Slashdot Mirror
Teaching BattleBots in High School
Some Guy writes: "We all know that everyone's favourite TV show is BattleBots on Comedy Central, Right?
Well, a new program has started at my old high school that teaches BattleBots to kids. It's a truly engaging engineering program/curriculum that kids and school systems can use for credit. The program is called BattleBots IQ. Kids out there can get their teachers to go to battlebots training camps during the summer, and then have them teach battlebots to them as a class. I wish it was around when I was a kid."
you decide.
Remember the pre-battle bots competitions at MIT? I wanted to go to MIT just to be able to do that!
sir_haxalot
stuff |
-klerck
DTABN
I think this is a great idea and all, but it sounds like a liability suit waiting to happen, even if the students do sign waivers. Only time before some kid soulders a digit to a piece of hardware.
My other sig is an import.
And when the apocalypse comes, this will become even more practical!
Tommy Lee - Hold Me Down
i don't make everyone happy.....but it's ok....it's ok
i've been through this before
it's nothing new...nothing new
i don't know why every time i wanna fly
somebody always tries
to hold me down....hold me down...
i'm losing my faith every single time...i try
no one is on my side
don't let me drown...let me drown
don't worry about whatcha done now cause it's ok...it's ok...yeah, yeah
it's a test to see how much you can take...it's nothin new...
i don't know why every time i wanna fly
somebody always tries
to hold me down....hold me down...
i'm losing my faith every single time...i try
no one is on my side
don't let me drown...let me drown
i am drowning...i am sinking....yeah
i am drowning...i am sinking....yeah
why won't someone help me
why won't someone help me
We all know that everyone's favourite TV show is BattleBots on Comedy Central, Right?
Uhhh, yeah, sure... whatever you say. Why is Battlebots on Comedy Central? It's a comedy channel. Why not get some, gasp, comedy to fill those time blocks? I'd love to see some reruns of The State.
Nice to see education going down the shitter these days...
RARRR!!!
Reptar eat battlebots.
CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP
Reptar love high school students they are delicious!
mmm... pimples.
A meal of high school students and battlebots is REPTARs dream!
RARR!!!!
RARR!!! REPTAR FEARS ONLY MIGOR
Compared to battlebots, RW (on the BBC) is far better.
Nuff said.
No, ph00ls.. insightful, not troll.
You were expecting a sig?
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Whites
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Dirty Japs
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Dirty Kikes
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Miscellaneous
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Filthy Niggers
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Apes
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Slashdot Janitors
DTABN
More focus on the fundamentals. This only furthers the chasm for equality of quality education. There are public schools where kids are trying to learn the fundamentals of math ans scicene in an environment with leaky roofs and inadequate heating. Sure, schools that can afford to offer a battle bot curriculum usually do not face this type of challenge. But what is the percedntage. Rather invest in this type of project, wht not buy some kids some CURRENT TEXTBOOKS! For those that own any property and pay taxes, you should understand what I am saying.
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
If I recall right, there has been a decline in engineers in school in the USA. So this would be a good way to promote that sort of thing.
Unless the workforce gets shipped out overseas.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
You remember the announcements at the end of each battlebots episode saying don't try this at home kids?
I can imagine little children cooking up bots with chainsaws and flame throwers and atomic death ray guns shoddily duct taped to shoeboxes with R/C cars underneath.
Actually, this would be SO much more fun to see!
DTABN
Teaching violence and destruction to our nation's youth in order to increase the corporate revenues of Comedy Central. Thank God vouchers were deemed constitutional.
So, instead of the media, internet, and those shady looking guys on the corner of the street teaching kids to make deadly weapons, our teachers will save them the trouble. Huzzah!
I am involved in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) program. The main difference between FIRST and battle bots is that battle bots focusses on money and ratings, while FIRST focuses on educating our nations youth. You can go to FIRST's website to find out more--it's a huge program, the stadium for nationls (which is rebuilt each year) is bigger than the Orlando Magic stadium (we even have teams from England, Canada, and Brazil). Also to note, the founder of FIRST (Dean Kamen) is the guy who invented the segway. Basically, I would much rather see more schools enter into FIRST than battle bots, because FIRST focuses on LEARNING and GRACIOUS PROFESIONLISM, while battle bots focusses on MONEY.
