News NYC/NJ FIRST - July 2007

July 2007 - Vol 1, Issue 3

In This Issue • 2007 NYC / NJ FIRST Annual Report Available • FIRST Impact on School Curriculum • From Student to Engineering Leader • Gracious Professionalism • FIRST Team Runs Summer Camp for Middle-Schoolers • The Impact of What We Do • Letter From a Dad • Staying Competitive in the Global Economy • Design for the Other 90% • Brooklyn Tech Student Places Third in International Competition • From FIRST to BAE Systems Intern Get Involved Quick Links NYC/NJ FIRST FIRST Mt. Olive Robotics Team (MORT) Cordis Allentown Redbird Robotics Raider Robotix Marotta Scientific Controls Inc. Montville Robotics Team (MRT) Cooper-Hewitt Museum Autodesk		2007 NYC / NJ FIRST Annual Report Available The 2007 FIRST season was a tremendous success for New York City / New Jersey FIRST -- the move to the Javits Center, a joint resolution honoring FIRST passed by the New Jersey Legislature, more than 190 FLL teams registered in New York City, the inauguration of the FIRST Vex Challenge in New Jersey, Governor Spitzer visits the NYC FIRST Robotics Competition, more than $1.2 million raised in support of FIRST activities across the metro region. Yes - a pretty good year. Thanks to all the wonderful people who made it possible. To download a copy of our annual report Click here. Please let us know what you think. Help us do even better next year. Let us know how you think we can improve the FIRST experience for students and volunteers. Give us your ideas for how we can get more students involved in the FIRST celebration of young men and women working smart in science and technology. Send your ideas to us at nycnjfirst@njit.edu. Thank you for being a FIRST Champion.

FIRST Impact on School Curriculum

As an organization, FIRST doesn't get directly involved in trying to change what is taught in schools. But that doesn't mean that Dean Kamen's vision doesn't include having schools and communities place much greater emphasis on science and technology education. Dean's strategy as he will tell you is, "create demand among kids and the rest follows." In other words, get students excited about technology, communities will figure out how they channel all the energy and interest. Mount Olive High School in New Jersey, which has been involved in FIRST since 1996, is one example of what can happen. Read More About Mt. Olive's Success...

From Student to Engineering Leader

Dina Agrapides, senior engineer at Cordis Corp., a Johnson & Johnson company, recently "retired" from her position as chairperson of the New Jersey FIRST Robotics Planning Committee after four years of being responsible for planning and executing one of the nation's two oldest regional FIRST events. "Dina is one of those 'behind the scenes" people who always gets the job done," commented Randy Schaeffer, FIRST regional director. "She's an effective leader and great problem-solver." At Sovereign Bank Arena, Dina can be found scrambling from one area of the arena to another in a t-shirt marked "Crew," and a headset throw which dozens of other volunteers are constantly talking in her ear. It seems sometimes like everyone is pulling her in a different direction. Dina is energized by her strong desire to make sure that the overall experience of the NJ Regional is something that the kids can come away from and love. Read on...

Gracious Professionalism

"Gracious Professionalism" - talk to any FIRST fanatic for more than five minutes and there is no doubt it will be part of the conversation. So what is it? What is this FIRST mantra, coined by FIRST guru Woodie Flowers, Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT? Maybe the best way to explain it is to give an example. Back on Wednesday, May 16th as Allentown High School's Redbird FIRST Robotics Team (Team #1807) was preparing for that Saturday's Monty Madness FIRST Scrimmage, their robot's pivot arm gave out. New parts were needed to make the repair, yet there were only hours in which to get the job done and the parts weren't readily available from vendors. A lot was at stake. The team was planning on using the Monty Madness Scrimmage as a way to give its new members real experience on the playing field as part of its program to get ready for 2008. The team's development strategy was about to go up in smoke. More on gracious professionalism...

FIRST Team Runs Summer Camp for Middle-Schoolers

For most high school students summer means packing away a dozen old notebooks and "vegging" out by the pool or in front of the nearest video game console. But for the members of FIRST Robotics Team #25, the Raider Robotix at North Brunswick High School, summer means taking on the role of teacher and helping younger kids get hooked on FIRST. Raider Robotix, is again hosting a Summer Robotics Camp for students entering grades 6-9. The three-week program is being run by sophomore Morgan Gillespie. "The kids really enjoy camp because its more on a peer-to-peer basis where the younger kids aren't afraid to ask us questions, or talk to us about things other than the task at hand," says Kristian Calhoun, a member of Raider Robotix's drive team. This will be Kris's second year as a part of the Robotics Camp. Kris adds that "you see the campers enjoying themselves, and learning about robotics and science at the same time. They look up to us as role models, but also as friends." Read more about Summer LEGO Camp...

The Impact of What We Do

The goal of FIRST is to inspire young men and women to pursue further studies and careers in science and technology and to help them prepare to compete in the technologically-driven global economy. FIRST's success in achieving its goal was documented in a study funded by the Ford Foundation and completed by Brandeis University in 2005. The study, entitled More than Robots: An Evaluation of the FIRST Robotics Competition-Participant and Institutional Impacts, provides evidence that participating in FIRST Robotics positively impacts the post-secondary education and career plans of high school graduates. The study involved 300 FIRST Robotics Competition participants from schools in New York City and the Detroit area, and found that when FIRST students were compared to other high school graduates with similar math and science preparation, FIRST students: Went on to college at higher rate (89% vs. 65%) than recent high school graduates; Were nearly twice as likely to major in science or engineering (55% vs. 28%); Were more than three times as likely to major specifically in engineering (41% vs. 13%); Were significantly more likely to aspire to a post-graduate degree (77% vs. 63%); Were more than twice as likely to expect to have a science or technology-related career (45% vs. 20%); and Were more than twice as likely to have done community service in the past year (71% vs. 30%) To read more from the study, click here.

Letter From a Dad

Every once in a while we get a letter from a student or a parent telling us how participating in FIRST has made a difference in the lives of young people. Below is one we recently received from the father of a FIRST team member in New York City. Letters like this go along way toward reminding us why our efforts are important. My son is lucky, but I am even luckier. My son attended a high school that doesn't have a robotics team. He decided he needed to change schools and did. Even more luckily, he and a friend were taken in by a FIRST robotics team run by an inimitable teacher-coach, whose home base is a high school in the Bronx, New York, which is in the poorest Congressional district in the country. Read more...

Staying Competitive in the Global Economy

"Why are we involved?" asks Tom Marotta somewhat rhetorically. "Because we need highly motivated and highly skilled people to deal with the challenges the nation is confronting," he goes on to explain. Tom Marotta is CEO of Marotta Controls Inc., based in Boonton, NJ, which for the past six years has been sponsoring and mentoring FIRST Robotics Team #637 based at Montville High School in Montville, NJ. Each summer, two lucky rising juniors and/or seniors are selected from among team members to participate in a six-week summer internship at Marotta Controls' facility in Boonton. Marotta explains that for the FIRST three weeks the students get to work in the firm's engineering department followed by three weeks working in assembly and testing. "That way students get to see the whole engineering process - they learn how innovation is done in a company like ours." Read on...

Design for the Other 90%

Every once in a while we need to remind ourselves that technology is not just about creating better consumer products, getting better gas mileage from SUVs, or figuring out how to get the latest music downloaded to a cell phone. A good way to do this would be to visit "Design for the Other 90%", now on exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum through September 23rd. Quoting from the exhibit's website: Designers, engineers, students and professors, architects, and social entrepreneurs from all over the globe are devising cost-effective ways to increase access to food and water, energy, education, healthcare, revenue-generating activities, and affordable transportation for those who most need them. And an increasing number of initiatives are providing solutions for underserved populations in developed countries such as the United States. More about the Cooper-Hewitt exhibit...

Brooklyn Tech Student Places Third in International Competition

Christian Garcia, a member of the Brooklyn Tech team, recently won Third Place in the Autodesk Inventor Design Competition. Christian created a rendering of a robot for the 2007 FIRST Robotics competition. Submissions were judged on their use of Inventor capabilities, innovation, and aesthetic appeal. Students were competing for prizes from HP, AWD, and 3Dconnexion. Christian exemplifies the best of what New York City has to offer. He chose to attend Brooklyn Tech because he wanted to take engineering classes even though it meant commuting more than an hour from his home in Washington Heights. After a year of competing in the FIRST LEGO League, Christian dedicated himself to the FIRST Robotics Competition. Christian says, "FIRST gave me the opportunity to meet great people that helped me develop character." In addition, Christian is thankful because he got to be a leader within the team and to try new things. This summer he is headed to the University of Central Florida where he will major in Aerospace Engineering. Congratulations Christian! We're proud of you. To read more about the Student Design Contest, cilck here.

From FIRST to BAE Systems Intern

Back in high school, Sabrina Varanelli was the founder of her FIRST Robotics team at Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, NJ. Having just completed her freshman year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Sabrina is employed as a summer intern by BAE Systems in Wayne NJ. Sabrina's FIRST team (a tournament winner at both New York City and New Jersey in 2007) is sponsored by BAE Systems and mentored by employees at the company's Electronics & Integrated Solutions Network System's facility in Wayne. BAE Systems is also a major sponsor of the FIRST Robotics Competition held in Manchester, NH. Read on...

For more information, please contact: NEW YORK CITY / NEW JERSEY FIRST New Jersey Institute of Technology Fenster Hall, Room 361 Newark, NJ 071021 E-mail - nycnjfirst@njit.edu Phone - (973) 596-3234 VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.nycnjfirst.org New York City / New Jersey FIRST

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NYCFIRST Update #5: July 10, 2007

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area. If you want to be removed from this list type “remove” in the subject are and hit return.

Compiled by Norm Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
normsco@gmail.com
917-992-3734

Mark (tip of head),Gary, Norm (peeking), Wayne, Dean, Mike, Evan after Dinner at Dean's (good title for a movie).

MORE PICS LATER

Check the NYC/NJ FIRST Web site for updated info
www.nycnjfirst.org


The next FLL Planning committee meeting:
Tues. July 10 at 5:30pm at Credit Suisse.


