Category Archives: Robotics

Theres a bittersweet aspect to the impressive success of a program at Camdenton High School, near the Lake of the Ozarks, that elevates its robotics team to the same stature as the schools football team. Every school should promote hero status and seek to remove the nerdy stigma from students who make science, technology, engineering and math their primary academic focus.

As the Post-Dispatchs Kristen Taketa reported last week, Camdenton, population 3,600, has gained unusual stature as Missouris capital of robotics. Camdenton High School was one of 17 Missouri teams that traveled to St. Louis last week to participate in the 27th annual FIRST robotics championship. The FIRST competition For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology is demanding. Students are required to construct robots capable of complex tasks such as scaling towers, hurling balls and climbing ropes, often while fending off other robots.

The competition, which this year attracted 15,000 students from 33 countries, included categories for elementary and middle school students as well, which is phenomenal for the jump it gives young innovators in preparing for the future job market. If they stick with this field, theyll probably never have to worry about minimum wages and unemployment lines.

But that is where the bitter mixes with the sweet. The introduction of workplace robotics has had a far greater effect on the loss of manufacturing jobs in this country than free trade and immigration the bogeymen so often invoked by President Donald Trump as the source of American blue-collar workers woes.

These young robotics designers will, in coming years, play a role in the expansion of this technology, prompting more and more workers to scramble for the dwindling number of jobs that cant be done by machines and computers.

An ongoing radio series, Robots Ate My Job, addresses these challenges on American Public Medias Marketplace program. Anchor David Brancaccio recently traveled around the country looking for jobs that were least likely to be replaced by robots. Precious few tasks remain that cannot be farmed out, at least partly, to robots. And that should trouble everyone, including Trump.

For companies that design and build robots, the students emerging from Camdenton and other tech-focused programs are like gold nuggets. Employers are scooping them up so fast, some dont even bother going to college because they already qualify for top-dollar salaries.

Good for those students who are looking beyond the glory of the Friday night football stadium lights and are pursuing a field thats not only fascinating and fun but also promises to keep them employed no matter what workplace challenges arise in the future.

But somewhere along the way, we hope those students and the teachers guiding them will stop to address a more pressing challenge: How to ensure that robots dont wind up rendering human workers obsolete.

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Editorial: Hooray for the robotics team! But what about the jobs being killed? - STLtoday.com

An area robotics team finished competition Saturday at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis.

Penn Robotics Team 135, a squad composed of 11th- and 12th-graders, ranked fourth out of 68 teams in its division after two days of qualification. They had been ranked as high as No. 2 before dropping back a couple positions.

Team 135, making its 18th trip to the national championship in the last 20 years, was eliminated Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Three other local teams earned spots in St. Louis as well.

Team Toxic, a team of seventh-to-12th-graders, competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge for smaller, detail-oriented robots; Flufflepuff, a fourth-to-ninth-grade team was in the FIRST Lego League and there was also a FIRST Lego League Jr. Team for kids from kindergarten through fourth grade.

Toxic and Flufflepuff are based at the Granger Exploration and Robotics Studio. The Lego League Jr. is affiliated with the Boys & Girls Club of St. Joseph County.

Results for those teams were not immediately available.

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Penn robotics team loses - South Bend Tribune

By Christie Gilpin Christie.gilpin@dailycommercial.com

CLERMONT Four wide-eyed Windy Hill Middle School sixth-graders and their robot walked into a Kentucky arena filled with more than 1,400 students this past week and came out ranked 7th in their division of 70 teams. Not a small feat for their first trip to the World Championships.

The tenth annual VEX Robotics World Championship brought together the top 1,400 student-led robotics teams from around the world to Louisville, Kentucky, April 19-25 to compete and show off their skills.

About 300 middle school teams participated and were broken down into four divisions of 70 schools. The top 20 schools competed in the final round.

Other Lake County teams also competed including: Leesburg High School finishing 64 out of 94 teams, Carver Middle and Minneola Charter finishing 30 out of 71 teams, Eustis Heights Elementary finishing 61 out of 68 teams and Fruitland Park finishing 30 out of 70 teams.

