Daily Archives: February 24, 2017

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Tech firms keep expanding 'Robotics Row,' Pittsburgh's mini Silicon ... - Tribune-Review

Badger Robotics team drivers Kaeden Hietala and Kennedy Truscinski look out at the model arena as they drive their team robot in a practice session with the Greenbush-Middle River Robotics team at DRB Fabrication in Greenbush on February 19. At its February 13 meeting, the Badger School Board approved designating no more than $4000 to build a 60-foot long wall to create a more conducive space in the Badger Bus Garage for the Badger Robotics team to call home.

At its February 13 meeting, the Badger School Board approved granting the district permission to designate no more than $4000 to build a 60-foot long wall to create a more conducive space in the Badger Bus Garage for the Badger Robotics team to call home.

Making this motion, board member Carol Rhen added that she thinks its prudent to post this project on the school website and to count on board members word of mouth, both coming at no cost to the district, to call out for bids on this project. Superintendent Tom Jerome agreed to post this info on the district website, including a deadline for response.

This request came after the robotics team moved from working in the Badger Industrial Arts Room and into what Jerome termed dead space, used for odds and ends, in front of three fleet vehicles located in the Badger Bus Garage. The team would like this space converted to provide a secure area and conducive atmosphere for them to work in the winter months.

To improve the insulation of this space, Jerome asked the board if the district could pursue this project, totaling, according to Allen Monsrud Construction, $3300. The district at that time hadnt yet asked for any bids outside this one. Speaking with Badger Transportation Director Tim Berger, Jerome said Berger told him he was fine with repurposing this space if the students were going to use it.

Speaking of students, board member Hauger asked if industrial arts students could build this wall. He at first made an initial motion to appropriate $3000 towards the project, have the district meet with Badger Industrial Arts teacher Mike Coltom to see if his students could do the project, and if not, to still go through with the project.

Board Chairperson Jamie Isane questioned whether having students build this wall could be more trouble than its worth, being the district has to deal with building codes. Badger Dean of Students Stacey Warne added that the district isnt offering a construction class until next fall. This initial motion made by Hauger didnt move forward.

Jerome then added that if the board wanted this wall built relatively soon, it could move forward with the project, or, if not, could wait until the fall. He did add that the build season is coming to an end soon February 21 to be exact.

Board member Jeramy Swenson, a Badger Robotics team mentor, told the board that if it approved Allen Monsrud to do the project, Monsrud could have the project done that Wednesday (February 15).

Hauger responded by saying he would like to be fair and ask for bids from others, realizing it could set the project back. Jerome then brought up the idea of calling out for bids on the school website.

Isane understood the idea of being fair to all, but didnt think they would see many differences in bids on a project of this size. Hauger then asked Swenson his opinion in terms of how imperative it was to have the project done now.

Swenson said he would like to see the project done now to provide the robotics team a home. As of February 21, the project hadnt yet began.

To see more from this meeting, read the February 22 issue of The Tribune. To find out more about the Badger Robotics and the Greenbush-Middle River Robotics teams, read an upcoming issue of The Tribune.

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Badger board approves wall for robotics team space - East Grand Forks Exponent

AUGUSTA While some of their classmates were enjoying the February break relaxing on the ski slopes or at the beach, members of the Hall-Dale High School robotics team were hard at work in the lower level of the Ballard Center putting the finishing touches on their robot for this seasons competition.

We probably did several thousand man hours since January, said William Fahy, a senior and one of the teams captains. The first competition will be held in Worcester, Massachusetts, early next month before the team participates in the FIRST New England District Pine Tree Regional on March 30 and April 1 in Lewiston.

Delta Prime Robotics spent most of Tuesday, known in the high school robotics world as Stop Build Day, working on the robot until midnight. The 15-member team worked on programming, electrical design and final building of the robot in their space at the Ballard Center the former MaineGeneral Medical Center building on East Chestnut Street which the team uses at no cost. The space features several large rooms, including a full body shop and a 3-D printer.

This years game, called Steamworks, requires teams to build a robot using specific guidelines provided by the sports governing body. During the first 30 seconds of each match, the robot must perform certain tasks autonomously.

Robotics team members from Hall-Dale High School test their robots maneuverability Tuesday at the Ballard Center in Augusta. The students are participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Kennebec Journal/Elise Klysa

Lead mentor Karen Giles said the games object is to gather gears that are loaded onto the robot by a human player. The robot then must take the gears and place them onto spots on an airship in the center of the playing field. Giles said there is also fuel giant neon yellow whiffle balls that can be loaded into the robot and shot or dumped into a steam boiler.

The robot has to have speed and precision and aiming capabilities, Giles said. You get extra ranking points for the qualifying round based on how many you get in the boiler.