Being planned:
FLL Kickoffs in the Bronx and at Polytech U in downtown B’klyn on a Saturday in September. Game boards will be set up and questions will be answered. Due to the necessity to get a quick start this year (see below) we will try to set this up earlier than usual, but there are holiday weekends involved. Target dates: Sept 8 (The Bronx), Sept. 15 or Sept 29

Saturday training in October for new coaches and vets needing a refresher.

1. Email Notes:
Future Updates may be sent from my gmail account: Normsco@gmail.com. Please make a note of it if you have spam blockers.
Ignore this message if you already classify these Updates as spam.

If you are receiving these updates on your schools.nyc.gov accounts and do not check them regularly, please send me an alternative email where you can be reached and note, which you prefer.


2. Registration Report as of July 8: 80 teams
Brooklyn: 16
Manhattan: 2
Queens: 10
Bronx: 27
Staten Island: 24

These numbers include multiple teams: 38 teams from 15 schools

Registration is running ahead of last year and there are a limited number of field set-up kits. Last year we had problems over this issue with schools scrambling to get kits.

As usual, registration is no guarantee of entry into the citywide event.
(See item 4.)

See the list of the 80 teams below. New teams, coaches and schools are in BOLD. If you are a new coach or if your school has a new coach, let me know.
My intention is to migrate this list to a Google spreadsheet but I need updated info from you.

3. Updating information
I need updated info from you as to the primary coach(es) for your teams and as to whether the names listed next to your teams are relevant to the team. If they are supervisors or any other position let me know.


4. FLL Planning Committee Meeting: Qualification Tournaments
With registration running so high already, it is clear that we will not have room for all the teams even in a 2-day event. Thus, we are seriously considering a ONE DAY CITYWIDE event with 72 teams. The former practice tournaments would be upgraded into qualifying events using the considerable money saved by not having the 2nd day. All these events would take place in December with the CITYWIDE either the last Saturday of January or the first Saturday of February. A FINAL DECISION IS EXPECTED IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO.
Details on whether there will be limits on schools with multiple teams also have to be worked out. We welcome your input.

If we do go in this direction, we may add a special event at the FRC tournament for FLL’ers at the Javits Center the first weekend of April. Discussions go on.


5. FIRST Partner meeting
A hardy band of NYCFIRST’ers headed up to the annual Partner meeting at FIRST HQ in Manchester, NH from June 19-22. Evan Weinberg, Michael Koumoulos, and Mike Siegel, FRC/FLL coaches from Lehman, Aviation, and Staten Island Tech high schools joined Gary Israel, FLL Planning committee chairperson Mark Sharfshteyn and Vision Ed’s Laura Allen and Corey Bader.

We got to sample the Power Puzzle and it looks very exciting.

We were invited for dinner - for 70 - at Dean Kamen’s amazing home where we ate in the helicopter hanger. They removed them first.

We met FLL people from around the nation, in addition to international reps from Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and Thailand, and the top LEGO Ed people were there from Denmark. Japan will hold an Asian Open event in late April and a few of us are thinking of going to assist. Konichiwa.

FLL growth has been so great, everyone is having problems getting all teams into state tournaments and there were major discussion on running qualifiers.

One important note: The World Festival is just about full and there will no longer be a guarantee that the winners get to go. Some kind of alternating year system is being worked out.
We have just been sent some preliminary info on the process and we will share it with you when we can.
We do not know whether NYC will be scheduled to go in ’08, one of the reasons we are working on the Javits event for some of the winning teams in the New York/New Jersey area. Sort of a mini-WF with FRC, FTC (formerly VEX) and FLL.


6. FIRST Robotics Teams from Bronx, Manhattan and Queens Public Schools to Share Robots with the Public at the Sony Plaza Atrium

Wednesday, July 11

WHAT:
The Sony Wonder Technology Lab will host award-winning high school and middle school students from the New York City area involved in the nationally recognized FIRST Robotics program, as they demonstrate and share with the public uniquely designed robots they created for recent national robotics competitions. The students will also encourage visitors to interact with their robots in a hands-on learning environment, while teaching them how the robots were made and sharing the challenges, they faced in building them.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway™, to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. Based in Manchester, New Hampshire, FIRST designs accessible innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math.

WHO:
FIRST Robotics students from, H. S of Computers and Technology, Stuyvesant and Lehman High School along with MS 217Q will present their robot creations.

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
11:00a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET

WHERE:
The Sony Plaza Atrium
550 Madison Avenue at 56th Street
New York City


7. Two NYC FRC teams were the subject of case stories in the book titled Classroom Robotics: Case Stories of 21st Century Instruction for Millenial Students. by Kathleen, P King and Mark Gura.

One of the case studies is titled Changing the Inner City, One Robot at a Time, written by Evan Weinberg.

The other case study is titled The Morris High School Robotics Team:

An interview with Gary Israel: "Winners at a High Intensity Sport for the Mind".

Click below to see more information about the book which can be purchased on Amazon.com

http://www.infoagepub.com/products/content/978-1-59311-602-6.php


8. Coach Donnie Swanson sent this community project and pictures to a local newspaper. The kids had a ball when the car parked itself.

I.S.75's Lego Robotics Team worked with Mr. I. Iacono, General Manager of Lexus of Manhattan, to show the students how their work with robotics can be applied to real life with their new technology offered in their new line of automobiles (self parking option & anti-collision technology, light sensing automatic headlights and high tech alarm system). The students replicated these features using the new NXT robotics set by Lego Education. What really makes this project stand out was how Lexus of Manhattan took this project even further and drove the latest LS 400 SERIES car to the expo and treated the kids with a demonstration of this car's robotic features. This real-life community connection truly inspired the kids. I heard one of my students turn to his fellow teammate and say, "We know how to do that! We're going to be rich!!!" In my opinion, this type of program truly gets the kids excited to learn. It is a wonderful addition to the middle school curriculum.

For pictures, Contact:
Donny J. Swanson
Intermediate School 75
Lego Robotics Coordinator
(718)356-0130 x4241
mrswansonis75@aol.com


9. Team registered as of July 2: Check info and send corrections

0083 CS 66 X Christopher Blades James Bellon
0160 MS 51K James Hoffman
0189 Automotive HS Bruce Rajswasser Dan Luna, Michael Danza
0192 Automotive HS Bruce Rajswasser Dan Luna, Michael Danza
0195 Automotive HS Bruce Rajswasser Dan Luna, Michael Danza
0196 PS/IS 123 X Chris Gooding Kelleyann Royce
0198 Staten Island Tech HS Dennis Giurici Mike Siegal Robert Brayman
0199 Staten Island Tech HS Dennis Giurici Mike Siegal Robert Brayman
0268 MS 101X Maritime Academy Michele Sikoryak Punit Gandhi
0331 IS 24 SI Raymond Cottrell Jane Frangos
0332 IS 24 SI Raymond Cottrell Jane Frangos
0394 MS 67Q Ruta Dave (NEW)
0447 PS 372 K Rita Fasano Vicki Holland Haiva Albuliwi
0449 PS 372 K Rita Fasano Vicki Holland
0506 Pablo Casals MS 181x Terry Buchalter
0523 Pablo Casals MS 181x Constantine Kouvatsos
0526 East Harlem Tutorial Danny Peralta Joseph Contreras s Matthew Miller
0527 East Harlem Tutorial Danny Peralta Joseph Contreras Matthew Miller
0573 IS 125 Q Rudy Vera
0575 Baccalaureate School For Global Education Melissa Hinson
0705 Globe School for Environmental Research Michael Joyce Paul Riter Paul Cassidy Barbara Hartnett
0707 Globe School for Environmental Research Michael Joyce Paul Riter
Paul Cassidy Barbara Hartnett
0740 PS 57SI Patricia Lockhart (NEW)
0782 PS 148Q Mike Farrell
0783 PS 148Q Mike Farrell
0844 St. Edmund Elementary School Christine Zaremba (NEW)
0845 MS 302 X Sharon Shoatz Richard Shen
0948 MS 217 Q Veryl Greene
0964 PS 107x Adel Assal
0983 PS 193 The Gil Hodges School Stacy Solomon Carol Geier Cynthia McGinty Annabell Corales
0984 PS 193 The Gil Hodges School Stacy Solomon Carol Geier
Cynthia McGinty Annabell Corales
0990 IS 34 SI Joseph Buro Carmen Fuoco
0991 IS 34 SI Joseph Buro Carmen Fuoco
0992 IS 34 SI Joseph Buro Carmen Fuoco
1058 Academy for Scholarship and Entrepreneurship Lillian Sepulveda Rufina Bautista
1408 St. Clare School Mary Lee
1409 St. Clare School Mary Lee
1410 St. Clare School Mary Lee
1411 St. Clare School Mary Lee
1418 Satellite 3/MS 103 Gillian Edwin
1435 Packer Collegiate Inst. Maureen Reilly (NEW SCHOOL, Exp. Coach)
1482 Brooklyn Children’s Museum Gillianne Roberts (NEW)
1483 Brooklyn Children’s Museum Gillianne Roberts (NEW)
1610 PS 270 K The Dekalb School Mitra Lutchman (NEW)
1629 PS/MS 194 Cynthia Khadaran
1634 ESMT IS 190 X Maribeth Whitehouse
1635 IS 318 X Ian Chow-Miller
1654 PS 21K Crispus Attucks School Carla Arnold (NEW)
1680 P723X Christine Walsh (NEW)
1814 IS 230 Q Sonya Rencher Craig Grelarowski
1822 MS 118 X Ralph Corvino
1863 Aviation HS Michael Koumoullos Samantha Gian
1883 Cunningham IS 234K Jack Satz (NEW)
1911 PS 76X The Bennington School Russell Heath
1963 IS 72 SI Deric Borrero
1964 IS 72 SI Deric Borrero
1965 IS 72 SI Deric Borrero
1966 IS 72 SI Deric Borrero
1967 IS 72 SI Deric Borrero
1971 IS 72 SI Deric Borrero
1995 IS 75 SI Donny Swanson
1996 IS 75 SI Donny Swanson
2090 PS 261K Marci Rosa Allisyn Levy Jennifer Lindauer-Thompson (Vet school, New Coaches)

2201 MS 144 x Michaelangelo MS Victoria Lowe Peter Xanthus
2132 IS 98 X Harold Smith
2136 PS 106 x Philip Hamlin
2154 PS 121 X Kathy Bormann Maria Scher
2235 Coen Patrick Coen (NEW) – Homeschool??????
2257 IS 27 SI Bryan Kilgallen
2258 IS 27 SI Bryan Kilgallen
2259 IS 27 SI Bryan Kilgallen
2269 PS 68 X Andrew Harrison Barbara Tully
2284 HS of Computers & Technology X John Mynttinen Bruce Abromowitz Joseph Lewis
2349 PS 103 x Jarret Jackob Linda Marie Matos Cathy Daly
2350 PS 103 x Jarret Jackob Linda Marie Matos Cathy Daly
2395 IS 192 Q Eric Greene
2397 IS 192 Q Eric Greene
2398 The Eagle Academy for Young men Osei Owusu-Afriyie
2415 Kezner Academy @IS 192 X Elizabeth Tremberger

NYCFIRST Update #4: Pentathlon/VEX Today at Aviation HS – June 9, 2007

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area. If you want to be removed from this list type “remove” in the subject are and hit return.