The kids walk into this big arena where there are pit areas for them to work on the (robots) and practice along with the field. I think I was more nervous than they were, said Windy Hill Middle Introduction to Technology Teacher Joseph Govoeck. But this is one of the most experienced teams I have had, and they are ready for next year.

The teams need a combination of skills using knowledge from all different courses.

It takes a combination of skills. The kids use math, science, energy and power technology and engendering to build their robots, said Govoeck.

Johnathan Everett, Mattias Peroni, Ethan Loden and Derek Romaguera, under Grovoecks guidance, worked together to build a robot that could work the challenge course of moving orange and blue pieces from each end of the field to earn points.

It was very enjoyable and fun seeing all the people from all the places all around the world, exclaimed Everett, who said he had a great time.

The school Robotics club has 16 members with another dozen or so students that like to come from time to time because they want to learn. The group meets once a week, and the individual teams of four meet more often.

The teams are free to come in and work during lunch, before school, after school, whenever they want. I am just here to offer advice. They are really a great self-starting group of students, said Govoeck. Its what I am most proud of the robots are 100 percent student-designed and built.

The boys competed in five local challenges and earned a bid to the state completion held in February in Tampa. At the state completion, while they didnt win, they did earn points to qualify for a wild card spot at the world competition.

The four boys arent sitting back on their accomplishment this year.

They unveiled next years challenge at the end of the world competition, and as we were walking out the kids were already designing their robot for next year, said Govoeck.

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Windy Hill robotics team finishes in top 10 at championships - Daily Commercial

By Stephen Lamar

Intently looking at laptop screens, data sheets and colorful booklets with coding information, dozens of students prepared for their next move.

More specifically, preparing for their robots next move.

The Junior Botball Challenge was conducted in the Oak Hall Episcopal School Gymnasium on Saturday, welcoming nearly 30 teams and five schools to participate in various robotic challenges. The event, a part of The Noble Foundations Noble Academy, features several different tasks for the robots to perform, which are programmed completely by the students.

The Noble Foundation first got involved with robots in the classroom last year, when they conducted an after school program with some area students. After the success of the pilot program, they reached out to area schools to see if there was an interest in a robotics program. With Noble Academys emphasis on the principles of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), the program made perfect sense.

Robotics, and programming, is in that wheelhouse, Frank Hardin, Noble Academy, said. It fits really well.

Hardin said not many schools had robotics programs in the area and so the Noble Foundation loaned out three kit robots to area schools that were interested. Hardin said the students are actually programming and coding to make the robots function. While some robot programs use a simpler version of code, the robots being used in the program use the actual C Language and students are actually coding.

Hardin said the teachers/instructors of the program went through workshops to learn how to teach the code. Now, teams of students filled Oak Hall Episcopals campus with their robots.

I think its been a really good success, Hardin said. What these kids are accomplishing in there today is just phenomenal.

The challenges require critical thinking and on-the-spot changes, with each challenge posing different obstacles and objectives. Groups of students could be seen doing a challenge, realizing they need to make a change, and rushing back to their laptops to make programming changes to reach success.

The kids are so engaged, Melanie Williams, Oak Hall Episcopal science teacher, said. Its competitive within themselves. Theyre not competing against another group its the internal drive to complete this challenge.

It gets them thinking on the spot, Joey Adams, Charles Evans Elementary fifth grade teacher, said. They have to do some critical thinking and make adjustments and it challenges them.

For many participating schools, this was the first time they were using their robots competitively. Schools were divided into teams and if, as a school, the teams completed at least six of the challenges they received a trophy. During a lunch break, many of the students quickly scarfed down pizza and rushed back into the Oak Hall gym to make adjustments to their bots.

They wont even hardly eat lunch because theyre so excited to going again, Williams said, with students rushing behind her to tweaking their bots.

