotics and code - Engadget

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Magnetic Control Could Help Robots Navigate Inside Your Body – IEEE Spectrum

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There are two options for controlling a robot inside of the human body: Either you try and build some sort of intricate and tiny robot submarine with self contained propulsion and navigation, which would be really really hard to do, or you just make the robot with a tiny bit of something that responds to magnetic fields, and control it externally with some big magnets. The latter approach is vastly less complicated, but it has one major drawback, which is that its very hard to manage multiple robots.

Heres the problem: Magnetic fields, being fields, arent easily constrained to specific areas. Realistically, if youre using something like a clinical MRI scanner to create a magnetic field, whatever gradient you give the field will affect everything inside of the MRI, whether youve got one single microbot or a vast swarm of them. If you want two different robots to do two different things, youre out of luck.

One potential way of getting around this is by making each of your robots slightly different, such that consistent control inputs have inconsistent effects on each robot. But for homogenous robots, its much more difficult. In a paper published today in Science Robotics, researchers from Philips, in Hamburg, Germany,describe a technique that can use magnetic fields to selectively actuate individual microbots, or individual components of a robot, even if theyre all made of the same stuff and located within the same field.

Please enjoy this utterly charming explanatory video from the researchers:

Coooool.

Heres how it works: The global magnetic field inside of the device has a hole in it, called a free field point (FFP), where multiple magnetic fields (each generated by a separate coil) meet up. Inside of the FFP, the magnetic field gradient is low. This doesnt help you move things, but it does help you not move things, because you can lock everything that isnt in the FFP in place by cranking up the field gradient. Then, you apply a gentle rotating magnetic field, which spins anything inside of the FFP and not locked down. By moving the FFP around, you can select which things are lockedand which things are free to rotate.

In this case, the lock is the screws being tilted sideways by the field such that they cant rotate, while the FFP is a region of zero tilt, meaning that the screws can rotate freely. The hardware used in this study was able to individually actuate screws as close together as 3 millimeters.

The researchers suggest a whole bunch of different ways in which this technique could be of practical, immediate use:

One class of applications is based on mechanisms driven by several screws that are controlled individually. In orthopedics, this could be implants, whose shape can be adapted to the healing process. In applications such as limb lengthening or early-onset scoliosis, a mechanism based on several controllable screws may offer higher flexibility in extendible prostheses or growth rods. In addition, the approach can be useful in microfluidics, where simple and tiny magnetic pumps and valves may be envisioned that can be individually actuated without an electrical or mechanical link.

Another class of applications is related to simple micromachines for local therapy delivery, such as remote-controlled drug release from a distribution of injectable magnetic micropills. Remotely switchable radioactive seeds are a special case of this class. Switchable seeds would enable the use of sources with longer half-life or higher dose rates because the radiation can be switched off after the desired dose has been applied. Besides, migrating seeds ending up too close to healthy tissue or sensitive organs could be switched off.

Using a helically slotted shield, directional seeds with remotely adjustable radiation direction could be built. These would allow further improvements in dose painting and sparing of healthy tissue. In addition, magnetic manipulation has been shown to be scalable to the micrometer regime. Using a catheter, seeds of this size could be discharged into the bloodstream of a tumor-feeding artery so that they are carried into the tumor and embolize small vessels. After localization via imaging, only seeds that ended up in the tumor would be activated remotely.

[ Paper ]

IEEE Spectrum's 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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Immokalee High team set for robotics state championships Friday in Tampa – Naples Daily News

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Immokalee High School Robotics Team seniors Kristian Trevino, left, and Jenni Villa prepare their robots for Friday's state robotics competition on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. The VEX Robotics Competition takes place Friday in Tampa. (Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)Buy Photo

It hasbeen almost two years since Immokalee High senior Kristian Trevino, 18, traded his baseball glove for a robot controller, but he hasnever looked back.

Were not doing suicides (physical conditioning drills) or running around the field here at robotics, but were using our minds twenty-four seven, he said.

The former second baseman and current captain of the Immokalee High robotics team has helped lead his team to the VEX Robotics state championships that will take place Friday in Tampa.

The team, only in itssecond year, has qualified two robots: Megazord and Dragonzord, named after the forces made famous by the "Power Rangers" TVshow. Each robot is built and controlled by a team of three students.

The young engineers have been meeting for hours each day after class since the start of the school year. One night they stayed so late the janitor almost locked them in.

They average 20 to 25 hours per week working on these robots, and they spend their free time watching videos of other robots, said Fred Rimmler, an engineering teacher and robotics coach at Immokalee. Theyve blown me away.

