Category Archives: Robotics

A group of schoolchildren who won a robotics competitionwere subjected to a barrage of racist abuse from some rival pupils and their parents who shouted: Go back to Mexico.

It was the first time that pupils from Pleasant Run Elementary School had entered the robotics challenge. Their victory over the youngsters from other Indianapolis schools, put them a step closer to the state championship.

Yet as the children, aged nine and ten, left the event and walked out to the parking area, some of the children they had just beaten, along with their parents, unleashed racist comments.

They were pointing at us and saying that Oh my God, they are champions of the city all because they are Mexican. They are Mexican and they are ruining our country, Diocelina Herrera, the mother of student Angel Herrera-Sanchez, told the Indianapolis Star.

The incident in the parking area had reportedly been preceded by racist comments that were being whispered inside the gymnasium at Plainfield High School.

The team from Pleasant Run Elementary School, Indiana, included three youngsters who are Latino and two who are African American. The children in the other 20 teams taking part in February contest were largely white.

John Oliver makes fun of Donald Trump refusing to shake Angela Merkel's hand

For the most part, the robotics world is kind of a white world, said Lisa Hopper, the teams coach. Theyre just not used to seeing a team like our kids. And they see us and they think were not going to be competition. Then were in first place the whole day and they cant take it.

In the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump, teachers from schools across the country reported an increase in incidents of racist abuse. They said they children from immigrant families were often told to 'go home'.

Sabrina Kapp, director of communications for Plainfield Community School Corporation, said: We dont condone that behaviour; we dont tolerate it in our schools. We talk a lot about community values here. That is simply not something that anybody associated with Plainfield schools would put up with.

The newspaper reported that the children Pleasant Run Elementary School responded in the best way possible - by going on to win the prize for best robot design and engineering at the state championships. Their win means they are going to participate in the Vex IQ World Championship next month in Louisville, Kentucky.

They yelled out rude comments, and I think that they can talk all they want because at the end were still going to worlds, 10-year-old team leader Elijah Goodwin, told the newspaper.

Its not going to affect us at all. Im not surprised because Im used to this kind of behaviour. When you have a really good team, people will treat you this way. And we do have a pretty good team.

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'Go back to Mexico': Children who won elementary school robotics ... - The Independent

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The Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School robotics team was District Event Champion at Waterford Mott

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Times Herald 7:31 a.m. ET March 21, 2017

Electrical and software mentor Phil Peloso, with the Cardinal Mooney RoboSapiens, works on the robot with team members in preparation for the 2016 FIRST Robotics District event at Marysville High School.(Photo: JEFFREY M. SMITH, JEFFREY M. SMITH, TIMES HERALD)Buy Photo

The Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School robotics team, the RoboSapiens, was District Event Champion at the FIRSTRobotics Waterford Mott District Event, March 16-18.

The team earned 42 points toward the FIRST Robotics state championship, April 12-15 at Saginaw Valley State University, according to a news release from the Blue Water Area Robotics Alliance.

The RoboSapiens were part of an alliance that finished with two wins in the semifinals and finals.

St. Clair High School's Flurb team and the Richmond Blue Devils were members of the same alliance during Saturday's elimination round.They were knocked out of the quarterfinals with two losses.

Flurb received the Excellence in Engineering Ward sponsored by Delphi. The award goes to the team whose robot "features an elegant and advantageous machine feature." Flurb's robot received the award for its rope-climbing mechanism. The team earned 26 points toward a berth at the state championship.

The Blue Devils received the Judges' Award, which goes to the team whose "unique efforts, performance or dynamics" aredeemed to merit recognition, according to the news release. The Blue Devils earned 22 points toward the state championship.

The Yale High School Jiggawattz and the Algonac Full Metal Muskrats also competed in Saturday's elimination round. Yale received the Highest Rookie Seed and Rookie Inspiration awards. The team finished with 30 points.

Algonac finished with 29 points.

The second annual FIRST Robotics Marysville District Event will be April 6-8 at Marysville High School.