Hardin said the agriculture business is evolving, with technology and robotics becoming more prevalent in the field. Computer and programming jobs are growing quickly, with 12,000 jobs expected to be available for programmers in Oklahoma alone across the next decade, Hardin said.

The bots serve as a gateway into programming and coding, potentially opening up a future career path for many of the students preparing their robots. Hardin said another event will be conducted in December, providing students another change to compete and challenge themselves.

Theyre learning while theyre having fun, Hardin said. They dont know it but theyre getting a lot of exposure and learning from this.

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Area schools compete in robotics challenge - Daily Ardmoreite

George Washington High Schools robotics team finished its 2017 season with a strong 5-5 showing at the world championship competition in St. Louis, coach Daniel Waters said Sunday.

I think were pretty pleased with the way it all came out, Waters said.

Team Talon finished off the FIRST For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology World Championship with a 5-5 record and was ranked 47th out of 68 teams in the Curie division. The team was not chosen to advance to the division playoff round.

Waters said the team did very well at a stage with teams from across the globe where only about 30 percent of teams advance to the playoff round. He said teams members quickly overcame their nervousness and brought their best performance to each match.

I think all in all they handled it really well, Waters said.

Additionally, Waters said team members were able to meet up with friends from Virginia and across the county, as well as visit other parts of the convention and attend a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game.

Waters said he was impressed with how the team was able to communicate with all their alliance partners, including a team from France.

One of the main ideas behind this is teaching life lessons, not just how to build robots, Waters said.

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GW robotics coach pleased with performance at world championship - GoDanRiver.com

ST. LOUIS The worlds largest and most prestigious robotics championship returned to St. Louis this week for the final year of a seven-year run.

About 15,000 youths in kindergarten through high school from 33 countries gathered at Americas Center and Union Station on Wednesday for the annual FIRST robotics championship.

Students had to design, build and program their own robot in a matter of weeks to compete in certain challenges. For example, the robots in the high school division have to shoot lightweight balls into a tall tower, hang gears on hooks and climb a rope in an arena while fending off potential blocks from rival robots.

The championship, which was also held in Houston earlier this month, is the flagship event of the international nonprofit FIRST For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

Engineer Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, started FIRST in 1989 to get children excited about science, technology, engineering and mathematics the way they are about sports like football and basketball.

Right now, we celebrate athletes, singers and movie actors and actresses, but our culture really doesnt celebrate the great minds, said Mitch Comer, robotics coach for Camdenton (Mo.) High Schools LASER 3284 team, which is competing this week. What were really trying to do is foster a culture where we celebrate great minds.

Robotics has steeply gained in popularity since the founding of FIRST. More than 460,000 young people on more than 52,000 teams worldwide participated in FIRST this school year.

The program boasts impressive outcomes for students.

A study released this month by Brandeis University researchers found that FIRST participants, regardless of characteristics such as family income and area of residence, are more than twice as likely to show continued interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

A 2015 FIRST survey found that more than 75 percent of alumni surveyed are either studying or working in a STEM field.

Students not only learn how to design, code and build robots, but how to run their own business and conduct themselves as professionals.

FIRST emphasizes soft skills such as public speaking and teamwork.

FIRST awards students not just for winning robot matches, but for practicing safety and doing community outreach. Students are expected to find their own sponsors, raise their own money, volunteer in the community, help other schools cultivate teams and present their work to officials in the private and public sectors.

Next year, the competition will leave St. Louis after a seven-year run for Detroit and Houston. This week is the last chance for St. Louisans to witness the competition, which is free and open to the public, in their city.

Shake off your afternoon slump with the offbeat or overlooked news of the day.

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World's largest robotics competition comes to St. Louis for final year ... - STLtoday.com

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and one project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda).

A wide variety of research and innovation themes are represented in the new projects: from healthcare via transportation, industrial- and logistics robotics to events media production using drones. Some deal with complex safety matters on the frontier where robots meet people, to ensure that no one comes to harm. Others will create a sustainable ecosystem in the robotics community, setting up common platforms supporting robotics development. One project deals exclusively with the potentially radical changes facing society with the rise of new autonomous technologies. The projects are either helping humans in their daily lives at home or at work, collaborating with humans to help them with difficult, strenuous tasks, or taking care of dangerous tasks, reducing the risk to humans.