Compiled by Norman Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
917-992-3734

These updates are posted at Norm’s Robotics blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/


Pentathlon/VEX Today at Aviation HS
A reminder that you’re all invited to come to Aviation HS in Long Island City, Queens today from 9-2 for an exciting day of robotics to be held in the aircraft hanger of the school, tours of the facilities, opportunities to see a variety of aircraft, etc. Last year we were treated to seeing (and hearing) the power of a jet engine. Aviation HS trains students for a wide variety of jobs in the aircraft industry and is truly one of the unique schools in the nation.

The school is located at Queens Blvd and 36th St. in LIC. The #7 train stops a few blocks away.

2007 Region 4 Robotics Pentathlon: June 9 at Aviation HS
Contact Stephen Shapinsky
Technology Staff Developer Region 4
sshapin@schools.nyc.gov
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/lego_flash.php
To see what the event will look like (and get a sense of the events), see the gallery of images from last year at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/ss_20060603/


Region 4 VEX tournament on June 9 at Aviation HS
Contact Stephen Shapinsky
A VEX event will be held concurrently with the Pentathlon Challenge on June 9 at Aviation HS.
The Region 4 Spring Vex Challenge is up for viewing or downloading at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/vex_flash.php


Registration Report as of June 9: 47 teams
Teams registered since May 30:
1418 Satellite 3/MS 103 Gillian Edwin
1482 Brooklyn Children’s Museum Gillianne Roberts
1483 Brooklyn Children’s Museum Gillianne Roberts
1610 PS 270 K The Dekalb School Mitra Lutchman
1629 PS/MS 194X Cynthia Khadaran
1634 ESMT IS 190 X Maribeth Whitehouse
1635 IS 318 X Ian Chow-Miller
1654 PS 21K Crispus Attucks School Carla Arnold

View spreadsheet of teams previously registered at:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pgxRf3gM4qtyxoYrZWpV8XA&hl=en_US

If you have registered, please check to see if information is current. Notify me of any changes.

If you have any intention of taking part next year, I urge you to register before the school year is out as there is a limited number of field set-up kits. Last year we had problems over this issue with schools scrambling to get kits.

If you can pay now, you should have your set-up kit just about the time you get back to school. If you are also ordering the NXT or RCX materials you will receive those immediately.

If you cannot get a PO now, check the box “Pay with a check” for now and that should let the registration go through. You have until after registration closes at the end of Sept. to pay but nothing will be shipped until you do pay. This will also cause delays in getting you started, especially if you have to track down a PO in the hubbub of the opening weeks of school.

As usual, registration is no guarantee of entry into the citywide event.


FLL Planning Committee Meeting: Qualification Tournaments
We’re still working towards setting up preliminary events that will be more standardized and will include judging. The tight time frame makes things tricky.
We are not at the point in where we can make a final decision as to whether borough/regional tournaments can truly be qualifiers this year but will keep you informed. It is hard to tell how many teams we can expect to register due to the unsettling aspects of the current reorganization and the impact of the extensive testing program being implemented.



The Botline
News & Information from the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy

* * *
ROBOTICS EDUCATORS CONFERENCE PRESENTERS LIST
For Teachers and Administrators Interested in Robotics

* * *

The Robotics Academy is very pleased to announce the addition of many new presenters for the Robotics Educators Conference. The conference is being facilitated by Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Academy and its partners in the Robotics Corridor project, http://www.roboticscorridor.org

Robotics Educators Conference
August 16 & 17 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Contact nkerman@rec.ri.cmu.edu

The conference is being hosted at Butler County Community College, one of the premier Community Colleges in the United States, which is located 20 miles north of Pittsburgh. The conference will allow regional and national educators to look various options to teach robotics education.

New presenters at the conference include:

Dr. Robert Rasmussen, Director of Tufts Center for Engineering Education Outreach. Dr. Rasmussen will present resources that are available through http://www.legoengineering.com/

Dick Swan, programmer; developer of ROBOTC. Dick will share inside secrets that will allow your robot to perform better. ROBOTC is becoming a standard in educational robotics. Currently ROBOTC talks to the RCX, VEX, NXT, FIRST controller, and other pic controllers. Dick will offer beginner and advanced sessions. http://www.robotc.net/

Dennis Batemen, project manager for ROBOT250: ROBOT250 is an idea inspired by Illah Nourbakhsh, Carnegie Mellon faculty. ROBOT250 is a celebration of robotics across western Pennsylvania. See http://www.robot250.com/

Dr. Stan Komacek, California University of Pennsylvania. Stan will be presenting accomplishments of the Robotics 2+2+2 Initiative. The 2+2+2 project is starting it’s third year this fall and is making a difference in how children learn.

Professor Jeanine Meyers, Purchase College. Jeanine is master teacher who uses innovative ways to excite her students about programming. Jeanine will talk about implanting a robotics program despite limited support and resources at Purchase College. See http://newmedia.purchase.edu/~Jeanine/charts.html

Tom Burick, inventor of the PC-BOT, winner of FUTURE TECHNOLOGY’S BEST IN SHOW AWARD at the Digital Life exhibition in New York. PC-BOT designer Tom will showcase this new technology that begins to preview some of the future applications of robotics. See http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/PCBOTs/index.html

Professor CJ Chung, Lawrence Technological University, founder of ROBOFEST. CJ will let us know how we can be part of http://www.robofest.org/ a very inexpensive solution for educators everywhere.

Terri Varnado, faculty, North Carolina State College. Terri prepares technology education teachers to teach about technology. She will talk about her research in education, technology, and robotics. It will be a very good talk.

Dr. Catherine Helgoe, LEGO Education International. Cathy will be presenting using the NXT in classrooms across the world to teach technological literacy and mathematical competency.

Denton Daily, faculty, Butler County Community College; author of Electronic Devices and Circuits: Discrete and Integrated; project lead for the Robotics Corridor Project for BC3. Denton will demonstrate electronics and embedded systems that he teaches in his classes and will be making available to teachers nationally.

Professor Michael Amrhein, California University of Pennsylvania; California University VEX Robotics Competition. Mike is currently teaching the first year robotics course at California University. Mike will discuss the outline of his course as well as his annual VEX robotics competition at California University.

George Bilokonsky, director, Cuyahoga Community College Youth Technology Academy. George will present his comprehensive robotics intervention program and how his team is working with inner city youth in Cleveland, Ohio. His Youth Technology Academy has won numerous prestigious awards. George will share his research; what he’s learned as well as the future of his program.

TeRK – The telepresence educational robotics kit + Gigapan. Developed in Illah Nourbakaush’s lab, TeRK may be the next generation controller for robotic enthusiasts across the globe. To preview these exciting technologies go to: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/gigapan.html and http://www.terk.ri.cmu.edu/

Eli Silk, researcher, University of Pittsburgh / Ross Higashi, Carnegie Mellon University. Eli and Ross will present the lessons that they’ve learned in the first year of a three year study that involves mapping what robotics teaches with standards covered in education today.

Dr. Michael Donohoe, project manager, robotics associate degree development, California University of Pennsylvania. Mike left a senior management position with Respironics Inc. to change children’s lives through robotics. Mike will present his vision of the California University Robotics Corridor Project. At CALU they are developing an associate degree program in robotics with articulation agreements with high schools and community colleges across the United States.

Carmen Grosse, BotsIQ western Pennsylvania. Carmen has been instrumental in bringing the BotsIQ competition to Western Pa. Carmen will introduce several teachers and allow them to tell their stories. See http://www.battlebotsiqpa.org/

There will be many other presentations about robotic solutions in schools.

For more information about the conference or presenting, contact Robin Shoop at rshoop@cmu.edu

See you there.

Robin

NYCFIRST Update #3 – May 29, 2007

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area. If you want to be removed from this list type “remove” in the subject are and hit return.

Compiled by Norman Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
917-992-3734

These updates are posted at Norm’s Robotics blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/

There’s a lot of backed up info accumulated in this update (about 10 pages worth) with loads of summer workshops, so bookmark the blog and check it out at your leisure if you can’t get to it all. I will have spotty email and phone contact for about a week so you may not receive an immediate response.


Registration Report as of May 29th: 39 teams
View spreadsheet at
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pgxRf3gM4qtyxoYrZWpV8XA&hl=en_US

If you have registered please check to see if information is current. Notify me of any changes.

As usual, registration is no guarantee of entry into the citywide event.


FLL Planning Committee Meeting: Qualification Tournaments
With 139 teams competing in the 2006/7 tournament we are getting close to capacity. The topic of discussion at the May 15 meeting was moving towards qualification tournaments. This would enable us to hold a 1-day event for the teams that emerge from the local events. But there is still some work to do in upgrading all these tournaments and standardizing them and it is not clear if we can accomplish this in the upcoming year. A sticking point, given the realities of the NYC schools system, which is undergoing another upheaval, is having all events take place in a timeframe that makes sense.

