Dan Kohn's Blog

from Robots.Net

Most of you will remember Obama’s mention of the maker movement in his inaugural address. Now he’s not only mentioned makers again but specifically called on the National Academy of Sciences to consider robotics competitions as one of several methods to inspire American students to pursue science and engineering.

“Think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, like science festivals, robotics competitions, and fairs that encourage young people to create, build, and invent — to be makers of things, not just consumers of things.”

Needless to say, the folks at Make are pretty happy too. The current president has brought quite a change for those interested in science. He’s reversed many of the previous administration’s anti-science initiatives, issuing a memorandum calling for scientific integrity. At the NAS meeting he announced a major initiative to “boost research funding and bolster math and science education” which calls for at least 3 percent of the GDP to go toward funding basic science research, reversing the decline of recent years. To hear a mention of robotics on top of all that is very cool indeed. The full text of Obama’s remarks to the NAS can be found online. Image above by flickr user NAS

From ASEE First Bell April 30, 2009

USA Today (4/30, Der Bedrosian) reports that Brian Toohey, “senior vice president for international affairs at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, is rallying support among members of Congress and Department of Education employees for legislation” that would “make a robotics education accessible to every public high school.” Noting that “the publicity boost” from the recent FIRST championship in Atlanta may help his cause, Toohey “is crafting legislation that could secure $100 million over five years” to “fund a program that would allow inner-city schools access to the FIRST program.” Toohey, who has volunteered with the program for several years, called the amount “modest,” noting that currently, FIRST “relies on corporate sponsors, but…has had a tough time finding sponsors and mentors for low-income areas.” Toohey added, “We’ve seen (the program) work in thousands of schools across the country, and we know that the model works.”

From ASEE First Bell April 23, 2009

The Scientific American (4/22, Greenemeier) 60-Second Science Blog reported, “High-schooler’s from California, Illinois and Michigan took the brass ring last weekend in the FIRST (For Inspiration, Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition Championship in Atlanta pitting hundreds of student-made robots against one another in a game fittingly called known as ‘Lunacy’ (a nod to the 40th anniversary of NASA’s moon landing).” The winning alliance of teams “outscored their opponents in a contest requiring their robots to pick up and place as many spongy, nine-inch (23-centimeter) game balls as possible in trailers hitched to their opponents’ robots.” The article describes the competition, as well as the history of FIRST, and provides links to previous coverage of the competition.

National Robotics Competition sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).

See brochure at http://www.nationalroboticschallenge.org/downloads/NRC2009Brochure.pdf

Or go to the homepage http://www.nationalroboticschallenge.org/

A NOVA (PBS) Special on the DARPA Grand Challenge – A Driverless vehicle race across the Mojave Desert. You can watch it below or goto PBS.ORG for more information.

Scientific America is a PBS Shown hosted by Alan Alda, this episode, called “Robot Pals” is all about human / robot interaction.