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Mooney robotics team is event champion - Port Huron Times Herald

>(L-R: Ryan Colby, Sampson Lee, Zaid Bezzaz interviewubg with judges at 2017 Washington State VEX IQ Challenge Championships)

Robotics students from Louisa Boren STEM K-8 in North Delridge are going to the VEX IQ Challenge World Championships next month! This is just the second year for the robotics program at the school, launched by technology teacher Julie Schmick last year, and the STEM students are the only team from a Seattle school to make it to worlds. Heres the announcement:

A team of fifth-grade students from Louisa Boren STEM K-8 is headed to Louisville, Kentucky to represent the school at the VEX Robotics World Championship.Four robots from STEM competed in the Washington State VEX IQ Challenge Championships in Ellensburg, Washington on March 11th. Two robots made it to the final matches, and a third took home the competitions top honor, qualifying the team for the world championships April 23-25, 2017.

The Excellence Award, the highest honor at a VEX robotics competition, was presented to the drivers of Robot 10966C, Zaid Bezzaz, Ryan Colby, and Sampson Lee. The award goes to a team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a high-quality VEX robotics program, taking into consideration a teams behavior, sportsmanship, and professionalism at the event, in addition to robot design, driving skills, and performance in tournament matches. The approach demonstrated by the STEM K-8 teams in working on their robots and participating in competitions is representative of the schools project-based learning curriculum, as is the student engineers ability to clearly articulate the work they put into designing and building their robots.

In VEX competitions, teams of students are tasked with designing and building a robot to play against other teams in game-based engineering challenges.The VEX IQ Crossover Challenge provides elementary and middle school students with exciting, open-ended robotics and research projects that enhance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills through hands-on, student-centered learning. Two robots compete as an alliance in 60-second teamwork matches, working collaboratively to score points.Additional points are earned through skill tests, documentation reviews, and team member interviews.

Thanks to parent Lisa Dawson for first word on this, and for the photos, including this one of all the students who competed at the state championships:

In all, more than a thousand teams from around the world will be competing at worlds but the STEM students are the only ones at elementary level from a Seattle school. Robotics is a before-/after-school enrichment program at STEM, whose PTA is covering the event-registration fees for the students, while their families must cover the cost of traveling to Louisville. Theyre crowdfunding for help with that if youre interested in helping, heres the YouCaring page.

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CONGRATULATIONS! Louisa Boren STEM K-8 robotics team headed to world championships - West Seattle Blog (blog)

Fresh off a victory at a tournament in Worcester, members of the Terror Bots pose in front of their robot, Nugget. SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / AMANDA BURKE

LEOMINSTER -- A 76-pound robot is quick on its "feet" and excels at climbing ropes.

The robot, called "Nugget," was nimble enough to net a team of teenage engineers two first-place wins at a Worcester regional robotics tournament earlier this month.

If the robot's winning streak continues, its human makers plan to gild its moniker and call it something new: "Golden Nugget."

"We're in a very good position to advance to the regional championships," said Jacob Janssens, a mentor to 15 teenagers on the robotics team at the Boys & Girls Club of Leominster and Fitchburg.

The team, known as Terror Bots, is participating in its sixth district championship tournament sponsored by FIRST Robotics, an organization founded in 1989 by medical-device inventor and Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate Dean Kamen.

Under this year's Steam Punk theme, teams who enter the competition pay $5,000 and must conceive, design, and build a robot that is capable of shuffling large yellow gears across the playing field before climbing up and hanging on a three-foot tall velcro rope, a move that wins the team precious bonus points.

Terror Bots synched the number-one spot at the tournament's finale at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute on March 10, when it scored the highest number of points out of 40 competing teams from across New England.

Comprised of students from seven area middle and high schools, Terror Bots also won the tournament's "Chairman's Award," a title given by the judges to the team that demonstrates the highest degree of "gracious professionalism" over the course of the three-day event.

Funded through grants and donors including Boston Scientific and Comcast, Terror Bots is one of only a few robotics teams in the nation that is associated with a Boys & Girls club, said Jon Blodgett, the teen-center director of the B & G Club of Leominster and Fitchburg.

"We focus on presenting kids with opportunities they never would have had otherwise," said Blodgett.

Terror Bots is the first-seeded team heading into its next competition beginning on March 31 at Hartford Public High School in New Hampshire, which is also a qualifying match for the New England District Championship in April.