Discussions will continue at the May 29th meeting. As reported by Mark Sharfshteyn in an email to the Planning Committee, “Based on our discussion last time, we decided that we will make every effort to progress the borough events into qualifiers in order to build capacity for team growth as well as strengthening the current infrastructure to support the teams and events in each borough.”

If we do move in this direction, every attempt will be made to make qualification events a meaningful experience for all.

We welcome your comments and feel free to post them on the blog.


Heading to Manchester June 19-22
FLL’ers from all over the world will be heading to Manchester later in June to attend the annual training for this year’s tournament. A contingent from NYC will be going and we will focus on issues related to running qualifying events. Plus we get to see and comment on the Power Puzzle, which is not officially revealed until Sept. Dean Kamen has invited all participants over to his house for dinner on the 21st. Guess he hasn’t seen the NYC crew eat.


2007 Region 4 Robotics Pentathlon: June 9 at Aviation HS
Contact Stephen Shapinsky
Technology Staff Developer Region 4
sshapin@schools.nyc.gov
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/lego_flash.php
To see what the event will look like (and get a sense of the events), see the gallery of images from last year at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/ss_20060603/


Region 4 VEX tournament on June 9 at Aviation HS
Contact Stephen Shapinsky
A VEX event will be held concurrently with the Pentathlon Challenge on June 9 at Aviation HS.
The Region 4 Spring Vex Challenge is up for viewing or downloading at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/vex_flash.php


Stephen Shapinsky: Moving on
We are sad to report that Stephen will be leaving the NYC school system and his position as robotics staff developer for Region 4 to move to Las Vegas.

I first worked with Stephen in District 14 in Williamsburg when he was the coach of the PS 31K team and I was part of the District’s tech support team. It was clear from the get-go that Stephen had a lot to offer and we both moved on to work for Teri Bader in Region 4 to set up a massive robotics program that reached into every middle school in the first year. Stephen quickly became one of the top FLL and VEX robotics support people in the city. He organized and ran the Queens borough tournaments for the past 2 years. He created and has run the Pentathlon Challenge in Region 4 for the past 3 years and the first NYC VEX tournament last year, which he is reprising this year again on June 9th. The entire NYC robotics community will miss him but we’re sure that our loss will be the Las Vegas robotics community’s gain.


NXTLOG Building Challenge
Although the 2006-2007 FLL season ended last month at the FLL World Festival, LEGO wants to give your robot another opportunity to compete in its NXTLOG Building Challenge! Please click on http://www.MINDSTORMS.com/NXTLOG for full details.


See great sample FLL videos at: http://www.isek.iastate.edu/
Especially check out the vignettes comparing VEX and NXT done in the style of the Apple commercials.


Summer Stonington Retreat at NYU from Vision Education

Do you want to integrate technology effectively into your school or community organization?

Come to Vision Ed's Stonington Retreat in New York City, a four-day intensive workshop aimed at empowering teachers, parents and administrators to effectively integrate creative technology into their classrooms. With hands-on workshops in Robotics, Computer Animation, Game Design, Digital Video and Blogging, participants will walk away with the resources needed to start or continue a technology program at their schools or organizations.

The retreat will take place this summer July 31st – August 3rd, 2007 at New York University's Kimmel Center.

From this retreat, you will:

* Learn about cutting edge research in the field of Educational Technology.
* View and try out exciting project ideas used successfully by veteran teachers.
* Engage in hands-on activities led by professionals in the field of Educational Technologies.
* Take away lesson plans and curriculum materials to use in your classrooms.
* Participate in discussions with people who face similar challenges, such as administrative support for new initiatives, faculty involvement in technology and learning how to make it all work.
* Access to new learning tools, including ones that are free and easy to implement within schools.

Special guest Mitchel Resnick, Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, will be giving hands-on workshops in two of his new projects: PicoCricket and Scratch. The PicoCricket uses robotics to make programmable artistic creations, and Scratch is a free software based on a programming language that lets you create your own interactive stories, games, music and art.

There will also be hands-on workshops in LEGO® Mindstorms®, both the RCX and the new NXT, as well as workshops in Microworlds, a Computer Animation and Game making software, and Digital Video and Blogging.

The cost of the retreat is $1895.

To find out more, go to www.vemny.org/stonington.html and register here: http://www.vemny.org/stonington_reg.html

Vision Ed. believes that effective work with technology can have an enormous impact on learning and teaching. Our mission is to share this understanding with educators and learners to inspire educational excellence and school reform.


Dear FIRST LEGO League Teams:

The team behind the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT is happy to announce that LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Software version 1.1 will be available for all users in five language versions (English, German, French, Dutch and Japanese) in August 2007. Among its new features is full support for Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) and the new Intel-based Macintosh systems.

In addition, the new NXT software offers optimized performance and speed, especially for large program development. New compression methods free up 30kb of useable memory on the NXT Intelligent Brick and shrink most programs and sound files by 40%. The software programming module, called NXT-G, now features intelligent scroll + more than 100 other enhancements.

Teams who purchase the NXT Robot Set in 2007 will be sent a free upgrade when it is introduced in August. In the meantime, teams should practice using the current version of the software included in the NXT Robot Set.

In order to support existing FIRST LEGO League teams who purchased the NXT system for last season, LEGO Education will offer an upgrade on CD with the new NXT Software version 1.1 for $19.99 + shipping. This offer will be available online at www.LEGOeducation.com or by calling 800-362-4308. The item number is 900093.



Rhode Island School of the Future Summer Workshop

I attended a number of these workshops run by RISF founder Jan Kowalczyk years ago and they were fabulous. We always had state of the art technology and Fred Martin (The Art of LEGO Design) one of the creators of the RCX used to attend. In those days when the early version of the RCX had a problem, Fred would come over, open it up and rewire and reprogram it.

Our 20th Annual Summer Workshops in Educational Robotics is now open for registration. You can visit the website (http://www.risf.net/SummerWS.htm) to register. We will be using Mindstorms NXT this year with Robolab 2.9.3 software in both Beginner and Intermediate sessions. Both the RCX and NXT programmable bricks can be programmed with this software as well as Control Lab, if you are still using the latter. You will learn the NXT icons and, if you have legacy RCX, how to transition to the newer technology.

There has been much interest expressed in our workshop. So, register early if you can.


ROBOTICS EDUCATORS CONFERENCE
For Teachers and Administrators Interested in Robotics

The Botline
News & Information from the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy

The Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy cordially invites you to attend this year’s Robotics Educators Conference, to be held at Butler County Community College, north of Pittsburgh in Butler, PA from August 15-17, 2007.

The conference will gather teachers and educators who use or plan to use robotics as a tool to teach math, science and technology in their classrooms.

Attendees can:

• Try out activities that use LEGO, VEX and other controllers to teach math & science.
• Meet fellow users and experts.
• Share experiences & ideas for implementing robotics in the classroom.
• Learn about dynamic new developments in robotics education.

Topics to be covered include:

• Programming with the NXT Programming Language
• Programming with Robolab 2.9
• Programming with ROBOTC
• Programming the FIRST Controller
• Programming the VEX Robot Controller
• Robot Competitions (FIRST LEGO League, Battlebots - IQ, VEX Robotics)
• College in the High School courses
• Robotics Certification for career and technical centers

The registration conference fee is $50.00 which includes two lunches and Thursday night dinner. For those arriving earlier on Wednesday, August 15, a tour of Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Facilities is available for an additional $25.00 to cover the cost of transportation and dinner.

You can download the online registration form by visiting http://www.roboticscorridor.org. Click on the left menu bar for CONFERENCE and then click on ‘Registration’ under ‘Registration / Print Forms Download’. Download the conference schedule by clicking on ‘Schedule’ under ‘Registration / Print Forms Download’.

Accommodations have been reserved at the Comfort Inn Butler, one mile from the Butler County Community College Campus for $65 + 9% tax per night. The hotel can be reached by phone at 724 287-7177 or by fax at 724 287-1497.

If you have questions about the conference, please e-mail nkerman@rec.ri.cmu.edu or rshoop@cmu.edu.


Robotics Park in Rhode Island

I attended a few of these and to see kids from K-12 from all over Rhode Island take part in this event is a magical day. Maybe next year.

The following article was written about the RISF Robotics Park event held May 5th. See http://www.risf.net/RoboPark.htm for details

Fair to showcase students' robots
Amanda K. Lowe , Daily Times

LEGOs are not just toys anymore. Local students have been using LEGOs as a science project in which they build autonomous robots and machines. This weekend, their work will be on display for the public.

The 15th Annual Robotics Park, which bills itself as the largest K-12 robotics event in the country, will take place this weekend. The event is free and open to the public.

Robotics Park includes student demonstrations of interactive creations such as robotic animals, LEGO jewelry, and robotics competitions.

More than 250 robots, the work of over 1,000 students, are expected to be on display at the event, which will be held Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Middle School, located at 111 Brown St. in East Providence.

Several students from the Kent County area will be participating in the event.

The Knotty Oak Robotics Club, from Knotty Oak Middle School in Coventry, has been meeting after school three days a week to prepare projects for upcoming competitions, said the team's coach, Rebecca Horton. This is the team's third time participating in Robotics Park, she said.

"In preparation for this event, we were given a general theme to work with - 'Around the World,'" Horton said. "Our team has chosen to make a chain reaction machine. We established a general idea that each machine in our chain reaction machine would represent a food. We are excited to display our machine at Robotics Park."

A second team out of Coventry, the Coventry Robotics Club, will also have LEGO creations to display at the event.

The West Warwick Community School Robotics Club consists of 12 children who meet after school at John Deering Middle School two days a week. The team decided to make LEGO floats for Robotics Park this year, according to the coach, Roland Hebert.

"We made two floats for a float parade event that will occur at the event," Hebert said. "The floats are made of LEGO pieces and several other materials. The float has to autonomously follow a line for 80 feet while one of the students reads a story about the float. It is really a fun event."

The team made a float called "Round Up" which is about a cattle round up and "Around the Maze" which is about an athletic course, Herbert said.

"The kids work very hard to prepare for this event" Herbert said. "We attended last year and they really had a good time. The public really enjoys seeing what these kids are capable of building. It is a fun time."