Fault loves the past, worry loves the future, but content enjoys the present.
I have mixed feelings about stories like this. Why does learning have to be fun? Parents and schools try to get kids interested in math, reading, and, in this case, engineering, by turning it into some kind of game. There are educational computer games, board games, flash cards, and "fun" courses like this.
However, in the real world, learning, and science, are quite often not fun. They are often tedious and frustrating, and it's important for kids to learn that lesson. There are other rewards for learning besides "fun" and kids need to learn that, or when they get beyond the educational computer games and battle bots high school classes, and encounter the tedious and frustrating world of real science/mathematics/engineering and discover it's not "fun" they may just give it up entirely.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
..looks more and more like a good idea.
Like as if schools have enough money already, now kids will expect expensive robotics materials given to them.
And yeah, its not like knowing how to figure out percentages or long division is going to help prepare kids for life more than knowing how to smash amateur contraptions together. Yeah right.
Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random numbers is, of course, in a state of sin.-John von Neumann
I bet this annoys the heck out of Dean Kamen, the guy who designed the "ginger" scooter. He also founded the "FIRST" robotics competition for students, which doesn't allow any robot combat. I think that Battlebots IQ will be much more popular with the average student.
Screw reading, writing, arithmetic, history, civics, etc. The future is making "robots" out of junk!
What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:
I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.
Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'
As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.
And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!
Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:
'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'
Is this why you were touching your penis in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?
We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering together their postings and publishing them en masse to further his twisted and manipulative journalistic agenda.
Sick, disgusting antichristian perverts, the lot of them.
In addition, many of the Linux distributions (a 'distribution' is the most common way to spread the faggots' wares) are run by faggot groups. The Slackware distro is named after the 'Slack-wear' fags wear to allow easy access to the anus for sexual purposes. Furthermore, Slackware is a close anagram of claw arse, a reference to the homosexual practise of anal fisting. The Mandrake product is run by a group of French faggot satanists, and is named after the faggot nickname for the vibrator. It was also chosen because it is an anagram for dark amen and ram naked, which is what they do.
Another 'distro,' (abbrieviated as such because it sounds a bit like 'Disco,' which is where homosexuals preyed on young boys in the 1970s), is Debian, an anagram of in a bed, which could be considered innocent enough (after all, a bed is both where we sleep and pray), until we realise what other names Debian uses to describe their foul wares. 'Woody' is obvious enough, being a term for the erect male penis, glistening with pre-cum. But far sicker is the phrase 'Frozen Potato' that they use. This filthy term, again found in the secret homosexual 'Sauce Code,' refers to the solo homosexual practice of defecating into a clear polythene bag, shaping the turd into a crude approximation of the male phallus, then leaving it in the freezer overnight until it becomes solid. The practitioner then proceeds to push the frozen 'potato' up his own rectum, squeezing it in and out until his tight young balls erupt in a screaming orgasm.
And Red Hat is secret homo slang for the tip of a penis that is soaked in blood from a freshly violated underage ringpiece.
The fags have even invented special tools to aid their faggotry! For example, the 'supermount' tool was devised to allow deeper penetration, which is good for fags because it gives more pressure on the prostate gland. 'Automount' is used, on the other hand, because Linux users are all fat and gay, and need to mount each other automatically.
The depths of their depravity can be seen in their use of 'mount points.' These are, plainly speaking, the different points of penetration. The main one is obviously
More evidence is in the fact that Linux users say how much they love `man`, even going so far as to say that all new Linux users (who are in fact just innocent heterosexuals indoctrinated by the gay propaganda) should try out `man`. In no other system do users boast of their frequent recourse to a man.
Other areas of the system also show Linux's inherit gayness. For example, people are often told of the 'FAQ,' but how many innocent heterosexual Windows users know what this actually means. The answer is shocking: Faggot Anal Quest: the voyage of discovery for newly converted fags!
Even the title 'Slashdot' originally referred to a homosexual practice. Slashdot of course refers to the popular gay practice of blood-letting. The Slashbots, of course are those super-zealous homosexuals who take this perversion to its extreme by ripping open their anuses, as seen on the site most popular with Slashdot users, the depraved work of Satan, http://www.eff.org/.