Immokalee High School Robotics Team senior Kristian Trevino prepares his robot for Friday's state robotics competition on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. The VEX Robotics Competition takes place Friday in Tampa. (Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)

The bots will compete as separate teams against 55 others at the Florida Fairgroundsfor the title of state champion and a chance to qualify for the world competition in Louisville, Kentucky,in April.

The bots will enter a 12-foot-by-12-footplaying field, split down the middle, and compete to see how many toy stars and cubes each can throw over to the other side within the allotted two minutes.

The robots, driven by a team member through a game controller, can win bonus points for climbing onto a corner post and for driving autonomously.

Students gain more than just knowledge about mechanics the games are social. After the first round, teams pair up with each other to compete in groups of three.

You have to be very strategic, Rimmler said. "You have to havea good understanding of the engineering and design side of things, but you also have to know how to make friends."

Rimmler and his students said it was a difficult task to find partners at first, but after winning the regional competition in Miami, other teams have begun seeking them to askwhether theyd be willing to join forces.

At the beginning of the year, I didnt think this was going to happen, but now our robots at a whole new level, said Damian Gonzalez-Perez, 17, the captain and driver of Megazord.

Immokalee High School Robotics Team senior Kristian Trevino prepares his robot for Friday's state robotics competition on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. The VEX Robotics Competition takes place Friday in Tampa. (Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)

The engineering masterpiece hasgone through five full redesigns since the start of the year.

Weve built a really aggressive offensive robot. Nobody knew us before, but now when we go to other cities to compete, were known as Immokalee, and its a prideful thing.

For Jennifer Villa, 18, the only girl on the team, the male-dominated competitions have taught her to take initiative. She said she used to feel stigmatized by boys who assumed she wasnt as smart as they were.

The girls are always seen as the pretty ones and the dainty ones. she said. Ive learned to put myself out there more. My team sees the work I put in, and I dont ever feel less than them.

Reporter Annika Hammerschlag will join Megazord and Dragonzord on their quest for glory, beginning at 11 a.m. Friday. Follow her updates on Twitter @a_hammerschlag.

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Immokalee High team set for robotics state championships Friday in Tampa - Naples Daily News

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NSU College of Education honored for robotics – Muskogee Daily Phoenix

Posted: at 9:22 pm

Northeastern State University College of Education recently received national recognition for a robotics academy that is the only one of its kind in the United States, according to a media release.

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education will include NSUs Robotics Academy of Critical Engagement, or RACE, in the associations Innovation Inventory as a part of its Innovations Exchange.

As part of this recognition, the RACE module will be highlighted during AACTEs new Gallery to Showcase at its annual meeting on March 2-3 in Tampa, Fla. NSU faculty will showcase the module to educators from around the United States in an interactive, question-and-answer format. In addition, NSUs RACE will be featured on AACTEs Innovations Exchange website for a full year.

Within NSUs Robotics Academy of Critical Engagement, all teacher candidates are required to complete a robotics module in their emerging technology class. Future teachers use a variety of coding methods to program robots as a team and get a hands-on look at how students learn.

Students learn in different ways; they have different ways of approaching a task, and this models that for them, said Dr. Debbie Landry, dean of the College of Education.

Landry leads the program with College of Education faculty members Barbara Fuller, Dr. Allyson Watson, Dr. Vanessa Anton and Dr. Cindi Fries.

While working with the robots, teacher candidates learn communication, collaboration, problem-solving and critical thinking.

The College of Education also takes the program into the community to teach local teachers how to use robotics in the classroom.

Everything we do here is focused on improving the quality of instruction for our candidates, but were also always looking to the impact on the student in the K-12 classroom and this program does that, Landry said.

The programalsohas had an international impact. Students from NSU have traveled to Haiti three times and Vienna to share RACE in Haitian public schools and international private schools. The students have mentored students, teachers and parents in robotics.

Landry said NSU sponsored the first all-girl robotics team from Haiti. That team received a special invitation to compete at the world championship in 2016 and earned an invitation to return to the championship in 2017. The country of Haiti now has three participating schools and six individual teams within their schools.

Landry said the RACE module is modeled after a similar program she observed in Taiwan. While on a trip with teacher candidates several years ago, she realized that robotics plays a much larger role in preparing teachers for the classroom in Asian countries.

When she returned to Tahlequah, she started working to incorporate robotics in teacher training at NSU. Through a partnership with the Cherokee Nation, the RACE program began in 2013. In 2014, the program was able to add the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation as a partner.

Information: (918) 444-3739 or roboticsacademy@nsuok.edu.

