from: http://www.nationalroboticsweek.org/
Are you ready for National Robotics Week 2013? Mark your calendars for April 6-14. We need more events, more participants and more robots all over the U.S.!
RoboWeek 2012 was a banner year. There were over 160 events in all 50 United States. Events included First Lego League teams demonstrating robots at the local library, tours of University labs, thousands of attendees at Block Parties, and the FIRST Robotics Championships.
The Purpose of National Robotics Week is to:
From: TechSPOT
By Shawn Knight
On February 26, 2013, 6:30 PM
A number of high-profile members of the technology industry have teamed up with celebrities to back a new initiative designed to get kids interested in programming. The nonprofit foundation Code.org wants to get more schools involved in teaching programming classes while at the same time, directing visitors to coding resources that are already available online.
The promo video for the initiative runs nearly six minutes long and includes a who’s who list of celebrities and prominent figures in the tech community including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell and Miami Heat NBA star Chris Bosh, just to name a few.
Bosh got started with technology and coding at an early age as he was part of an afterschool group called the Whiz Kids. He didn’t care that his friends made fun of him because he was having fun and learning at the same time.
The clip showcases some of the fun and relaxed work environments that today’s coders call home. For example, Google’s Mountain View headquarters contains a bowling alley, bocce courts and more than two dozen cafes – all free of charge. Other employers offer amenities like free laundry service, video games to play and scooters to ride – all while on the clock. If that doesn’t sound like an awesome working environment to you, I don’t know what does.
Kids are reminded that you don’t have to be a genius to get started with programming. All you need is basic addition, subtraction and multiplication skills and you’re set.
There’s no doubt that computers and technology are the future and considering that just one in 10 schools teach students how to write code today, such an initiative likely couldn’t afford to come at a later date.
A great example of the “Open Source” Community solving a real world problem! This open source project is for a artificial hand for those who need one. The project is documented at http://comingupshorthanded.com/
National Love Your Robot Day: Our 10 favorite robots in film and on TV
From Hypable.com
By Karen Rought at 1:00 pm, February 7, 2013
Valentine’s Day may be a week away, but our robotic friends get to feel the love early! Today just so happens to be National Love Your Robot Day, and we here at Hypable couldn’t let that pass without a little celebration of our own.
Robots come in all shapes and sizes, with a huge variation of purposes and talents. And we love them all. From old pals to new ones, we’ve seen a million different kinds, and the group below is just a tiny slice of a larger list of famous ‘bots. Each one comes from a different world, but they all have one thing in common: they’re some of the most loveable robots to ever grace our television screens.
1. Sonny, ‘I, Robot’ (2004)
2. WALL-E, ‘WALL-E’ (2008)
3. Bumblebee, ‘Transformers’ (2007)
4. AstroBoy, ‘Astroboy’ (2009)
5. K-9, ‘Doctor Who’ (2006)
6. Iron Giant, ‘The Iron Giant’ (1999)
7. Rosie the Maid, ‘The Jetsons’ (1985-1987)
8. R2D2, ‘Star Wars’ (1977-Present)
9. Rodney Copperbottom, ‘Robots’ (2005)
10. Number 5, ‘Short Circuit’ (1986)
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From IEEE Spectrum – Video Friday
This video went viral this week, but if you haven’t seen it already, it shows a German metal band called Compressorhead, which consists of three hydraulic robots. They can play covers of Motorhead, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath. This is what you’d call Heavy Metal.
From: cnet.com
by: Tim Hornyak
Jan 23, 2013
InMoov is an open-source DIY printable robot that can obey voice commands. It’s slightly creepy, but at least it’s cheap. Full details at http://inmoov.blogspot.com/