The Engineers of Tomorrow, a Warwick-based home-schooled group of children who participated in the FIRST LEGO League World Fest in Atlanta, Ga., last month, will also be participating in the event.

According to the team's coach, Mary Johnson, the team will be doing demonstrations of the robots it used in the FIRST LEGO competition.

"Since we have returned from the trip, the students are settling into their school work," Johnson said. "That is why we are doing the FLL demo at Robotics Park, rather than trying to create new robots from scratch this week."

Alex Stein, an Engineers of Tomorrow member from Barrington, will also display an interactive hand-clapping robot in the Barrington Middle School booth.

Robotics Park is hosted by the Rhode Island School of the Future and is a time for students, educators, parents, and the community to celebrate student inventiveness, Johnson said.

Robotics Park will take place on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Middle School, located at 111 Brown St. in East Providence.

More information and directions to the event can be found at www.risf.net/RoboPark.htm.

©Kent County Daily Times 2007

Photos of the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/engineersoftomorrow/collections/72157600180744221/


Summer Lego Robotics Workshop for 4th-6th-Grade Teachers at Clarkson U. (For local schools only, but a good model for others)

This hands-on, five-day workshop is appropriate for any 4th-6th-grade teacher interested in integrating robotics into the classroom or any school activity to enhance Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Building and programming robots is a highly interdisciplinary activity that develops creative problem solving, teamwork, leadership, and project management skills. Students participating in robotics-based curricula learn about STEM careers firsthand, by experiencing what professionals do when solving real-world problems.

A series of hands-on project experiences will familiarize participants with the design and construction of autonomous robots using Lego Mindstorms NXT kits and RoboLab software to program the NXT robots’ motors and sensors. Best practices and methodologies associated with introducing robotics into grades 4 through 6 will be addressed throughout. A final engineering design challenge will prepare participants to coach a FIRST Lego League (FLL) team within their schools in the Fall semester of 2007, including a local FLL tournament sponsored by the St. Lawrence BOCES and Clarkson University in December 2007.

Summary of Workshop Objectives
Why Teach Robotics and Its Connections to NYS Standards
Project-based and Problem-based Learning Approaches
Introduction to Lego® Mindstorms™ Robot NXT Kit
Mechanics and Construction of a Mobile Robot
Programming an Autonomous Robot and Problem-Solving
RoboLab Programming Exercises – motors; light, touch, sound and rotation sensors
Project Management and Working Effectively in Teams: an Introduction to FIRST Lego League (FLL) and How to Coach a New Team

A daily breakdown of the workshop topics is given below:

Day 1 (Monday, June 25, 2007): Introduction to Lego-based Robotics
Morning: Why Teach Robotics? And Connections to NYS Standards
Afternoon: Introduction to Lego Mindstorms NXT Hardware and RoboLab Software

Day 2 (Tuesday, June 26, 2007): Introduction to Mechanics and Robot Programming:
Morning: Mechanics, e.g., gears, torque, speed, and Lego Construction Basics
Afternoon: Programming using RoboLab’s Pilot Level, e.g., a simple hill-climber robot

Day 3 (Wednesday, June 27, 2007): Advanced Programming and Measurements
Morning: Use of Motors, Touch, Light, Sound and Rotational Sensors using RoboLab’s Inventor Level, e.g. design, program, and test a robot that uses touch sensors to maneuver around an obstacle course and light sensors to follow a predetermined course
Afternoon: Advanced Programming and Measurements using RoboLab, e.g., explore the use of forks, containers, loops, jumps, tasks, variables, etc.

Day 4 (Thursday, June 28, 2007): Unstructured Design Day for Open-Ended Project
Morning: Introduction to the Engineering Design Process and Project Management, e.g., within the context of an assigned FLL challenge
Afternoon: Open-Ended, Unstructured Design Time, e.g., for participants to solve the challenge

Day 5 (Friday, June 29, 2007): Design Review, Sample Tournament and FLL Preparation
Morning: Design Review, e.g., participants review their robot designs (10 minutes per participant), and Participate in an FLL Tournament, e.g., consisting of 15 two-and-a-half-minute heats. Their actual robot performances will be compared to their design goals.
Afternoon: Overview of the FLL Program and How to Start/Run a New FLL Team, e.g., discussion of “best practices” from veteran FLL coaches, how to start a new FLL team, how to prepare a team for an FLL competition, etc. Participants will have the opportunity to review materials FLL teams have prepared for past tournament challenges.

NYCFIRST Update #2 – May 3, 2007

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area. If you want to be removed from this list type “remove” in the subject are and hit return.

Compiled by Norman Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
917-992-3734

Norm’s Robotics blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
These newsletters will be available and updates will be posted as they come in.

Registration for the Power Puzzle is open
For the 2007 FLL pricing, the team registration fee has gone up to $200, however the field setup kit remains the same as the last year which is $65 - 2007 FLL product descriptions and pricing is listed on our web site at
http://www.usfirst.org/community/fll/content.aspx?id=3674

The first NYC team to register----ta da

And the Winner Is:

0083 CS 66 X Christopher Blades

Here are the others so far:

0160 MS 51K James Hoffman
0189 Automotive HS Bruce Rajswasser
0192 Automotive HS Bruce Rajswasser
0195 Automotive HS Bruce Rajswasser
0196 PS/IS 123 X Chris Gooding
0198 Staten Island Tech HS Mike Siegal
0199 Staten Island Tech HS Mike Siegal
0268 MS 101X Maritime Academy Michele Sikoryak
0331 IS 24 SI Raymond Cottrell
0332 IS 24 SI Raymond Cottrell
0394 MS 67Q Ruta Dave

Coming Events

2007 Region 4 Robotics Pentathlon: June 9 at Aviation HS
Contact Stephen Shapinsky
Technology Staff Developer Region 4
sshapin@schools.nyc.gov
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/lego_flash.php

To see what the event will look like (and get a sense of the events), see the gallery of images from last year at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/ss_20060603/

The 3rd annual challenge should be the usual fun event, enhanced by the venue, the Aviation HS aircraft hanger. Last year they turned on a jet engine and had tours of the building with kids demonstrating welding and more of the great stuff at Aviation. Expect more of the same. This event is open to teams outside region 4. If you do not want to compete come as spectators.


Region 4 VEX tournament on June 9 at Aviation HS
A VEX event will be held concurrently with the Pentathlon Challenge on June 9 at Aviation HS.

The Region 4 Spring Vex Challenge is up for viewing or downloading at:

http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/vex_flash.php


1. Both vex and lego occurring same day, same place, with two totally different events
2. These are not FIRST events--totally different rules, all autonomous
3. If you want to attend, R4 or not, get in touch in with Stephen, hopefully soon.

Stephen Shapinsky
Technology Staff Developer Region 4
sshapin@schools.nyc.gov


The following article appeared in the April 20th edition of The Wave, a local weekly (the oldest in NYC, established 1893) where I write a column on education every 2 weeks.

Woodie the Rock Star
(See post below)

Woodie, the Rock Star

by Norman Scott
April 20, 2007

(From The Wave, www.rockawave.com)

He is tall and lean, his thinning gray hair swept back in a long ponytail. His usual garb: jeans, sneakers and a dungaree jacket covered with names signed in multi-colored markers. He towers above the hordes of teenagers who often surround him waiting patiently for his autograph and the opportunity to find an open spot on his jacket to place their names (he has markers available for them to use.)

Another rock star from the ‘60’s on yet another comeback tour? No, he is Woodie Flowers, professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and he is an international superstar in the worldwide robotics community.


I got to see Flowers work his magic at the annual FIRST World Robotic Festival at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta last week. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is the non-profit brainchild of inventor Dean Kamen, whose mantra is that society should value engineers and inventors the way it values athletes and rock stars. With the way teenagers are portrayed today on TV and the movies, one is tempted to say, “Good luck, Dean! Go directly to American Idol. Do not pass GO.”

Well, I saw for myself in Atlanta (and also at the many robotic tournaments in the New York City area that I have been involved with over the past 5 years) that the Kamen and Flowers vision is becoming a reality. High school kids asking him to autograph their laptops – the new rock star, surrounded special guest Chad Hurley, the young co-founder of YouTube. Exactly what Kamen envisioned when the concept of FIRST first came to mind over 15 years ago.
The Georgia Dome: Home of football games, the Final Four basketball tournament just a week before, and numerous rock concerts converted into a robotic Mecca. Is there a gender gap in science and technology? When one of the speakers asked all the girls to stand, a sea of young ladies rose. When the MC shouts “Isaaaaac” and thousands of kids shout back “Newton!” you know you are in a special place.

FIRST tournaments are run like sporting events, with loud music, cheerleaders, MC’s wearing wigs and colored hair, dancing and singing – a display of enthusiasm that entraps everyone in the spell.

Thousands of kids from elementary, middle and high schools along with many of their parents and siblings, engineers, college professors, scientists, business people, founding CEO’s of major corporations; all come together in Atlanta every year for the World Festival. And they come from almost every state and many foreign nations. They are the winners of numerous regional and state competitions that go back as far as October.

Gracious professionalism is part of the FIRST mantra

For a group setting up competitive tournaments, FIRST works very hard to add a component to counter the evils of competition. The term ‘gracious professionalism” was coined by Woodie and is described on the firstwiki web site:

“…learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. We try to avoid leaving anyone feeling like they are losers. No chest thumping barbarian tough talk, but no sticky sweet platitudes either. Knowledge, pride and empathy comfortably blended.... In the long run, gracious professionalism is part of pursuing a meaningful life.

“How does one act ‘graciously professional’? Common sense goes a long way toward this. Act like you would want others to act. Help others out as often as you can. Be gracious, but at the same time, be professional. Booing would obviously not be graciously professional, but at the same time saying ‘everyone is a winner’ would be just as much so. It's all about healthy competition, or ‘co-opetition.’ Being graciously professional can include helping out a team, not doing so by giving out all the tools in your tool chest, but by ‘sharing’ them. It is a concept hard to explain, but easy to identify when seen.”

Awards are given out at tournaments to teams who exhibit high levels of GP.