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Mukwonago robotics Team 930 steams ahead to competition – Lake Country Now

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Mukwonago FIRST Robotics Competition Team 930 members (from left) Owen Goodland, Miriam Huerta, and AJ Magestro work on the team's robot on Feb. 13. The competition build season ends Feb. 21 then teams make final preparations for regional competition. Team 930 will compete in the Wisconsin Regional in Milwaukee and the Seven Rivers Regional in LaCrosse.(Photo: Carol Spaeth-Bauer/Now Media Group)

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition

FIRST Robotics CompetitionTeam 930 from Mukwonago is bigger this year than in most years, with about 40 students on the team, but the challenges of designing, building and programming a robot in six weeks are the same.

Work on the competition robot ends on Feb. 21, when the robot is wrapped up and sealed, not to be touched again until the team competes in the Wisconsin Regional from March 22 - 25 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panther Arena. After that the team won't have access to the robot until the Seven Rivers Regional in LaCrosse from April 12 - 15.

In their last week, the pace will be fast as team members fine-tune and modify the robot and the code to reach optimal performance. The Charger Robotics mini-regional Feb. 19 will serve as a good testing ground, where the robot and drive team get a taste of how they will perform at regional competition.

Team 930 mentor Greg Billetdeaux said he likes the 2017 FRC challenge, FIRST Steamworks, where teams get to shoot an infinite number of balls, as many as robots can carry, especially during the autonomous portion of the game.

FIRST Steamworks is a game based on an "era where steam power reigns," where "two adventurers' clubs" are challenged to "prepare their airships for a long distance race," according to the game overview on firstinspires.org.

In the game, two alliances made up of three robotics teams each build steam pressure by collecting fuel (balls), start rotors by delivering gears to their pilots, and prepare for flight by hanging onto the "airship" before takeoff, according to the game overview on the FIRST website. Points are scored during the 15-second autonomous period when the robot operates only on pre-programmed instructions. Student drivers take over for the remaining two minutes and 15 seconds of the game, working with teams on the alliance to collect as many points as possible before the end of the match.

Team 930 started out filling gaps created after a number of seniors graduated from the team.

"I think so far the new kids have filled those roles pretty well," Billetdeaux said.

As he talked, students were fine-tuning the shooter, trying to gain accuracy to collect as many points as possible during the autonomous mode.

Directing much of that work as the project managerwas Mukwonago High School junior Miriam Huerta who joined the team as a freshman. Usually Huerta was in the trenches designing or building the robot, but as project manager, she found herself doing less of that type of work.

"My biggest role is to integrate to make sure we are all on the same page, basically me talking to every single person on the team to see how we're doing, where we're going," said Huerta.

Huerta likes to foster that feeling of teamwork, one of the first core values she learned in FIRST when joining FIRST Lego League (FLL) in elementary school.

"I definitely like to have a team that feels comfortable with each other, with their work, and as people in general," Huerta added.

When Huerta was in seventh grade at Park View Middle School, the school started a roboticsprogram using the VEX programing language as part of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum, which fueled her interest in robotics.

Aside from being a "really cool experience," robotics taught Huerta how to be assertive. She went from a shy, quiet FLL participant where other kids talked during presentations, to being one of the main speakers for Team 930. She gained confidence and learned leadership skills.

"This experience has helped me foster a leadership position and to see the benefits of trying to provide everyone with that support so that they too can feel like they have some power and position in the team," Huerta explained. "That can make a difference."

She likes being able to work on a team to accomplish a common goal, working with peers on something that is bigger than everyone involved.

Jacob Henrichs, a senior at Mukwonago High School, also learned leadership skills during his years on the team. As a freshman he learned how to design in computer-assisted designand how to make things. As the mechanical lead this year, he directs and supervises team members, allowing them to learn because "they have to continue on for the next few seasons."

Henrichs said it can be challenging trying to accomplish everything in a build season, but not so challenging so that"you can still do a lot." The hardest part has been staying focused during the long hours of a six-week build season and inter-team communication.

"It's difficult to get all the stuff done on time while still trying to have fun doing it," Henrichs pointed out.

Henrichs plans to attend UW-Platteville for mechanical engineering. Huerta has aspirations of attending Princeton University to study mechanical engineering with UW-Madison as a backup.

That's the biggest reason for the FIRST Roboitcs Competitionprogram, Billetdeaux said to prepare students for college and the real world.

While FRC team members work with their peers toward a common goal, the part that's bigger than all of them are the skills they will take into the world to build a better future for all.

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Mukwonago robotics Team 930 steams ahead to competition - Lake Country Now

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Microsoft lets you crash drones and robots in its new real world … – The Verge

Posted: at 9:22 pm

Microsoft is sharing some interesting tools with the open source community today. Developers and researchers will be able to take advantage of a new simulator that will let people test and train robots and drones in a virtual environment to prepare them for moving around the real world. A beta version of Microsofts research tool is being made available free of charge on GitHub today through an open source license. Its just the latest in a line of tools and software that Microsoft has made available to the open source community in recent years.