Fitchburg State University applied mathematics student and Terror Bots mentor Paul Lefebvre, 27, said years ago, when he was in high school, membership on his West Springfield school's robotics team was the sole source of motivation propelling him towards graduation.

"I was a lost child," said Lefebvre. "The only reason I got the grades I needed to stay in school is because I was on the robotics team."

One of Terror Bots' youngest members, J.C. Oquendo, 14, joined the team last October, when, as an aspiring paramedic, he knew nothing about engineering.

"I had no clue what I was doing," said Oquendo, who said he now hopes to become a plane pilot. "It was like that weird feeling when you don't know what to do. Then all of the sudden, it clicks."

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Local robotics team is racking up the wins - Sentinel & Enterprise

Andrea Galyean, Special for The Republic | azcentral.com 7:03 a.m. MT March 18, 2017

A group of West Valley teens built a device to compete in a nationwide robotics competition, all through the persistence of one Surprise teen's passion for science. Wochit

Joseph Goyer takes measurements to make a computer model of Goddard so the team can continue to work after the robot is sealed in a bag in accordance with FIRST rules.(Photo: Andrea Galyean/Special to The Republic)

It's a sunny Saturday in Peoria, but in a workroom inside Arizona Challenger Space Center, a cluster of teenagers and adults is leaning over laptops, scribbling on whiteboardsand crawling on the floor with a what is that exactly?

There's a beefy aluminum chassis outfitted with four white wheels, a belly full of circuit boards and motors, and a clear plastic canopy that gives it the look of a 100-pound dune buggy. It's a robot. And this group, known as Launch Team, is scrambling to get it ready for the Arizona West Regional FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which will be held April 6-8 at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

FIRST, a non-profit founded by inventor Dean Kamen to offer science and technology competitions for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, produces the FRC, in which teams of high school students and their adult mentors have six weeks to build and program robots that complete tasks while racing against the clock and other teams. Of the 778 teams across the U.S. including 42 in the Arizona West conference, most are organized by schools.

Launch Team, however, draws its members from West Valley students whose schools don't offer a team. The members don't have the convenience of after-school work sessions, and few of them had met before their first awkward get-together in November. But Launch Team has some advantages: It has free use of the Challenger Space Center; it has a cadre of adult mentors to offer technical advice, toolsand welding assistance; and it has Stephen Robertson.

Stephen, 17, is a senior in the CREST engineering program at Paradise Valley High School, but he lives in Surprise. He is also the founder of Launch Team.

When Stephenwas in grade school, he liked his science classes, but found them "kind of low-level," so his father, Steve Robertson, an engineer at Toyota's Arizona Proving Ground, did "extra stuff" with him at home. Stuff like free-body diagrams and the periodic table.

His mother, Lori Robertson, remembers the day Stephen offered to make dinner. "He was in and out between the kitchen and the backyard and he kept getting out all this aluminum foil and I didn't know what was happening," she said. He was making a solar oven.

ROBOTICS: Phoenix high school's 'Stinky' robot displayed at Smithsonian|Carl Hayden robotics team inspires MIT's 'dreamers

"He made a pizza!" Lori said, "I mean, he used bread and ketchup and cheese, but it worked! He figured it all out by himself."

He was 8.

When he was 12, Stephen overheard his sister's ballet instructor say ticket sales for an upcoming recital would be cash only. So he set up a Square account for the dance troupe and took credit cards using an iPad. Then he revised the group's website for search engine optimization.

When he was 13, his parents asked what he wanted for Christmas: an X-box or a 3-D printer.

"I chose the printer," Stephen said. "And that was the better option."

It was better because Stephen used it to invent things, like a tool to separate electrical connectors. It's a handy gadgetand the subject of one of two patent applications he wrote before he turned 17.

As a young technophile living in the West Valley, Stephen had attended space camps and other programs at the Challenger Space Center.

So last summer, when he was looking for an internship to fulfill a school requirement, he thought of the Challenger. And he thought of an assignment for himself.

"I'll never forget his proposal," said Beverly Swayman, the Challenger's executive director. "He said, 'I really want to work here as an intern, and I'm going to get you a 3-D printer.'"

I'll never forget his proposal. He said, 'I really want to work here as an intern, and I'm going to get you a 3-D printer.'