The research and innovation projects focus on a wide variety of Robotics and Autonomous Systems and capabilities, such as navigation, human-robot interaction, recognition, cognition and handling. Many of these abilities can be transferable to other fields as well.

At the European Robotics Forum 2017, on 22-24 March 2017, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, all projects presented themselves during a dedicated workshop.

Watch the video with all Horizon2020 projects presentations:

Watch the video with FP7 projects results:

Every week, euRobotics will publish a video interview with each project, so that you can find out more about their activities.

We are looking forward to following these new projects and accompanying them to bring benefits to Europes citizens and economy.

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New Horizon 2020 robotics projects 2016 presented at #ERF2017 - Robohub

407 teams from across the country are competing, including 18 from Missouri.

Loreto Cruz III, KSDK 8:05 PM. CDT April 27, 2017

Robotics championship at the Dome at America's Center (Photo: KSDK)

ST. LOUIS - The FIRST Robotics Championship is hosting its final international competition of a seven year run in St Louis, but that hasnt stopped a St. Louis all-girls High School from signing up for their first year in the event.

Since 2010; students from countries across the globe spent their school years crafting home-brewed contraptions and thingamabobs that would ultimately find their purpose facing off against competitors at the Dome at Americas Center in St. Louis.

For the final event in St. Louis, fans filled the re-purposed stadium with cheers reflecting the exuberance one would expect at any event held in such a colosseum.

Teams sported colorful costumes, and over-the-top designs for both themselves, and their creations. For St. Louis-based Ursuline Academy student Carley Kates, the thrill of the event and the fulfillment from her months of hard work were persuasive.

It really helped me decide if I wanted to do this with my life or not. Said Kates, after her team won an early afternoon match in the Dome. Im actually in computer programming now, and I really want to go into a field that has programming in it.

2017 is the maiden voyage for Ursulines involvement in the event, but they managed to leave their mark promptly.

They earned the Rookie All-Star Award during the St. Louis Regional FIRST Robotics Competition held at Chaifetz Arena in March.

Its so exciting seeing it in action , because its just all of the hard work you and your team have put into it, and it just makes it a really good experience. Said fellow student Claire Roberson on Thursday. I had already wanted to go into this field, but this definitely broadened my horizons, and made me want to go into it and actually get more experience.

Beginning 25 years ago with a mere 34 teams, the competition now boasts more than 3,400 nationwide. Starting in 2018, the international competition will be split between Houston TX, and Detroit, MI.

St. Louis has been a great host city for our championship, we love it here. said FIRST representative Toby Clark on Thursday, But like the Olympics, we like to move the championship around periodically because that helps spread the message to other communities across the country.

Of the 407 teams participating in the late-April competition, eighteen are from Missouri with five from the metro St. Louis area.

Ursuline is the only all-girls team participating from all of Missouri.

FIRSTs contract with Detroit and Houston is scheduled to last three years.

The company has not decided on host locations, after that.

2017 KSDK-TV

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St. Louis hosting final robotics competition | KSDK.com - KSDK

Sneha Priya and Pranavans venture SP Robotics is providing maker-centric education through AI-assisted learning.

Given their love for practical learning and robots, Sneha Priya and Pranavan, classmates pursuing electrical and electronics engineering, joined hands in 2008 and in their third year kick-started their entrepreneurial journey with SP Robotics.

A few years down the line they took off with Kidobotikz, their e-learning offering focused on maker-centric education for ages 11 and above.

Today, they aim to be the gateway to exploring technologies and showcasing innovations by people of all ages, everywhere.

Sneha may never have attended formal classes on hands-on technologies, but her passion propelled her to do her own research and pester her parents for the things she would need for experiments. From a 15-year-old playing with lights and motors, the Chennai girl graduated to attending College of Engineering, Guindy at Anna University. This #womanintech is the co-founder and CEO of SP Robotics.