Three levels of competition

The high end First Robotics Competitions (FRC) is for the more advanced high school students, where competing alliances of teams (3 on each side) manipulate their robots around a playing field. This year’s game was “Rack and Roll” where alliances got points for placing inner tubes on a rack that just wouldn’t stay still.

The more modest VEX Challenge, directed at upper middle school and high schools, uses a kit of erector set like metal parts to build a compact robot that has to move tennis balls into bins. Four robots were on a much smaller field at the same time.

Finally, the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) event for ages 9-14, a group that includes elementary, middle school and freshman high schoolers in a contest based on a theme, which this year was Nanotechnology, the science of very small things. Robots have a number of tasks to complete on an 8x4 foot playing area, all related to the theme. They are built out of LEGO parts that contain a microprocessor.

There is even a new event called Junior FLL for 6-9 year olds that FIRST is prototyping in various parts of the nation. (Expect a future event soon for the unborn.)

My efforts have been focused on the FLL elementary and middle school events since I became a volunteer coordinator of registration and team recruitment for NYC FIRST, the local branch 5 years ago when I retired from the NYC school system. It is the wisest choice of how to use my time I have made. I have gotten to know many of the people at FIRST headquarters in Manchester, NH where Kamen maintains his home and business and they are FIRST-rate people to work with. Ditto the New York crowd, which includes engineers, teachers, college and high school students who help run our local events.

Many of them were in Atlanta – amazing teachers and mentors taking kids on just a little field trip. High schools and a couple of middle schools from every borough. Joined by others from all over the world. (When I saw all these schools on this massive field trip with teachers and parents trying to arrange for accommodations and flights and food for so many kids, I shuddered to think about how nervous I used to get at all my excursions on the subway.)
This was my first time at the WF and WOW! The experience was beyond expectations and FIRST did a first-rate job in making things run like clockwork. FIRST should be running the country.

There were 90 plus FIRST LEGO League teams - 3 teams from China – Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai. And teams from Jordon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. FIRST may have found the answer for world peace.

I was asked by FIRST to assist on the upcoming 10th FLL anniversary video project and we interviewed everyone, including Dean Kaman and all the top officials from LEGO in addition to students, teachers, etc. Having “Happy Birthday FLL” shouted in multiple languages will be worth seeing.

Parents accompanied many of the younger team members and their enthusiasm for the program was intense. You’ve heard of soccer moms? Call them LEGO moms.

Woodie Flowers was the MC at the closing ceremonies on Saturday. He entered in an open car to the cheers of thousands of young fans. He had changed into a tux but kept on his sneakers. Later that evening when I left a reception for invited guests, there were a bunch of youngsters waiting outside for his autograph.

Virginia Tech FLL Volunteers

At the closing reception on Saturday, I sat with a great group of volunteers, students, former students and professors from Virginia Tech Engineering (the engineering building was the main site of the shooting) who have been an integral part of the FLL community in Virginia. I learned so much about the school and how close-knit a campus it is. One of the grads is at NASA working on the next generation shuttle but is still involved in Virginia Tech. An undergrad from Long Island was telling me how he was so glad to get away from the city sprawl to a quiet, safe place. His is joining the Air Force when he graduates this June.

Upon hearing the news of the massacre at Virginia Tech, concerns from around the world for FIRST colleagues at the school poured in. FIRST’s Nancy Paul sent out this email on Tuesday:

“All of us at FIRST and in the entire FIRST community have our thoughts and prayers with everyone at Virginia Tech after the tragic events of yesterday morning. We have spoken with Bill and Susan Duggins, such dear and valued members of the FLL family. So far, it seems that most of those they and we work with directly on FLL are themselves okay, although they have suffered a terrible loss of friends and colleagues, and are still trying to contact some of their volunteers. They are all grieving and trying to understand this devastating and senseless tragedy, and appreciate the support that the FLL community has shared. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Bill and Susan and everyone at Virginia Tech during this extremely difficult time.”

FIRST has created an international family - truly the FIRST Family.

Virginia Tech and FLL

Hello FLL Partners,

All of us at FIRST and in the entire FIRST community have our thoughts and prayers with everyone at Virginia Tech after the tragic events of yesterday morning. We have spoken with Bill and Susan Duggins, such dear and valued members of the FLL family. So far, it seems that most of those they and we work with directly on FLL are themselves okay, although they have suffered a terrible loss of friends and colleagues, and are still trying to contact some of their volunteers. They are all grieving and trying to understand this devastating and senseless tragedy, and appreciate the support that the FLL community has shared.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with Bill and Susan and everyone at Virginia Tech during this extremely difficult time.

Sincerely,
Nancy Paul and the FLL team

NYCFIRST Update #1 ('07-'08) – April 17, 2007

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area. If you want to be removed from this list type “remove” in the subject are and hit return.

Compiled by Norman Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
917-992-3734

Norm's Robotics blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
These newsletters will be available and updates will be posted as they come in. Feel free to comment.

Welcome to the first NYC FIRST Update of the new FIRST LEGO League season. This one will not be short, but it will be sweet.

Registration opens May 1
Just 2 weeks to the opening of registration for the new season. Will anyone from NYC get a single digit registration number?

Just a reminder: registration prices and field set-up kits have gone up (total cost will come to around $275). So has the cost of the NXT (I don’t have exact prices), so plan ahead. And remember to add in the fees (usually $25- $50) for the borough tournaments.

With 140 teams competing last year, it is obvious we are close to maxing out. Pitsco/LEGO’s Bob Woods informs me a few regions (what is left of them) will be jumping aboard big time. We may get away with one more year of a lottery for multiple school teams but if registration goes much above 200 teams we need to look seriously at borough elimination events. I picked up some ideas on how to do this in Atlanta this past weekend and will be sharing them with the FLL planning committee. And with you for your input.


Coming Events

Young scientists of Mott Hall 3, Friday April 20
Derrick Wu informs me there was a good response to our last update and he has enough judges. More below.

Robotic Event at Lyndhurst, a National Trust historic site on the Hudson River, Saturday and Sunday April 21 and 22 from noon to 4pm.
Gary Israel has organized a group of Bronx teams to attend this weekend. See below for details.)


2007 Region 4 Robotics Pentathlon: June 9 at Aviation HS
Contact Stephen Shapinsky
Technology Staff Developer Region 4
sshapin@schools.nyc.gov
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/lego_flash.php
To see what the event will look like (and get a sense of the events), see the gallery of images from last year at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/ss_20060603/

The 3rd annual challenge should be the usual fun event, enhanced by the venue, the Aviation HS aircraft hanger. Last year they turned on a jet engine and had tours of the building with kids demonstrating welding and more of the great stuff at Aviation. Expect more of the same. This event is open to teams outside the region. Some top teams from outside the region have already signed on.


Region 4 VEX News from Stephen Shapinsky
The Region 4 Spring Vex Challenge is up for viewing or downloading at:

http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/vex_flash.php

I'm still trying to pin down a date and a location for this event; I'll send an update soon.

Stephen Shapinsky
Technology Staff Developer Region 4
sshapin@schools.nyc.gov

Make sure to check out this wonderful link. Stephen has come up with a challenging gameboard and competition for this year’s contest. The competition is open to teams in the metro area, first come first serve.


World Festival in Atlanta: Beyond Great Expectations
(See sample FLL videos at: http://www.isek.iastate.edu/)

This was my first time at the WF and WOW! Working with FIRST’s FLL den mothers Nancy Paul and Elisha Duffy, who always take such good care of us, was a pleasure, as usual. The experience was beyond expectations and FIRST did a first-rate job in making things run like clockwork:

3 separate tournaments (FLL, FRC, VEX) with thousands of kids - all ages from 6 to 18 plus parents, coaches, mentors, teachers. And dignitaries galore, including Chad Hurley, the young co-founder of YouTube who was surrounded by high school kids asking him to autograph their laptops – the new rock star. And the closing night party for, what, 5000 or more? Fire eaters, games, food, and more.

And…
90 plus FLL teams from all over the world and most of the states. How about 3 teams from China – Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai? And teams from Jordon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. FIRST may have the answer for world peace. Maybe they should be running the country.

And the parents who were there with their kids from all over the nation. You heard the expression “soccer moms?” We have a new term: LEGO moms!

There were an amazing number of perfect scores (400) with the winning team doing it 2 or 3 times. Estimates were that NXT gave people a 30-point advantage but if you saw the link I put up last week, there was a perfect score from an RCX. http://www.mindstormsmayhem.org/congratulations-flying-geeks.asp

DON’T MISS THIS!!! for an absolute howl
FLL Volunteers Brandon Newendorp and Jake Ingman from the Iowa State U Engineering Dept. have put up wonderful high quality videos comparing the NXT and RCX with each of them playing the respective roles.
Poor Jake (you’ll know what I mean when you see it.) Use them with your teams.

Here is the link: http://www.isek.iastate.edu/
Click on NXT vs. RCX link

Camille Schroeder, Director ISU College of Engineering, is the leader of the pack at Iowa State and did an awesome job of herding the entire judging corps.

When I saw all these schools on this massive field trip with teachers and parents trying to arrange for accommodations and flights and food for so many kids, I shuddered to think about how nervous I used to get at all my excursions on the subway.

I don’t have a count on number of FRC teams (the big high school event – 6 robots on the field at once for the unitiated) but there were so many they had to use 4 playing fields. The pit area is something to behold with tents and all sorts of other paraphernalia. What an experience for the high school kids who got to visit with kids from all over the world. When the announcer shouts “Isaaac” and thousands of kids shout back “Newton!” you know you are in a special place.




There was also a smaller VEX event with about 100 teams. VEX is brand new and looks like it will develop into a reasonable half-way point between FLL and FRC. VEX is the erector set type materials with much smaller robots than FRC and a much smaller game field. Bruce Rajswasser from Brooklyn Automotive was there as a judge and has the only playing field in NYC and will hold an event at some point in the future (most likely next year) but NYCFIRST will not be holding a VEX event this year. So, the Region 4 VEX (unofficial) event run by Stephen Shapinsky will be the only one in NYC.