Swayman described her "amazing" intern to her board of directors and one of them, in turn, called Jason Yocum, CEO of Gilbert-based STAX 3D, who offered to donate a printer.

When Yocum arrived with the machine, Stephen was waiting at the door.

"It was clear he couldn't wait to get his hands on it," Yocum said. "He already had plans for it, and he started printing prototypes of his designs right away."

Right away, Stephen impressed Yocum.

"He's really humble," Yocum said, "but you could immediately tell that he has a lot going on. He has the skills, the entrepreneurial mindset, the self-starting. I had to ask: 'How old are you? And will you come work with me?'"

Joseph Goyer and Stephen Robertson work on Goddard on the last "build day" allowed under the rules of the FIRST robotics competition.(Photo: Andrea Galyean/Special to the Republic)

Although Yocum remains serious about the job offer, Stephen has been busy with another lifelong passion: robots.

He was barely past kindergarten when he was captivated by a PBS program about a FIRST competition. His father bought a Lego robotics kit, which they built and programmed together, but they couldn't find any teams to join.

When Stephen was in fifth grade, however, one of his teachers organized a FIRST Lego League (FLL) team and "my old dream came true." He loved competing and working with others to solve practical problems.

But, two years later, Stephen moved on to a middle school without a robotics team. He filled in the gap by volunteering as a referee and mentor for FLL competitions, but when he enrolled at Paradise Valley High School in 2013, he was thrilled to join the school's FRC club, Team Paradise.

In his sophomore year, Stephen was elected treasurer of Team Paradise, where he put his entrepreneurial skills to use by persuading community members to donate through the school tax credit. The team posted its best financial record ever, even as Stephen continued to mentor younger students in the FLL, as well as volunteer at other organizations and play first violin in the orchestra, too.

Taking note of Stephen's efforts, Team Paradise's faculty adviser, Robert Kabrich, nominated him for a Dean's List award in 2016, which recognizes students who promote the mission of FIRST. Stephen was selected as a finalist and went to the national competition in St. Louis, where he attended the awards luncheon in June.

At the ceremony, Stephen listened carefully to the speeches. He heard representatives from Yale and MITsay that the country needs more people studying science and technology. He heard how much more likely students were to enter those fields if they had participated in things like robotics competitions. And he heard Kamen himself urge the finalists to get more kids involved.

Stephen took it all to heart.

"When I got back home, I was thinking about what they'd said," he remembered. "And I started thinking about how much FIRST had given me, and I realized I needed to give back."

He remembered how he felt without a robotics team in middle school. His younger sister, who also loved FLL, was entering the same school and was about to face the same issues.

Inspired, Stephen put together a proposal for a middle school team and took it to the principal. A teacher volunteered to help, as did two of Stephen's Paradise teammates, and he applied for grants and sponsorships to cover the cost.

"We expected maybe five kids," Lori said, "but we ended up with 28!"

So they started two teams, both of which competed in the FIRST Technology Challenge in November.

Joseph Goyer (from left), Jonathan Kerr, and Stephen Robertson inspect the undercarriage of their robot.(Photo: Andrea galyean/Special to The Republic)

Suspecting that older kids would be just as eager, Stephen decided to start a community team for West Valley high school students.

And, recalling how much he enjoyed his time at the Challenger Space Center, he "realized it was a prime spot for a robotics team."

Swayman agreed and offered facilities free of charge. "Our goal is to find, inspireand excite students," she said, "so hosting the robotics team really fits with that mission."

Stephen wrote more grant applications and found more sponsors to secure the $6,000 needed for a startup FRC team.

Then he asked his father: "Do any of your co-workers at Toyota have kids who would be interested in this?"

The answer was yes. And those co-workers' kids had friends, too.

Riley O'Rear, 14, lives in Peoria and has always been interested in computers. He's programmed the robot to respond to a wireless joystick. Joseph Goyer, 17, also of Peoria, takes engineering classes at school and has created a 3-D model of the robot in SolidWorks, a computer-aided design program. Other kids come from Glendale, Surpriseand even Prescott. All of them have helped to design, buildand test their first robot.

And all of them have been supported by Steve and Lori Robertson and other adult mentors who came through the same word-of-mouth recruitment network as the kids.