Pranavan was born in Sri Lanka but moved to India in 1997 to pursue his studies. At the age of 10, he created a clap-activated light when he realised his family struggled to track a torch during power cuts. Encouragement led him to build morecars, wireless planes, etc. He is the co-founder and CTO of SP Robotics.

Together, Sneha Priya and Pranavan participated in both national and international competitions. Pranavan would take care of the electronics and mechanical aspects, and Sneha would look at the algorithm and programming part. All this gave us a lot of exposure and we wondered why we hadnt started earlier.

Without wasting much time thereafter, they started providing industrial solutions through a small website, SP Robotics. We listed all our projects and were shocked to see so many requirements pouring in for indigenous and cost-effective solutions which were not available in the market. Simultaneously, to create an awareness that robotics tones overall technical skills, we listed over 50 of our products online for students to take up and create their own robots, shares the duo.

After graduating in 2012, the urge to provide education and skills to people led them to start Kidobotikz, an education brand where they would train people from the age of 11 and above. The couple of lakhs they had earned through company activities helped them kick-start it.

With curricula developed in robotics, IoT, image processing, 3D printing, drones, and many more emerging technologies, they started teaching from a centre in Chennai. Their students were mostly college students and corporates who wanted their engineers to be up to date with technology.

We ensured that all this learning was not merely fun but also measurable in terms of skills gained in the fields of electronics, mechanical, programming, and algorithm, thereby helping people understand their strengths and where they need to focus on improving themselves.

Since they could accommodate 150 students and there was a need to scale and increase customer value, they looked at different methods of scaling including the franchise model. They gave out two franchises but shortly backtracked when they spotted the lack of availability of quality technical educators.

Building a strong community of interested individuals proved to be the best approach and they added value by offering more activities such as industrial solutions, competitions, and social projects like Swachh Bot, which received the PMOs appreciation. The most recent winner to emerge from this community is the food-serving robot BOB (Butler O Bistro). Developed by Kidobotikz community members Arjun (13), Anish (12), Srivatsan (13), Varsha (20) and Rajesh Varma (Arjuns father), this robot employs an array of sensors and algorithms to serve food and earlier this month was introduced in Bengalurus VR Mall. Built in two months with the help of

Kidobotikz engineers, it has generated much interest.

Revenue-wise, too, the community turned out to be profitable as it helped increase customer value. Sneha claims that from a revenue of Rs 10 lakh in 2012 with 150 students, they reached Rs 1 crore- in three years with the same number of students.

While the community has held them in good stead, to scale they adopted a model where they designed and developed hardware kits which could be used with the AI-assisted online platform. AI detects poor understanding of conceptsand repeats them in different ways just like a physical teacher. It customises the entire course depending on the way of learning, it gives customised time targets for people to do the practical experiments, it measures the skills gained, it suggests what can be done next says Sneha.

While they were working on this they crossed two milestonesthey tied the knot in 2015 and raised funds in 2016.

Funding came from Indian Angel Network and the Chennai Angels and within three months they had the online platform along with the kits ready for the market. The product was released last June and they received an overwhelming response with over 200 pre-bookings. We are now in the Mauritius, Thailand, and Singapore markets too, proving the scalability of the product. Within just six months of launching the online product, we gained traction of Rs 1 crore and over 1,000 orders, shares the duo.Their team has expanded, too, going from 20 to 50.

There are multiple companies like Lego, Sphero, littleBits, and Makeblock that create educational robotics products. However, these are inclined towards the toys segment and DIY kits. Sneha and Pranavan claim their USP is that they are teaching not just robotics but also emerging technologies.

Our products are open for exploration. People can make mistakes and learnthey are not plug-and-play. And the learning that happens with our product tracks the analytics of skills gained, which hugely differentiates us from the other players, they say.