The editors of Slashdot also have homosexual names: 'Hemos' is obvious in itself, being one vowel away from 'Homos.' But even more sickening is 'Commander Taco' which sounds a bit like 'Commode in Taco,' filthy gay slang for a pair of spreadeagled buttocks that are caked with excrement. (The best form of lubrication, they insist.) Sometimes, these 'Taco Commodes' have special 'Salsa Sauce' (blood from a ruptured rectum) and 'Cheese' (rancid flakes of penis discharge) toppings. And to make it even worse, Slashdot runs on Apache!
The Apache server, whose use among fags is as prevalent as AIDS, is named after homosexual activity -- as everyone knows, popular faggot band, the Village People, featured an Apache Indian, and it is for him that this gay program is named.
And that's not forgetting the use of patches in the Linux fag world -- patches are used to make the anus accessible for repeated anal sex even after its rupture by a session of fisting.
To summarise: Linux is gay. 'Slash -- Dot' is the graphical description of the space between a young boy's scrotum and anus. And BeOS is for hermaphrodites and disabled 'stumpers.'
FEEDBACK
Well, the only reason I know all about this is because I had the misfortune to read the Linux 'Sauce code' once. Although publicised as the computer code needed to get Linux up and running on a computer (and haven't you always been worried about the phrase 'Monolithic Kernel'?), this foul document is actually a detailed and graphic description of every conceivable degrading perversion known to the human race, as well as a few of the major animal species. It has shocked and disturbed me, to the point of needing to shock and disturb the common man to warn them of the impending homo-calypse which threatens to engulf our planet.
Doesn't it give you a hard-on to imagine your thick strong poker ramming it's way up my most sacred of sphincters? You're beyond help, my friend, as the only thing you can imagine is the foul penetrative violation of another man. Are you sure you're not Eric Raymond? The government, being populated by limp-wristed liberals, could never stem the sickening tide of homosexual child molesting Linux advocacy. Hell, they've given NAMBLA free reign for years!
Thank you for your kind words of support. However, this document shall only ever be posted anonymously. This is because the 'Open Sauce' movement is a sham, proposing homoerotic cults of hero worshipping in the name of freedom. I speak for the common man. For any man who prefers the warm, enveloping velvet folds of a woman's vagina to the tight puckered ringpiece of a child. These men, being common, decent folk, don't have a say in the political hypocrisy that is Slashdot culture. I am the unknown liberator.
We shouldn't hate them, we should pity them for the misguided fools they are... Fanatical Linux zeal-outs need to be herded into camps for re-education and subsequent rehabilitation into normal heterosexual society. This re-education shall be achieved by forcing them to watch repeats of Baywatch until the very mention of Pamela Anderson causes them to fill their pants with healthy heterosexual jism.
Well, it just goes to show that even the holy Linux 'sauce code' is riddled with bugs that need fixing. (The irony of Jon Katz not even being able to inflate his scrotum correctly has not been lost on me.) The Linux pervert elite already acknowledge this, with their queer slogan: 'Given enough arms, all rectums are shallow.' And anyway, the PS2 sucks major cock and isn't worth the money. Intellivision forever!
For one thing, whilst Linux is a cavalcade of queer propaganda masquerading as the future of computing, NT is used by people who think nothing better of encasing their genitals in quick setting plaster then going to see a really dirty porno film, enjoying the restriction enforced onto them. Remember, a wasted arousal is a sin in the eyes of the Catholic church. Clearly, the only god-fearing Christian operating system in existence is CP/M -- The Christian Program Monitor. All computer users should immediately ask their local pastor to install this fine OS onto their systems. It is the only route to salvation.
Secondly, this message is for every man. Computers know no colour. Not only that, but one of the finest websites in the world is maintained by a Black Man . Now fuck off you racist donkey felcher.
Although there is nothing unholy about the fine heterosexual act of ejaculating between a woman's breasts, squirting one's load up towards her neck and chin area, it should be noted that Perl (standing for Pansies Entering Rectums Locally) is also close to 'Pearl Monocle,' 'Pearl Nosering,' and the ubiquitous 'Pearl Enema.'