Shannon O'Rear, a computer consultant and Riley's father credits Stephen with creating an experience that wouldn't otherwise exist: "Years ago, I sought out a robotics team for Riley, but there just wasn't anything out here. There are so many kids that would love this and would thrive in it; it's great to finally have this opportunity."

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The group dubbed themselves Launch Teamafter their home at Challengerand named their robot Goddard, after the inventor of the liquid-fueled rocket.

When Goddard drives into the arena on April 6, it will tackle two out of the three challenges posed by this year's FRC: collecting and delivering gears around the court, then climbing a rope. The third option, shooting balls into a hopper, seemed a bit advanced for the rookie team, most of whose members are just glad to be participating.

"Our robot is definitely on the simpler side," Riley acknowledged. "But it's super cool now that it's all coming together. And we'll know more for next time."

With its members planning ahead for 2018, Launch Team is now developing its own momentum, which it will need because its founder will be graduating in May.

As for where he'll be next year, Stephen isn't sure. He's applied to the colleges that were recruiting at the Dean's List awards, including Yale and Stanford.

But he's leaning toward ASU, for a very Stephen-type reason:

"I can't go so far away," he explained, "I've got to stay and help the teams."

The Arizona West Regional FIRST Robotics Competition will be held April 6-8 at Grand Canyon University Arena, 3300 W. Camelback Road in Phoenix. Attendance is free for spectators. For details, visit: firstinspires.org.For more information about Arizona Challenger Space Center, visit: azchallenger.org.

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Surprise teen gives back with robotics team - AZCentral.com

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Robotics teams square off in a qualifying match of the First Robotics Competition at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco, where 41 schools competed.

Robotics teams square off in a qualifying match of the First Robotics Competition at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco, where 41 schools competed.

Above: Members of the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts Cyberdragons carry their robot into the arena.

Above: Members of the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts Cyberdragons carry their robot into the arena.

Left: Seyhmus Aca (left) watches his Sultans of Turkey teammates compete in a qualifying match at the First Robotics Competition.

Left: Seyhmus Aca (left) watches his Sultans of Turkey teammates compete in a qualifying match at the First Robotics Competition.

Hundreds of students in SF for citys first robotics battle

Its very exciting, and Im really interested in robotics, said Hayel Kiymetli, a gangly 14-year-old with her long dark hair pulled into braids. Im really happy to be here.

Hayel Kiymetli traveled from her boarding school, Darussafaka in Istanbul, as one of hundreds of high school students taking part in a regional First Robotics Competition, which was held for the first time in San Francisco this weekend at St. Ignatius College Preparatory. For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology was founded in 1992 and is the worlds most prestigious organization of its kind. Winners from this weekends event, which continues Sunday, will go to the world final in Houston in April.

In San Francisco, theres a lot of technology, said St. Ignatius science teacher Don Gamble, who helped bring the event to the school. I thought this was one of the greatest ways and most fun ways to bring electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and software engineering to the kids. Last year, his schools team went to the world final after winning the Rookie of the Year award.

The competition itself goes like this: Students from three teams are put together against another alliance of three teams, each team with a robot they have designed and built. The teams were told how the game would work in January, when they had six weeks to engineer the robots accordingly.

This has been designed and built from scratch in six weeks, said sophomore Emma Blenkinsop, showing off the robot for Lowell High School in San Francisco, where she is the elected vice president of PR and student-led fundraising for a 60-member team.

The theme this year is SteamWorks standing for science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Human drivers remotely controlled their robots to zoom around the field to gain points by collecting yellow Wiffle balls (representing fuel) that they shot into a target (the steam boiler), as well as gears that they delivered to towers (the airship), where human pilots put them in place.

Each match is 2 minutes long, so things moved quickly, with robots ramming each other like bumper cars while grabbing balls. During the last 30 seconds, the pilots lower ropes to pull the robots up onto the aircraft for an extra 50 points.

While the students mostly wore team T-shirts, some also donned steampunk glasses and top hats. Referees, mostly volunteers from Google and other tech companies, donned standard black-and-white ref shirts and shorts.

We want to do for technology what the Olympic committee did for sports, said First founder and CEO Dean Kamen, an inventor also responsible for the Segway scooter. But unlike the Olympics, Kamen said, Every kid on every team can turn pro. There are millions of jobs for kids that can code.