The company's focus is on the K12 segment (11-17 years) which, according to Sneha, is a $22-billion market worldwide, with Indias contribution being around $2 billion. The duo believes that with the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, the requirement of skill development is at a steep growth with a current CAGR of 18 percent. We are aiming at a $330 billion market in seven years (with our services catering to K12, higher education, and corporate training), says Sneha.

While their core focus is on the B2C model where people can buy directly online from their website or other online/offline partners, they also have B2B models (schools, colleges, small private institutions, corporates) to reach more users and make them aware of such a product.

Going forward, they have a two-pronged approach. On the product side, they plan to release new kits on emerging technologies every quarter, backed by AI-assisted learning online. Plans are also afoot to strengthen the online community with gamification and stronger AI for more interaction and better learning.

On the business side, they are planning their next round of funding so as to increase branding and marketing activities in India as well as increase their presence in a few more APAC regions. We plan to have 2.5 lakh individuals on our platform within two years, says Sneha.

Given their love for technology, to build and to help others learn keeps them going. The interest to see and be part of innovations cropping up in every house due to our product is something that drives us.

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Making learning fun with AI and robots - YourStory.com

Published: Fri, April 28, 2017 @ 12:00 a.m.

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Members of the Canfield Circuit Birds, along with Ohio State Representative John Boccieri (far left) attended a press conference by Representative Boccieri and Representative Michele Lepore-Hagan to highlight the importance of STEM education through FIRST on March 27.

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.After a press conference to highlight the importance of STEM education through FIRST, members of the Canfield Circuit Birds brought out their robot to demonstrate how it shoots large round discs high into the air on March 27.

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Ohio State Representatives John Boccieri of Poland and Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown had a press conference surrounded by members of the Canfield Circuit Birds, Austintown FalcoTech Robotics Team and Cardinal Mooney Robocards to highlight the importance of STEM education through FIRST on March 27.

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.The Austintown FalcoTech Robotics Team joined Ohio State Representatives John Boccieri and Michele Lepore-Hagan at a press conference to highlight the importance of STEM education through FIRST on March 27.

By ABBY SLANKER

neighbors@vindy.com

Ohio State Representatives John Boccieri of Poland and Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown hosted a press conference to highlight the importance of STEM education through FIRST at Canfield High School on March 27.

Members of the Canfield Circuit Birds, Austintown FalcoTech Robotics Team and Cardinal Mooney Robocards showcased their robots and answered questions. The Canfield Circuit Birds, Austintown FalcoTech and Mooney Robocards were slated to compete in the FIRST, For the Inspiration & Recognition of Science and Technology, Robotics Buckeye Regional competition at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University on March 30.

Representative Boccieri welcomed everyone to the event.

Welcome to the March Madness of Robotics. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the best and the brightest in Robotics from the Valley. We wish you all well as you compete at CSU, Boccieri said.

Boccieri gave some history and background of Robotics in the Valley, including that the Austintown FalcoTech Robotics Team was started in 2009 and the Canfield Circuit Birds followed with their team in 2013, with both teams earning several awards at many competitions.

Boccieri then introduced State Representative Lepore-Hagan.

It is so great to see so much excitement in young people interested in robotics and their future. It is so exciting to see so many opportunities open up for these students. Congratulations and know that we support you in your endeavors and good luck at the competition, Lepore-Hagan said.

Boccieri then opened the floor up to the members of the robotics teams.

Robotics teaches us a lot about skills and what we need to know to become an engineer. It also teaches us problem solving skills and teamwork. It also gives us the feel of a professional environment, said Canfield High School junior Elijah Mt. Castle.

Before the teams presented demonstrations of their robots, Boccieri thanked the educators and staff who helped lead these teams.

Thank you to the educators and staff who are leading these teams into competition. You are all Valley leaders in STEM, Boccieri said.

For their demonstrations, the Austintown FalcoTech Robotics Team brought out their robot, which shot T-shirts many feet into the air, and the Canfield Circuit Birds showed off their robot, which shot large round discs high into the air.

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STEM robotics highlighted by state representatives - Youngstown Vindicator