The VEX field at the World Festival

I was asked by FIRST to assist on the upcoming 10th FLL anniversary video project at the WF and we interviewed everyone, including Dean Kaman and all the top officials from LEGO in addition to students, teachers, etc. Having “Happy Birthday FLL” shouted in multiple languages will be worth seeing.

Yes, there will be a DVD released that you will find useful to drum up support in your schools but probably not ‘till fall.

I ran into the NYC’er Robotic gang, especially the NYC FLL winners IS 75 SI (The Paulo Panthers), coach Donny Swanson and IS 98 X (Ridder Kids) and coach Harold Smith. Harold has taught for 30 years and I was present at an interview we did and he articulated the benefits to the kids in his school in the Bronx as well as I’ve heard it done. The principal of the school was in Atlanta too and also did a great interview.

At one point I turned around and there was Maureen Reilly, coach of the Nanoramas at PS 261. Maureen works part time for LEGO (she gets to go to Denmark every summer to play.) Her 4th grade classroom is one big LEGOLAND and she is the queen of integrating LEGO and robotics into the curriculum. Gary Israel and I were recruiting Maureen for the FLL Planning committee and hope to see her there. See below for a message to you from Maureen.

I worked with video pros Jay and Karen who were hired by FIRST and learned a hell of a lot from them since they had the same camera I use. Jay created some monster contraptions for the camera that were awesome to behold for their intelligence and creativity. At least I know what a B roll is now.

Kim Kopaczewski from FIRST oversaw the project and was wonderful to work with. When she told me I was huge I took to mean I had had too much cheesecake but she meant it as a compliment (I think.)

There was so much food (they MADE me eat) it was touch and go if the plane would lift off in the storm with me on it but I amazingly got back to LaGuardia only an hour late.

I was at the Atlanta airport on Sunday with half the Stuyvesant team, who had their 10am cancelled and weren’t going to get out till 6pm on Sunday on a flight to the Westchester airport. Then Metro North, etc. What a trek! Stuy kids’ parents and FLL volunteers the past 2 years Wendy Keyes and Ron Kunicki were there and we held impromptu FLL committee meetings at the gate. Wendy’s son Nathan will be attending Princeton next year, though that didn’t stop me from recruiting him for a project I have in mind for next year. We also hope he can help with the Region 4 VEX tournament this year. He was a major help last year. NATHAN, YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE US!



Some of the Stuyvesant FRC team keeping busy while waiting to get out of the Atlanta airport.

I was at the same hotel with Gary Israel and the 2-Train FRC team from Morris HS. They seemed to be having a great time. We all checked out together and Gary headed off with the van packed with luggage while the kids and I took the subway to the airport (one of the great things about Atlanta).

I also ran into Lehman HS coach Evan Weinberg, who puts so much time into robotics and was one of our MC’s at Riverbank. And the great Wayne Penn was there taking some time off from his grad program in medical engineering in Boston wearing his Hawaiian shirt and multi-colored hair. The last I saw him he was telling Ruth Kamen (Dean’s sister-in-law) how happy he was to be adopted by the Kamen clan. She seemed thrilled.

And I got to see some of my favorites from Aviation HS, including science AP Laurie Nearon and teacher/coach Mike Koumoullos. Natch I had my Quantum Samarai hat, tee-shirt and jersey with me.

I ran into Mike Siegel and Steve Raile from SI Tech but missed the crew from Brooklyn Tech, but here is a word from Jose Munoz, one of their mentors from Polytech:

Hello everyone,
I'd like to congratulate Team 375, Staten Island Tech for winning the Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award which celebrates an elegant and advantageous machine feature, as well as all the other New York Teams, that competed at the Championships. I attended the event with Team 334, the Tech Engineers, and on their behalf I would like to thank Team 354 - Westinghouse Pirates, and Team 1155 - Bronx Science SciBorgs, and Team 375 - Staten Island Tech for their help during the Championships.

Jose Munoz
SIAC
Comm Engineering

Could we pull of a similar 3-tournament event FRC, VEX, FLL event here in NY? After seeing it done, it would sure be exciting.


FIRST has created an international family - students of all ages, and adults of all types – teachers, engineers, college profs, scientists, parents, business people at all levels - truly the FIRST Family.

I’ll have more on the WF in the next update and post some pics on my blog.


Virginia Tech FLL Volunteers
At the closing reception on Saturday, I sat with a great group of volunteers, students, former students and professors from Virginia Tech Engineering (the engineering building was the main site of the shooting) and learned so much about the school and how close knit a campus it is. One of the grads is at NASA working on the next generation shuttle but is still involved in VTech. An undergrad from Long Island was telling me how he was so glad to get away from the city sprawl to a quiet, safe place. Here’s hoping everyone is ok.


Maureen Reilly, coach of PS 261 K Reports

Attention all FLL teams:
www.MINDSTORMS.com/NXTLOG wants you to publish your models online! NXTLOG is the place for you share and archive your LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT projects, comment on NXT projects, and get inspired to build with NXT from the MINDSTORMS Community.

Go to www.MINDSTORMS.com/NXTLOG and create an online archive of your team's FLL robot. You can upload pictures, .rbt program files, and descriptions of your robot and team. You can archive your robot in steps so you can share how you built your robot, or you can share the process your team took to invent your robot, or share both!

The website is FREE, you only need to create a unique LEGO.com username and password.

Make sure that when you add your FLL robot to NXTLOG that you TAG it "FLL" - that way all visitors to NXTLOG can easily search and see NXT robots created for FLL! It's also a great idea to create a username that is the same or similar to your FLL team name.

While you are on the NXTLOG website, search through over 1,800 unique LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots created by members of the MINDSTORMS community.

We can't wait to see your robots!

- The NXTLOG team

If you have any questions about how to set up a NXTLOG contact:

Maureen Reilly at reilly.maureen@gmail.com
Team Nanorama, PS 261 Brooklyn



Young scientists of Mott Hall 3 April 20
Hulya Karamemis, Patricia Waters, and Derrick Wu have enough judges for the school Science Fair. Contact Derrick if you are interested in attending. derrick.wu@gmail.com

Mott Hall 3 had a robotics FLL team in last year’s tournament but could not make it this year. Their coach from last year, Kelly Vaughn, received a Fulbright to Turkey and is coaching a team in Istanbul this year while her counterpart from Turkey, Hulya Karamemis, who coached a team last year in Istanbul is involved in this event.

In the small world department, I ran into Fatma Bezek Habip, the organizer of the tournament in Istanbul at the FLL Partner meeting in Atlanta. I tried to communicate how interesting this situation is but do not know if I got through. My Turkish is rusty.



Gary Israel Reports:

Robotic Event at Lyndhurst, a National Trust historic site on the Hudson River, Saturday and Sunday April 21 and 22 from noon to 4pm.


I was recently contacted by the Education Curator of the Lyndhurst Estates in Tarrytown who heard about our FLL teams in the Bronx.

Lyndhurst, a National Trust historic site on the Hudson River, will hold LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst on Saturday and Sunday April 21 and 22 from noon to 4pm. She has invited Bronx FLL teams to demonstrate their LEGO robots during the weekend event.

There will be three FLL tables set up in the 20’ by 40’ tent for the FLL teams to demonstrate their robots. Two of the tables will have FLL teams demonstrating their robots in this year's NanoQuest challenges. The third table will consist of LEGO modules from previous challenges.

Arthur Gugick, winner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation 2005 BrickFest, will be featured both days. His award winning scale model of the Lyndhurst Mansion will be displayed accompanied by his other replicas of famous buildings including the Taj Mahal which are all made out of LEGO pieces. It took eight weeks working in the evening hours to create the Lyndhurst replica.

A middle school Math teacher by day, Mr. Gugick will present demonstrations on combining math skills with creative thinking using LEGO pieces. He noted that “math skills are essential to figuring out the layout and scale… and you really learn about architecture in the process.”

Other activities include: a LEGO play area where children and adults can try their newly acquired building skills; “Guess the Number of LEGO Pieces” contest; a movie short created with LEGO figures and a ‘Find the LEGO shapes inside the Mansion “ hunt.
http://www.mocpages.com/folder.php/4399

For more information about LYNDHURST and their educational mission:
http://www.lyndhurst.org/education03.html

In addition to showcasing your robot at this LEGO event your students will be able to participate in the other activities during the day.

The teams that responded and will be participating from NYC will be MS. 190, MS 135, IS 318 and MS 217

Gary Israel
Robotics Consultant
Region 2 Learning Support Center
1230 Zerega Avenue
Bronx, NY 10462
Cell: 845-893-0327
ggimhs@aol.com


Con Edison’s Andy Wu reports:
Business Week Article on FIRST
Hi all,

Hope those you who were in Atlanta this weekend enjoyed the International FRC Rack & Roll competition down south. They posted a phenomenal news article from our regional tournament at Javits that Con Edison's Tom Horan worked hard to outreach with Team 1660, Frederick Douglass Academy/Rice HS Harlem Knights team.

Great job Tom! It's more inspiration for an even better FIRST season for NYC next year starting now. Here are the links:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2007/tc20070413_582820.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

Photos:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/04/0413_robotics/index_01.htm

NYCFIRST Update #29 – April 10, 2007

NYCFIRST Update #29 – April 10, 2007

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area. If you want to be removed from this list type “remove” in the subject are and hit return.

Compiled by Norman Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
917-992-3734

New blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
These newsletters will be available and updates will be posted as they come in. Feel free to comment.

This Update #29 will be the last one for the 2006/07 season.
The new season (07/08) will begin in about 10 days with the announcement of registration for FLL. Look for Update #1.

I had a wonderful time volunteering at the NYC FRC Regionals at the Javits Convention Center in mid-March. If you missed it try to make it in the future.

World Festival is upon us: April 12-14

Atlanta, here I come
I’m off to Atlanta for the World Festival and will send back reports on the blog if I get time. You can watch it at:

From FLL Central

We are pleased to announce that the Friday (4/13) and Saturday (4/14) Nano Quest World FLL Rounds will be broadcast on NASA TV - full details can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.

You can also watch the live webcast of all three days of competition by clicking on: http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webcasts/nationals_2007.php

Please join in cheering your fellow FLL World Festival teams on!