While some simulators have existed to help test drone paths and prepare devices for autonomous operations, Microsoft claims its latest tool is far more advanced, and more accurately reflects the navigation challenges of the real world. Engineers are already exploring the possibility of training real-life action in virtual worlds, retrofitting games like GTA for this task. You can even test AI creations in Minecraft. Microsoft is using the latest photorealistic technologies, so its simulator will let you guide a drone over a realistic setting with shadows and reflections.

You can do a lot of experiments, and even if those experiments fail they have very little cost in real life, explains Ashish Kapoor, the Microsoft researcher in charge of the project, in an interview with The Verge. In the real world it's extremely hard to explore all possible things, however in simulation we have the luxury of trying out many different things.

It's more than just crashing drones

Developers will be able to generate random environments and crash drones accordingly, but Microsoft isnt going to limit this to just autonomous vehicles. The initial release of the tool, that Kapoor admits is in its early days, will be geared towards any kind of autonomous vehicles, but Kapoor believes it will even be able to help with computer vision or even other data-driven machine learning systems in the future.

You can think of this as being a data generator, explains Kapoor. If you have any kind of sensor, like a barometer or even maybe say a laser or a radar, you can generate a lot of training data for any of these sensing modalities. You can generate data that you can in turn use to train.

This idea of gathering training data is essential for researchers to build the algorithms required for autonomous vehicles to respond the correct way. This simulator isnt designed to replace real-world testing, but it will be used alongside that testing to replicate scenarios hundreds or thousands of times.

Microsofts Aerial Informatics and Robotics Platform includes support for DJI and MavLink drones, so developers dont have to write separate code to control these drones. Microsoft is planning to add more tools to the platform in the future to help developers build perception abilities and progress the safety of AI-powered autonomous vehicles. You can find Microsofts simulator and tools over at the companys GitHub repository.

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American Savings Bank Invests $10K in Moloka’i Robotics – Maui Now

Posted: at 9:22 pm

Molokai Robotics Program receives $10,000 from ASB.

American Savings Bank has invested $10,000 in the Molokai Robotics Program, expanding the programs reach to local high school students.

Currently, the Molokai Robotics Program serves only Molokai Middle School. ASBs $10,000 grant is instrumental in expanding this critical program to ensure continued education and hands-on experience in robotics and STEM for Molokai youth, grades 6-12.

The Molokai Robotics Program provides students opportunities to interact with hardware and software including VEX robotics, computer assisted design, computer science, Google Suite Android operating system app development and digital media.

The program stresses 21st century skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity. Once operational, the high school program will allow for continuity from middle school through high school and provide additional opportunities for students to advance their STEM skills and knowledge.

At ASB, we look for opportunities to support innovative educational programs and to provide Hawaiis students with valuable skills that will help drive our economy, said Rich Wacker, president and CEO, American Savings Bank. The Molokai Robotics Program meets all these criteria and more, providing the islands youth with 21st century skills that will allow students to reach great new heights in the classroom and beyond.

In the expanded Molokai Robotics Program, teachers, volunteers and students will closely collaborate to learn from the successes of the middle school program and instill best practices into the new high school program.

I am excited to have the chance to continue being a part of the Molokai Robotics Program in high school, said Maria Angst, an incoming freshman at Molokai High School. I love building robots and designing apps, and I cant wait to take what I learned about STEM in middle school and continue to advance in high school.

ASB made the grant to the Kinaole Foundation whose mission is to educate, advance, and promote the economic development of the people of Hawaii through educational and business development activities and programs, with Native Hawaiians as the principal beneficiary.

In 2013, the Kinaole Foundation launched a STEM program at Molokai Middle School that resulted in the creation of a VEX IQ Robotics program. The program currently has three teams, Team Kalo, Team Menehune and Team Naiwa.

The teams have competed in and won multiple state tournaments, including placing first in 2014, second place in 2015 and first place in 2016. The teams were recognized at the VEX Robotics World Championship competitions in 2014 and 2016. In February 2017, the teams will compete in the Hawaii VEX IQ State Middle School Championship on Oahu.

ASB supports initiatives that promote educational excellence, strengthen families and foster economic growth through donations, sponsorships, grants and scholarships. More than just financial giving, ASB is committed to giving time, work, best ideas and leadership to causes that are important to the health and well-being of Hawaii.

ASBs Seeds of Service teammate volunteer program encourages support of community service projects at all levels to benefit school and nonprofit organizations in neighborhoods on each island. Through Seeds of Service, ASB has donated 22,000 hours of volunteer service and millions of dollars to worthy causes statewide.

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