One scary thing about Perl is that it contains hidden homosexual messages. Take the following code: LWP::Simple -- It looks innocuous enough, doesn't it? But look at the line closely: There are two colons next to each other! As Larry 'Balls to the' Wall would openly admit in the Perl Documentation, Perl was designed from the ground up to indoctrinate it's programmers into performing unnatural sexual acts -- having two colons so closely together is clearly a reference to the perverse sickening act of 'colon kissing,' whereby two homosexual queers spread their buttocks wide, pressing their filthy torn sphincters together. They then share small round objects like marbles or golfballs by passing them from one rectum to another using muscle contraction alone. This is also referred to in programming 'circles' as 'Parameter Passing.'
And PHP stands for Perverted Homosexual Penetration. Didn't you know?
Well, I don't know about terraforming Mars, but I do know that homosexual Linux Advocates have been probing Uranus for years.
*sniff* That brings a tear to my eye. Thank you once more for your kind support. I have taken faith in the knowledge that I am doing the Good Lord's work, but it is encouraging to know that I am helping out the common man here.
However, I should be cautious about revealing your name 'Cerberus' on such a filthy den of depravity as Slashdot. It is a well known fact that the 'Kerberos' documentation from Microsoft is a detailed manual describing, in intimate, exacting detail, how to sexually penetrate a variety of unwilling canine animals; be they domesticated, wild, or mythical. Slashdot posters have taken great pleasure in illegally spreading this documentation far and wide, treating it as an 'extension' to the Linux 'Sauce Code,' for the sake of 'interoperability.' (The slang term they use for nonconsensual intercourse -- their favourite kind.)
In fact, sick twisted Linux deviants are known to have LAN parties, (Love of Anal Naughtiness, needless to say.), wherein they entice a stray dog, known as the 'Samba Mount,' into their homes. Up to four of these filth-sodden blasphemers against nature take turns to plunge their erect, throbbing, uncircumcised members, conkers-deep, into the rectum, mouth, and other fleshy orifices of the poor animal. Eventually, the 'Samba Mount' collapses due to 'overload,' and needs to be 'rebooted.' (i.e., kicked out into the street, and left to fend for itself.) Many Linux users boast about their 'uptime' in such situations.
If only indeed. You can help our brave cause by moderating this message up as often as possible. I recommend '+1, Underrated,' as that will protect your precious Karma in Metamoderation. Only then can we break through the glass ceiling of Homosexual Slashdot Culture. Is it any wonder that the new version of Slashcode has been christened 'Bender'???
If we can get just one of these postings up to at least '+1,' then it will be archived forever! Others will learn of our struggle, and join with us in our battle for freedom!
I am compelled to document the foulness and carnal depravity that is Linux, in order that we may prepare ourselves for the great holy war that is to follow. It is my solemn duty to peel back the foreskin of ignorance and apply the wire brush of enlightenment.
I could make an arrogant, childish comment along the lines of 'Every time someone asks for 2.0, I won't release it for another 24 hours,' but the truth of the matter is that I'm quite nervous of releasing a 'number two,' as I can guarantee some filthy shit-slurping Linux pervert would want to suck it straight out of my anus before I've even had chance to wipe.
I sincerely hope you're Natalie Portman.
What the fuck?
Well bugger me!
Fuck right off!
IMPORTANT: This message needs to be heard (Not HURD, which is an acronym for 'Huge Unclean Rectal Dilator') across the whole community, so it has been released into the Public Domain. You know, that licence that we all had before those homoerotic crypto-fascists came out with the GPL (Gay Penetration License) that is no more than an excuse to see who's got the biggest feces-encrusted cock. I would have put this up on Freshmeat, but that name is known to be a euphemism for the tight rump of a young boy.
Come to think of it, the whole concept of 'Source Control' unnerves me, because it sounds a bit like 'Sauce Control,' which is a description of the homosexual practice of holding the base of the cock shaft tightly upon the point of ejaculation, thus causing a build up of semenal fluid that is only released upon entry into an incision made into the base of the receiver's scrotum. And 'Open Sauce' is the act of ejaculating into another mans face or perhaps a biscuit to be shared later. Obviously, 'Closed Sauce' is the only Christian thing to do, as evidenced by the fact that it is what Cathedrals are all about.
Contributors: (although not to the eternal game of 'soggy biscuit' that open 'sauce' development has become) Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, phee, Anonymous Coward, mighty jebus, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, double_h, Anonymous Coward, Eimernase, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward. Further contributions are welcome.