In the pit, where teams plot strategies and tune their robots between matches, Natalie Lunbeck, 17, of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco represented the brand-new Misfits, an all-girls team with students from several schools.

Everyone is welcome, said the junior, who wants to learn programming. In a lot of robotics teams, you have to work your way up. In your first year you dont get to do anything not the case in the Misfits.

Members of team 254 from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, which was backed by the NASA Ames Research Center, had the hushed concentration of a Formula One pit crew. Wearing matching blue jerseys, they were fine-tuning an LED light that they used with a smartphone camera to determine the best angle and speed to shoot balls from their robot to the target.

Captain Joel Bartlett, 17, said the team built two robots initially so they could continue to play with the design after their six-week initial build period was over. Teams like his and Lowells meet most weekends and evenings during competition season to work on their robots, with a minimum time requirement that most students far surpass.

Its fantastic, said Muge Tuvay, science teacher and mentor for Kiymetlis team, the Sultans of Turkey, who has seen her students understand that they need to work together and help each other to perform well. They learn so much more than just robots.

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan

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Hundreds of students in SF for city's first robotics battle - SFGate - SFGate

A team of black and Latinx fourth graders became the target of racism during a robotics competition in Indiana, but they didnt let that stop them from going to the world championships.

Last month, the Panther Bots,a five-student team from Indianapolis Pleasant Run Elementary School, had finished participating in a robotics challenge at Plainfield High School when their competitors saw them in the parking lot and yelled to them, Go back to Mexico! according to the Indiana Star.

They were pointing at us and saying, Oh my God, they are champions of the city all because they are Mexican. They are Mexican and they are ruining our country, Diocelina Herrera, mother of one of the Panther Bot students, told the Star.

But the students, three of whom are Latinx and two of whom are black, did their best to ignore the hurtful words and strive to do better.

I feel like what they say doesnt affect us, Elijah Goodwin, a 10-year-old Panther Bot, told local news station WTHR 13.

When you are a good team, he added, people are going to hate you for being good and I think what people say can make you greater.

Panther Bots

The studentsattitude proved successful.

After winning several awards during robotics challenges at the Indiana State Championships, the Panther Bots earned a ticket to the Vex IQ Robotics World Championshipin Louisville, Kentucky.

Well, our scrappy little robotics team did it! Lisa Hopper, coach of the Pleasant Run Elementary Schools Panther Bots team, wrote on Facebook after they earned their spot. It has been an exciting journey.

Officials at Plainfield High School told the Star that they were unaware of the racist comments made during the competition, but called the behavior disheartening and unacceptable.

Hopper thinks the students were targeted because they arent white. Their school, Hopper explained in a teamsponsorship presentation, is a low income Title I school.

For the most part, the robotics world is kind of a white world, Hopper told the Star. Theyre just not used to seeing a team like our kids. And they see us and they think were not going to be competition. Then were in first place the whole day and they cant take it.

And it seems that the students graceful response to the racism has helped them fund their trip to the championships.

On Saturday, aGo Fund Me Account set up for the Panther Bots surpassed its$8,000 goal to help pay for their travel expenses and robotics parts. Their fundraising page is filled with comments from people who read their story and praised their determination.

Keep up the interest in robotics and dont let anyone tell you that you arent worthy, one donor wrote. You have earned your success!

The Panther Bots have won six awardsfor their robotic creations, according to the teams Go Fund Me page. During the Indiana State Championships, they ranked fourth in the state for teamwork, 11th in the state for skills and programming and won the Create Award for best robot design,which earned them a ticket to the World Championships.

Now, the internet is rooting for the Panther Bots next win.

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Winning Fourth Grade Robotics Team Told To 'Go Back To Mexico' - Huffington Post

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Is robotics a solution to the growing needs of the elderly? BBC News The receptionist at the Institute of Media Innovation, at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, is a smiling brunette called Nadine. From a distance, nothing about her appearance seems unusual. It's only on closer inspection that doubts set in. Announcing TC Sessions: Robotics, a one-day event on everything ...TechCrunch How to Invest in the Future of Robotics -- The Motley FoolMotley Fool Envisioning the future of roboticsRobohub all 8 news articles »

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Is robotics a solution to the growing needs of the elderly? - BBC News

PORTLAND Advances in automation and artificial intelligence can give those with skills in robotics both in programming and in constructing the machines a career advantage.