In the last 30 seconds of the match, the robot must drive itself to a hanging rope, pull itself up to about 5 feet off the ground, contact a touch pad and hang in place until a buzzer sounds. The team is using a Kevlar rope that can hold hundreds of pounds instead of the rope provided by the tournament organizers.

Fahy, one of the teams lead programmers, said getting the robot, which doesnt have a name yet, to do several complicated tasks and movements at the same time is a challenge.

The robot cant learn anything just by putting a camera there and seeing stuff, because it has to process the image, Fahy said. We have to put it through a bunch of different layers of processing.

Hall-Dale High School students, all members of Delta Prime Robotics, huddle around their robotic entry Tuesday at the Ballard Center in Augusta with mentor Karen Giles, second from right, in order to finish their work before the competition deadline. Students are, from left, Garmin Dion, Eli Pahn, Michael Crochere, Ean Smith, Bryce Bradgon, Alicia Warm and, at far right, team business and coding captain William Fahy. Kennebec Journal/Elise Klysa

Senior Anna Schaab, who designed the teams logo and handles its social media outreach, said the robot uses the camera and an encoder that measures how far the wheels have moved and other real-time data.

We can see how far weve gone and where were aiming, Schaab said. These are difficult things were trying to do.

Giles son graduated last year after serving as one of the team leaders during the competition season, but she said she decided to stick around as lead mentor because she loves working with the students and seeing how their minds work. Giles, an artist and former therapeutic horse riding instructor, has made robotics her career as director of the Robotics Institute of Maine, whose mission is to inspire youth to gain a new perspective on science and technology by providing opportunities and resources for robotics programs.

They are learning so much more than robots, Giles said. They learn how to work with other people. They make friends from all over New England and they learn the soft skills employers would look for.

Giles said she works with a lot of employers who are looking not only for the technological skills these students possess, but also for people who work well with others, who can work as a team and who can jump in and help when something needs to get done.

Gracious professionalism is something stressed by New Hampshire-based FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Delta Prime won two gracious professionalism awards last season, and Fahy said helping other teams and helping each other is almost as important as the competition.

Everyone is there to compete and show that their robot is going to win, but its competition with cooperation, Fahy said. At any given event, youll find teams helping each other.

Jason Pafundi can be contacted at 621-5663 or at:

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Hall-Dale High School robotics team prepares for competition season - Press Herald

February 24, 2017 at 3:35 pm by Max Chen

As technology growth continues to pick up speed, robotics and automation could usher in the next industrial revolution. Investors can also tap into the potential explosive growth in the robotics space through a targeted exchange traded fund strategy.

Robotics is a global mega trend that most investors are not positioned for, William E. Studebaker, President, CIO, and Managing Partner of ROBO Global, told ETF Trends in an email.

The robotics and automation sub-sector is still in its nascent stages, which leaves a lot more room to run. For instance, there are 17,000 logistics warehouse in U.S. and less than 1% are automated, Studebaker told Nasdaq.

We think the investment opportunity is enormous, Studebaker told Nasdaq. We think we are actually in the first inning of the baseball game where the players arent even on the field yet.

Unlike most other products and services, robotics can have its hands in multiple sectors and areas around the world, opening up an even larger opportunity for growth

The important thing to recognize about robotics is the foundational technology that is being applied to all markets, all geographies, all industries, and it is all happening now, Studebaker told CNBC. Some may buy it as a niche, but we think it is much broader than that.

To tap into this rising integration and demand of robotics in various industries, investors can take a look at the ROBOGlobal Robotics & Automation Index ETF (NasdaqGM: ROBO), which provides exposure to global companies engaged in the business of robotics-related or automation-related industries. Robotics- or automation-related products and services include any technology, service or device that supports, aids or contributes to any type of robot, robotic action or automation system process, software or management.

ROBO follows a two-tiered, equal-weighted system that ensures the strategy provides diversified exposure to a broad global ecosystem of new and enabling technologies as well as established automation/robotic providers. Specifically, the ETF includes a 60% tilt toward non-bellwether robotics with growing revenue contributions and a 40% tilt toward bellwether robotics companies that are well-established in the space.

The robotics ETFs portfolio may also provide exposure to companies with sustainable growth opportunities, as the underlying ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index has exhibited attractive sales growth, EBITDA growth and earnings-per-share growth. The underlying index has even outperformed the broader technology and S&P 500 index since the 2008 financial downturn.

If youre looking at the underlying characteristics of the portfolio, these companies have materially higher earnings growth, Studebaker said.

For more information on the tech sector, visit our technology category.

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A Robotics ETF to Tap into a Growing Global Trend - ETF Trends

Belleville News-Democrat

O'Fallon robotics team qualifies for state tech tournament Belleville News-Democrat During regional competition, Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois robotics team, OOPS! Robotics, qualified for the Illinois FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) State Tournament, as well as won the tournament's Connect Award for the ties they have built with the ...

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O'Fallon robotics team qualifies for state tech tournament - Belleville News-Democrat