Current changes: This version sent to FreeWIPO by 'Bring BackATV' as plain text. Reformatted everything, added all links back in (that we could match from the previous version), many new ones (Slashbot bait links). Even more spelling fixed. Who wrote this thing, CmdrTaco himself?
Previous changes: Yet more changes added. Spelling fixed. Feedback added. Explanation of 'distro' system. 'Mount Point' syntax described. More filth regarding `man` and Slashdot. Yet more fucking spelling fixed. 'Fetchmail' uncovered further. More Slashbot baiting. Apache exposed. Distribution licence at foot of document.
- poopbot: for all your crapflooding needs
Why do you people watch that show? .. the weight :p
class of those toys is so limited that the action
and the results are almost totally predictable.
The only real element of chance are the arena
hazards. This scaled down mockery of engineering
hopefully will pass in to history sooner than later.
At least that zappa idiot is off the air. His dad
he ain't
Why is battlebots on comedy central? While it is a good show and I do watch it, it's never made sense to me why it is on there? It's not funny. Fun. Yes, but hardly funny imho...
Snoozer.
Teaching violence and destruction to our nation's youth in order to increase the corporate revenues of Comedy Central. Thank God vouchers were deemed constitutional.
"No, Your Honor, the children were just making Killer Robots. We had no idea it wouldn't be safe."
I'm amazed that the school's legal department allows this kind of thing. Battlebots are probably safer than rocketry (which my elementary school wouldn't let us do for legal reasons) but still, the potential is there for serious injury. It's probably easier to get this sort of thing allowed in High School. I wonder how heavily they emphasise safety? Based on my quick review of the two rules documents, they've at least had the good sense not to allow guns, bombs or cattleprods. Also, the Robot has to be safe to handle while off; but that may not be enough protection - I realize the stuff in the shop room down the hall is actually far more dangerous, but it doesn't involve the sanctioned game of using it as a weapon.
Play careful, Kids! Don't ruin the fun for future generations by chopping any of your toes off.
Also, just once incident of a robot with a chainsaw chasing screaming teenagers down a hallway would put a quick end to the program, I'd assume.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
I'd rather see a show that is a mix between killer robots and cops. Little radio controled robots made by kids just doesn't cut it anymore...
And I mean that!
I had Pre-Engineering Electronics in high school (took it sophomore year). I really can not think of any one class more influencial in my thought processes (well, minus Humanities, but that's a different form of process).
I'm sure all the science these people have learned in high school will be only more solidified in their minds after working on this sort of challenge. As my Pre-EE class taught me a new, more involved, way of thinking this sort of BattleBot challenge will benefit people in high school in similar ways. That is, learning to apply the knowledge they had learned (or, roughly memorized) in other classes will help them truelly understand that knowledge.
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
I wish it was around when I was a kid.
Do people still use the subjunctive, or has that been deprecated in the latest version of the English language?
There was a story comparing BBIQ and FIRST a while back. It turns out that Dean Kamen (founder of first) doesn't really like battlebots. Go figure...
I tried to get my school to start one, but everyone just gave me strange looks. I tried to explain the logistics of it and how it would be relativly easy to get materials once we lined up a company or two to sponser, even came up with a few designs, but no one really took me seriously. Oh well, there loss.
Love and Peace,
Valen
"The best compliment a girl ever gave me was 'Your hair smells nice.' I hate being the platonic friend." -Valen
We've trained the kids already via quake 3 and UT2. Now all we need to do is build the robots to make it real; it looks like we're going to get kids to do that to.
When this next crop comes of age, the military is going to have a hayday.
I can see the advertisement now.. "Do you get scores over 300 in UT2003? Then YOU could already be qualified to operate the Slaughtermaster B7400! (see local recruiter for details)"
I just got a tivo a few weeks ago. The best part is I can watch an hour long battlebots episode in about 10 minutes. The worst part is that they make new episodes out of fights they've already aired...
Hell, I wish they had computers when I was a kid.