But thats not the only reason hundreds of students at high schools across southern Maine participate on their local robotics teams.

Its also the teamwork, the camaraderie and the challenge that draws them.

These days, with many schools putting more focus and effort on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields, more and more students, including girls, are becoming fascinated with robotics.

Teams at schools throughout southern Maine are in the midst of a six-week competition season that culminates in the New England championships in early April, with a chance to attend the world finals in St. Louis.

Earning the highest scores in New England at their last two competitions, students at Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland have already punched their tickets to worlds.

But the $20,000 to $30,000 cost to get the team, their robot and the advisers to St. Louis means the Outliers will not be able to attend unless additional sponsors step forward, according to team leader Jonathan Amory.

Meanwhile, the Northern Force robotics team, which is made up of students from Falmouth and Gorham high schools, is not sure if they will score enough points in the next competition to make it to the world finals.

But thats OK, because Northern Force has been invited to mentor the fledgling robotics teams in China, and will spend about 10 days in Shanghai in early June to tutor Chinese youngsters in the skills needed to build a functioning robot.

To get to China, Northern Force is conducting a GoFundMe campaign, with a goal of raising $10,000, to cover all of the teams travel costs. The hosts are paying for food and lodging, according to John Kraljic, the engineering and technology teacher at Falmouth High who advises the team.

At its first competition of the season this past weekend, Kraljic said the Northern Force team was not quite ready for prime time and our performance suffered. However, he added, We were able to work out the majority of our problems and made a very strong showing on Sunday.

Northern Force did not make it to the elimination matches, but did win a design award for its robot, which was praised for being an upbeat example of a functional system-design cowboy, with speedy and accurate gear delivery and a design that encourages teamwork between fuel-wranglers.

All of the high school robotics teams in Maine are affiliated with FIRST Robotics, a national nonprofit that sponsors an annual competition designed to immerse young people in the challenges associated with designing and building robots to complete specific tasks.

FIRST works to design accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills, the organizations website states.

This past weekend most of the teams from Maine headed to Massachusetts to take part in their initial FIRST competition of the season. Many will then take part in the final competition of the season being held in the next couple weeks in Lewiston.

In addition to the team from Baxter Academy, Cheverus High School in Portland also has a robotics team, called Radical Impact. The team from South Portland is called the Red Riot Crew, and the team from Bonny Eagle, in Standish, is called BERT. There is also a relatively new robotics club being offered at Brunswick Junior High School.

Robotics programs can be expensive, particularly the parts for each seasons bot, which must change in design and purpose. Under the FIRST model, each team also relies on a network of parents and industry professionals that provide support, from fundraising to building to marketing and outreach.

The team at Baxter Academy is in its third year, and, Amory said, robotics teams are an excellent way for students to get experience working complex, real-world problems. Participation on the Outliers also gives students the chance to learn project management, time and resource management, teamwork, budgeting and marketing skills.

Over the course of the three-month (competition season), each of our students puts in almost 500 hours outside of class working on their robot, Amory said. This intense experience goes far beyond what they can learn in normal classes.

Initially, he said, the Outliers had only two girls on the team, but we worked hard to recruit more girls, and now have 10 girls out of roughly 25 team members. Girls now run critical departments on the team, including the electronics, mechanical systems, drive team and pit.

The Northern Force gets about two-thirds of its students from Falmouth and one-third from Gorham, said one of the team leaders, Mary Giglio, a senior who is foregoing the China trip to attend graduation.

For sophomores Annie deCastro and Ivan Cadigan, the draw of participating on the robotics team is not just the opportunity to learn something not offered in any other class, but also the chance to take on a unique challenge and meet like-minded people.

The Northern Force team meets at Lanco Integrated in Westbrook, which is where members build their competition robots and try to work out the kinks. Giglio said during the robotics season the team is at work pretty much every night and most Saturdays.

Each robot has a weight limit of 120 pounds, and this years challenge is to build a bot that can gather fuel for a faux steam-powered airship, as well as attach gears that would allow the airships rotors to function.

Giglio said the most important functions for a competition robot are speed, efficiency, and a rapid fire rate.