Events coming up

Young scientists of Mott Hall 3 April 20

2007 Region 4 Robotics Pentathlon: June 9 at Aviation HS

Vision Ed. announces Educational Technology Retreat in NYC! July 31-Aug 3



Richard Wong reports
Some of our NYC Robotics Teams traveled to the 2007 Long Island Regional and came back with some great wins!

Team 1594- HennBrearChap
Hennessy Family Foundation & Brearley School & Chapin High School;
Manhattan, NY
Win 1. Imagery Award
Win 2. Website Award
Win 3. Underwriters Laboratory Industrial Safety Award

Team 1688- Team Stick Shift
Port Authority of NY & NJ/Bloomberg LP/Richmond County Savings
Foundation & Port Richmond High School; Staten Island, NY
Regional Finalist #3

Team 1601- Quantum Samurai
Airborn Flightware/Stony Brook & Aviation High School; Long Island City, NY
Regional Chairman's Award

Congratulations to all the NYC team that attended the LI Regional.
Note: These NYC FIRST Teams are all young teams!

..............................................................
Richard Wong
NYSE/ SFTI Provisioning
Communications Engineering
212 383 4513


Young scientists of Mott Hall 3
Dear Friends and Esteemed Colleagues,
You're cordially invited to meet the young scientists of Mott Hall 3. (Just in case you don't know, MH3 is a public middle school in the Bronx.) We thought that you would make the perfect judge for our school-wide science fair on Friday, April 20. The presentations at the fair will be from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. with judging following immediately afterwards. In addition, you are welcome to stay for our awards ceremony beginning promptly at 1:30 p.m.

We would greatly appreciate your involvement in this event, and to show our gratitude we will be providing lunch on that day. As such, it is important to respond via e-mail or contact Derrick Wu (derrick.wu@gmail.com ) by Monday, April 16 to let us know if you will be attending.

Our students have spent a good deal of time on their work, and they are looking forward to having outside judges validate their effort. In order to make this possible, we are looking to have 15 judges, so please forward this email to anyone else who you think would make a good candidate.

Sincerely,

Hulya Karamemis, Patricia Waters, and Derrick Wu




2007 Region 4 Robotics Pentathlon: June 9 at Aviation HS
Dear Robotics Teachers,

It's official: the Region 4 2007 Robotics Pentathlon will be Saturday, June 9th at Aviation High School.

This should be an exciting, high-energy event showcasing student achievement in robotics--technology in education in action!
Aviation High School makes the perfect setting for such an event: a first-class facility with gracious, committed staff and students. Your students will be able to make the connection between their own engineering endeavors and real world application like never before.

Find all the details, event rules, including NEW PRINTABLE VERSION at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/lego_flash.php

To see what the event will look like (and get a sense of the events), see the gallery of images from last year at:
http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/robotics/ss_20060603/


**All Lego Robotics schools should strongly consider participating, no matter how long they've been doing robotics:

Why Schools Should Compete in the Pentathlon:
1.These events are the greatest motivators for the students. We see over and over how energized the students are *after* (and during) an event
2. Students gain from interacting with other schools and seeing different solutions to the same problem
3. Networking
4. It's a great deal of fun
5. It's easy: your students don't have to compete in all of the events
6. I will visit your school and help you ready the team for the event


Stephen Shapinsky
Technology Staff Developer Region 4
sshapin@schools.nyc.gov

If you are not in region 4 but wish to participate, contact Stephen.

Vision Ed. announces Educational Technology Retreat in NYC!

Are you looking to inspire young minds? Do you want to integrate technology effectively into your school or community organization?

Come to Vision Ed's Stonington Retreat in New York City, a four-day intensive workshop aimed at empowering teachers, parents and administrators to effectively integrate creative technology into their classrooms. With hands-on workshops in Robotics, Computer Animation, Game Design, Digital Video and Blogging, participants will walk away with the resources needed to start or continue a technology program at their schools or organizations.

The retreat will take place this summer July 31st – August 3rd, 2007 at New York University's Kimmel Center.

From this retreat, you will:

* Learn about cutting edge research in the field of Educational Technology.
* View and try out exciting project ideas used successfully by veteran teachers.
* Engage in hands-on activities led by professionals in the field of Educational Technologies.
* Take away lesson plans and curriculum materials to use in your classrooms.
* Participate in discussions with people who face similar challenges, such as administrative support for new initiatives, faculty involvement in technology and learning how to make it all work.
* Access to new learning tools, including ones that are free and easy to implement within schools.

Special guest Mitchel Resnick, Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, will be giving hands-on workshops in two of his new projects: PicoCricket and Scratch. The PicoCricket uses robotics to make programmable artistic creations, and Scratch is a free software based on a programming language that lets you create your own interactive stories, games, music and art.

There will also be hands-on workshops in LEGO® Mindstorms®, both the RCX and the new NXT, as well as workshops in Microworlds, a Computer Animation and Game making software, and Digital Video and Blogging.

The cost of the retreat is $1895, but if you register by April 15th, you get the early bird special of $1795.

To find out more, go to www.vemny.org/stonington.html

and register here: http://www.vemny.org/stonington_reg.html

Vision Ed. believes that effective work with technology can have an enormous impact on learning and teaching. Our mission is to share this understanding with educators and learners to inspire educational excellence and school reform.


At the New Hampshire State Tournament on December 2, 2006, the Flying Geeks of Nashua Christian Academy achieved what had previously always seemed impossible -- they accomplished all of the missions of the FLL Nano-Quest challenge on a single autonomous robot outing! Congratulations, Flying Geeks! You have our admiration in regard to this most incredible accomplishment!

See link for more information and video:
http://www.mindstormsmayhem.org/congratulations-flying-geeks.asp



Great Ball Contraption
check out this Great Ball Contraption presentation from the Robolab
conference in Singapore. It's the 2nd PDF file on this site:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=241093

NYCFIRST Update #28 – March 10, 2007

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area. If you want to be removed from this list type “remove” in the subject are and hit return.

Compiled by Norman Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
917-992-3734

New blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
I'm starting a new blog where all these newsletters will be available and where updates will be posted as they come in. Feel free to comment.

Region 4 Robotic PD: March 8
Thanks to another great job by Region 4 Robotic Staff Developer Stephen Shapinsky for another great day of robotics as teacher/coaches from middle and elementary schools broke new ground in developing their skills. Plans were made for the Pentathlon Challenge, with a tentative date in early June.

FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) Regionals at Javits, Mar. 16-18
FRC high school tournament (with the NYC regionals at Javits on March 16-18.
I will be there all 3 days volunteering at the VIP registration desk, so stop by and say hello. You are all VIP’s to us.

FLL Demos Sat/Sun, Mar. 17/18

We are looking for some teams to be available to do demos on Saturday and Sunday. Let me know ASAP if you are interested.
So far we have the following:

Saturday
IS 192Q: Eric Greene, coach

Sunday
IS 217Q: Veryl Greene, coach


School Trip on Friday, March 16 to Javits
Schools coming so far:
MS 217Q (9 students)
Vanguard HS

IS 49 SI
MS 302x
Professional Children's School

If I inadvertently left you out let me know.

If you are planning on bringing a group to the FRC on Friday contact me ASAP. We have arranged some special events for you.

Friday March 16th procedures:

1. Teams must RSVP with Norm Scott. A list will be finalized next week and the number of visiting FLL teams will be reviewed and assigned to the various student escorts.

2. Visitors must give us an estimated time of arrival, number of visitors and special needs by any member.

3. A time slot will be assigned by Norm for Friday; time slots are 1.5 hour durations starting from 10AM to 2PM. (this is just a guess).
No more than three groups can be touring the venue at any time due to crowding, safety glasses availability and safety issues around the pits and arena.

4. Student escorts will be assigned by borough coverage:
SI TECH 375 for Staten Island visitors (3 students)
STUY 694 for Manhattan and Queens visitors (2 students)
Morris 395 for Bronx visitors (2 students)
Bklyn Tech 334 for Brooklyn and Queens visitors (3 students)

5. Visitors will check-in at the registration & information table

6. Student Escorts should be at the table to meet the visitors. A schedule will be given to the FRC team that will be escorting the visitor early Friday.

7. The three areas for the visitors are:
A) General discussion at the arena stand about FRC and the 2007 game with Q&A.
B) A tour of the outside parameter of the playing field and brief talk with the Head Referee.
C) A tour of the pit area and a visit to the pit station of student escort's team.
(An estimate of 30 minutes in each area equal 1.5 hours)

8. Teacher/Coach survey- ask them to comment on their experience with feedback.


Contribute to the NYC/NJ FIRST website
by Sara Reffler, NJ/NYCFIRST

I'm STILL looking to do a small recap blurb on the NYC/NJ FIRST website about all the FLL events hosted this year. The goal is to have individual pages with photos linked from the event's entry on the calendar page.

I'm looking for information on the following FLL events:
Staten Island
Manhattan
Brooklyn
Bronx
Queens
City College of New York
NYC FLL Championship

If you could get back to me ASAP that would be fantastic. Any information or more contacts you can offer me are much appreciated. It doesn't have to be very long, one or two paragraphs at most. Thanks in advance.
--
Sara Reffler | sreffler@usfirst.org
FRC 1089 College Mentor | BandChick
Co-Founder of the Unofficial FIRST Fraternity ÄOÎ
"If FIRST isn't your life, you're doing something wrong."

Please respond directly to Sara and CC me


NYC FLL Winners
I am still waiting for some people to email me. I have some scattered papers with team numbers on them but you can really help me out by sending me the following information if you won an award.

Day competed:
Award:
Place:
Team Number:
School:
Coach:
Email:

A final list will be included when all info is received.

Thanks to all of the winners who responded.


Carol Franken writes about her son, former FRC team member at Stuyvesant:
Gordon, as might be expected, has continued to be very active with the autonomous vehicle at Princeton. He and the team were interviewed by NJ News last week. It aired last Wednesday and you can see the 2 minute segment by going to http://www.njn.net/newspublicaffairs/science/
Its on the top right called Auto Driving Workshop 2/28/07