--
If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
I have to respectfully disagree with your hypothesis that learning isn't fun. Granted, some parts are tedious, some parts are repetitive and frustration is no stranger during the learning process. However, the joy of discovery, the eureka moment when it all clicks into place, the self-confidence when you realize you have mastered a subject - I say all these more than counterbalance the tedious aspects of learning. Learning is its own reward. Mastering a matter makes it a joy all of its own.
Especially in this crowd, claiming that learning is no fun won't fly. What geek hasn't encountered frustration configuring something in linux? What geek hasn't repetitively typed man (subject)? Yet I will lay odds that few geeks will claims computers are no fun, that linux is boring.
Pardon me for preaching off a soapbox, but the attitude that 'learning isn't fun' bugs the hell out of me. It is that attitude that keeps people watching TV rather than reading a good book, or play video games till 5am while neglecting homework. The rewards aren't as immediate as other activities but learning IS fun, rewarding and enjoyable as long as we stick to it.
So make battlebot classes fun. I'll guarantee you that if those kids are actually building those bots, they'll encounter the tedium and frustration of engineering. But will that stop them from having fun in the end? Probably not. But it may encourage some of them to try something they never would have, and learn something in the process.
The great day, though, will be when autonomous bots start winning with faster-than-human reaction times.
I tried to get a grant from my university (which is internationally known for it's engineering program) to build a battlebot without any success. It's great to see something like this happening on such a level.
sig.
Just watching geeks nervously make fools of themselves when interviewed by bimbos is reason enough to watch. Seeing multi-thousand dollar machines get smashed all to hell is just a bonus, IMO.
--
Spaz!
So this is the future investment for school budgets? Next kids will expect to be able to produce speed-surviving vehicles, without paying a penny.
Not everything has to be about robots!
When I was in Elementary and Middle Schools I was in a program called Odyssey of the Mind. This was a great program, with teams of 7 students, who would comptete in both a long and short program. For the long program (8 minutes), the team had a few months and a limited budget, and was allowed to choose one of the 5 problems to solve, Here are Last Years. There was alao a short program, where you were given a set of supplies, 1 min to brainstorm, and then 3 minutes to do it. Usually this challenge took the form of building something, such as the tallest twoer you could with toothpicks and shaving cream, that could survive a 5mph wind, something like that. It was a great program, and wasn't limited to engneering tyes.
There a programs like both OM and US FIRST, or the new robot wars in a lot of communitites, and whether you like their current format or not, we should all get involved. Many of us complain about the current state of education, and I have already seen people complaining about schools, and thanking vouchers. If you think these programs are great, get involved! If not get involved anyway and bring your experiences and incites to a younger group.
-OctaneZ
My former (just graduated) high school had a Battlebots IQ team. They put up a website , which details their robot, E2, and the competition. They did quite well, winning 6 in the double elimination format. I didn't participate in this, but I was involved in the Panasonic Creative Design Challenge, a robot competiton open to high school students in the State of New Jersey. I reccomend this competition to interested students, since I won a two grand scholarship that is going toward my EE degree.
You're absolutely right. Learning IS rewarding. Learning is often its own reward, and it's not the only reward. But it isn't always fun.
/.'ers, I do enjoy learning about computers and technology. I'm also an electrical engineer. However, I have almost no interest in learning about, say, biology. It's boring and uninteresting. So why, then, do I read books on health matters, or watch the surgery shows on the Discovery channel? Because these things are important to know for my own health, and the health of my loved ones.
Like most
Learning about politics? Again, not fun. CSPAN is uber-boring. Why do I do it? Because I need to stay informed, so I can figure out which politician is going to screw me the least and vote for him.
There are many reasons to learn, probably the least of which is because "learning is fun." Learning makes us healthier, more productive, wealthier, better citizens, and better human beings. Teach kids THOSE reasons to learn, and they'll learn anything. Teach them "learning is fun!" and they'll be most disappointed when they find out you lied to them.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
For those trying to teach Java to kids, RoboCode is a great way to get them interested. They may not care about hello world in an applet, but pasting other folks tanks makes event handling fun.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
It really depends on the curriculum. I have this image of thousands of high schools making their kids construct from an assigned and approved text. I'm sure companies will come along and start marking 'kits' that work with these assigned texts and designs.
The downside to this would be virtually identical bots in uninspiring battles. I really hope we don't see this. It would be nice if the course focused on basic engineering fundamentals and then found ways to foster innovation.