Samantha Lewis, is a junior at Cheverus and a team leader for its Radical Impact robotics team. She said robotics meets are centers of innovation and (represent the) future of our technology.

Robotics is a sport for the mind and the career possibilities are endless, she added. As robotics becomes more popular, more females are being introduced to it. More females have joined our team each year, and they are just as smart and offer up good advice, which may have been previously overlooked.

Lewis said, I want people to know that robotics is a tech competition, but there is so much more to it than that. The teams are built through trust and communication. The purpose of robotics is to inspire the young minds of the world, and through it comes an unforgettable and irreplaceable experience.

Robotics is about (creating) future innovators, and you do it through teamwork and friendship, she said.

Sean Manning, one of the team leaders for the Red Riot Crew at South Portland High, said robotics programs are important because as time progresses, robots are taking the place of humans for repetitive tasks (and) someone has to build, program, and maintain these machines.

He also said that students involved in robotics are learning many more life skills than just turning wrenches, including mechanical, programming, data analysis, outreach and even marketing skills. Each team needs all sort of artwork to stand out in competitions, Manning said. Shirts need designing (and) robots need painting.

John DiRenzo, a team leader for the robotics team at Bonny Eagle, said, Robotics is becoming more and more popular as it provides students an avenue to experience STEM education at its best. The excitement of building a robot and seeing the results of their work by competing at various competitions is (also) extremely rewarding.

He also agreed with other team leaders that its important to have both male and female members on the team so other youth can see that gender does not impact the ability of a student to achieve their goals.

Overall, DiRenzo said, Robotics is a great program that inspires and motivates students and ignites their interest in STEM careers.

At Brunswick Junior High, teacher Conan McNamaras goal is to get students interested in STEM fields early. But, he also said, The primary goal of the club is to provide a fun extracurricular activity for students.

Robotics has taken off because its fun (and) challenging, McNamara said. This process (also) directly translates to problem-solving skills and to applying the scientific process. We get plenty of teachable moments in robotics.

In summing up the importance of exposing young people to robotics, Amory, the team leader from Baxter Academy, said, Students working on these robots across the state are the future of the Maine tech sector and they (deserve) all the support they can get.

Kate Irish Collins can be reached at 710-2336 or kcollins@theforecaster.net. Follow Kate on Twitter: @KirishCollins.

Members of the Northern Force robotics team, which includes students from Gorham High School, put the finishing touches on their robot before their first competition of the season this past weekend.

To function adequately, a robot requires a lot of intricately detailed parts, including specialized wiring.

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School robotics grooms tech leaders of the future - Keep Me Current - KeepMEcurrent.com

The Pleasant Hill robotics team broke the world record at the regional competition. Now, the team has their sights set on the national competition. (SBG photo)

PLEASANT HILL, Ore. - The top high school robotics team in the state is right here in Lane County. Last month, the robotics team from Pleasant Hill High School won the state competition in Portland.

The team, called Gromit's Grommets, is made up of six students: Dylan Hammond, Ana Borg, Nathan Faber, Gabe Placko, Hannah Gibson, and Tristan Barrett.

They spend several hours each week working on their robot.

"It's fun to say that you made something, programmed it, and designed it from scratch yourself," junior Nathan Faber said. "That's really something valuable."

The team was challenged to build a robot that can complete a series of challenges, like lifting a yoga ball and launching whiffle balls into a target. Each task is assigned a certain number of points.

At the state competition, Gromit's Grommets represented one of the smallest schools there.

"It was pretty nerve-racking," remembered sophomore Dylan Hammond. "We're a smaller school going up against these really big schools and big budget teams."

They beat 200 other teams from around the state, then moved on to the regional competition in Tacoma, Wash. There, they did not win first place, but their score did set a new world record, with 315 points.

"The previous world record was set that same day 20 minutes before at 305," said Barrett.

"We really didn't expect it at all," added Hammond. "We knew we did good but I mean - world record. We were really surprised."

The team did qualify to compete at the national competition in Houston next month. The team needs to raise ten $10,000 to travel there. Here is how you can support them:

https://www.gofundme.com/Send-Gromits-to-Worlds

http://www.phillfoundation.org

Link:

Pleasant Hill robotics team uses technology to take down the competition - KVAL