In either event, I'm happy to see this. Get people proficient in robotics at an early age, and by the time they become adults we will see some really amazing things.
The Internet is generally stupid
.. a cool HS. I wonder if they'll have Lego Mindstorms 101 next year.
Live web cams
Okay, i could see this as being an interesting course on engineering in college, but give me a break, how many schools are going to be able to afford this? How many PTA moms are going to raise unholy hell when they learn their school is spending cash on teaching their precious Jimmy how to build a violent machine of destruction instead of textbooks written in the past five years?...how many *teachers* want to waste their summer going to that camp for no extra pay?
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
It's great to have another player in robotics for education. The FIRST program was started by Dean Kamen, the Segway Human Transporter inventor, as a way to promote science and engineering to students. It starts with Lego robotics and has been around for several years. It's usually found in the K-8 grades and is a staple at MIT. Students learn how to write technical procedures, mechanical design, programming and engineering, and of course teamwork. For everything they do there is an attempt to align the tasks with other curriculum such as math, english and science. I volunteer for a middle school robotics club; a lot of work, but a lot of fun.
For the high school students the FIRST program (usfirst.org) gets serious. Here students build real robots designed to meet a specific challenge. AutoCAD and other software companies provide software grants to high schools so the students are getting the real thing. Local businesses involved in engineering usually provide volunteers to mentor the students. It can cost 1 school over 30K to compete at this level. rhodewarrior.org is a site from a high school in RI that has been involved from the beginning and scores pretty well.
The more the merrier, I think, when it comes to this kind of stuff. There has been some concern though, of making sure the students are truly meeting a challenge, and not just building something for the sake of going out and destroying things. The FIRST robotics programs usually involve designing a claw or figuring how many ping-pong balls you can pick up and get into a basket.
If you find yourself wishing you had this when you were in school, then ask around at your local school district - folks are always looking for volunteers.
....they have required keyboarding classes now adays.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Well from what I have seen not everyone is happy with this. Most public schools now a days can't pay for new books but they are going to do a Battlebots program. Well the schools that can't afford the books won't be doing the battlebots. It will be the Upper class schools out in Rural California. Or the private schools in Rural NY. the ones that cost 30k a kid per year to go. THOSE are the ones that will get the program. I went to a private school in Highschool (I had behavioral problems) and the state paid my way. (28k a year for 3 years) and lemme just say... the school barely had enough money some times to do anything fun for the kids (one time for an end of the school year treat they took us (about 50kids in the school) to a pool hall. it was depressing but it was all they could do. since the school is a not for profit organization they could not keep any extra money for the next year. But with the support I received I was able to graduate a year early. Now I sit on my ass all day posting on /. ... gee what a great world.
Buy all of your kids, nephews, nieces, etc. legos. Preferably the teknic (sic?) or mindstorms variety. They will learn more on their own than you have time to teach them.
This seems really cool, if you have the teachers to pull it all together. I went to a pretty crappy public high school (though they claimed it was above average by New York standards). The summer after my junior year, my school sent two of the math teachers to take some programming classes to teach AP computer programming in C.
So, in theory, my senior year, i would be able to take the AP programming class and possibly get college credit.
Wrong... The teachers that they sent out were not programmers by any standards. By the 3rd month, we had already surpassed their training. After that, it was student and teacher working together to learn the material. Some of the students (myself included) were better off just reading books on our own. By the end of the year, we only got through a third of the curriculum that we were suppossed to. So, taking the AP exam wasn't even an option.
Point being, this new program seems really really cool, but I hope that they actually take this seriously before they half ass the training and use unqualified people... cause it's unfair for themselves and the students.
my last sig was too controversial... now, a new and improved useless sig!
"Mom! My homework ate the dog!"
Table-ized A.I.
A friend of mine operates a robotic combat team, Indecision Robotics. His bot, Sudden Impact, has apparently won Robot Wars in the UK. Anyway, he has already come up with an "Antweight Highschool Curriculum", availible here.
I think that this idea is pretty cool. I would have loved to have a course in high school where I could rip things apart and build a bot like this. Guess I'll have to wait for my design project in my 4th year of Aerospace Engineering.
Why do they have to be devices of destruction? With all the interest in car/racing movies lately, why not just make radio controlled cars from scratch? Parts are readily available for things that would be too difficult to make and it would offer the same amount of learning potential. The nitro burning engines could lead the class down a path of combustion engine history, dynamics of an engine, as well as learning what horsepower and torque are. The suspension could teach physics and angles. The servos and batteries could teach them about impedance, torque, and amps.
All of these items are on a battlebot. The only difference is that is in the world of rc cars, the competition is benign. In battlebots, it is open and obvious destruction. We should be fostering construction rather than destruction, imho.
-= Why can't I add 'Anonymous Coward' to my list of Foes? =-
...whether it is lawn mower engines or hobby rockets, it will still be the parents providing the interest and drive behind the scenes. A parent will wish they had this in high-school and forget that at that point in time they were clueless, and it was actually their parents that got them motivated to take the class.
We all know that everyone's favourite TV show is BattleBots on Comedy Central, Right?
Nooo! Robot Wars UK is way better!!
My friends love to watch BattleBots, but I can't stand the show.. it's a bunch of oversized radio-controlled cars with weapons. Not one of the entries EVER does anything on its own. There is no intelligence or automatic seeking and reaction system built into any of the entries. I don't see how a BattleBots class is anything more than just a highschool level mechanical engineering class.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I recall reading about some underground type of events held in the Bay Area where machines with some modicum of intelligence fought each other in locations such as under out-of-the-way highway overpasses... machines equipped with heat-seeking, motion-sensing, etc devices. Remote control? What's the point? That's not advancing robotics..
Yeah like a $2000 voucher is gonna get you into any school that's worth shit. The only schools that you would be allowed to go to on that little money is religious schools that use under-paid teachers to instill morals and a belief in creationism. Come on, a voucher would only help a kid get into a better school if he was already smart and was able to get a scholarship for the rest of the balance, otherwise its one failing situation to another, The only difference is the second place doesn't have mandatory standardized tests to prove it. So then it looks better on national statistics.
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule. -Randal, Clerks
Considering that the average boy junior high wants to make destructive metal machines that can potentially terrorize the girls in class, this is the perfect program. Being the principal of such a program could be stressful when an agry parent comes to you complaining that his daughter came home in tears because little Joey tried to use his 'spin of death' and almost ruined her binder, nevermind hurting her. This program will probably be shut down completely after about 5 major accidents.
"Truth suffers from too much analysis." Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah
Battlebots doesn't get enough credit. Really, they don't.
Unlike those other WWF-inspired hype and showbiz chainsaw shows, BB is still a game show about design and engineering. I wish they'd get some less obnoxious announcers and lose the babes doing the in-the-pits interviews (I know, I know, but The Man Show comes on right after it, right? Can't you do your oogling then?)
The other show that really deserves credit for this sort of thing is Junkyard Wars on TLC -- leave it to the Brits to come up with an entire game show about engineering, AND it's an hour long. This is better than The Secret Life Of Machines *AND* Connections.
Too bad more network programming crudholes can't do math or we'd see more of this sort of thing.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
Dean Kamen & Woodie Flowers have their heads attached correctly - FIRST is the only way to go.
People tend to ask me "So that's like battlebots, right?" when I tell them I'm a robotics nerd. I explain "No, battlebots has a serious flaw - it's easy to armor a robot, and very hard to build effective weapons within the rules. With FIRST, you have a goal - much a) harder and b) more useful in real life - problem solving and all that jazz.
So, Viva FIRST - we'll have a team in every High School in the US (and in several other countries - Brazil & Canada, for example) for many years after battlebots is off the air and forgotten.
~Mac~
I am a team mentor (Team #824, Students Working Against Time). I'm proud to say that our robot, from chassis to firmware, is 100% built by students, both from the University of Washington, and Roosevelt High School with whom we are partnered. In fact, the most that our corporate sponsors do is mail us a check and show up at the pre-ship event to pick up a team T-Shirt.
:-)
It is *not* a cheap program. It costs $5000.00 to register, each additional competition that you go to costs another whopping $4000.00. The money from registration pays for the kit parts, which is a big collection of motors, pneumatics, and control systems (Innovation First's controller, complete with 900Mhz radio modems). Additional competitions *are* expensive to go to, expecially if it's the championship at Epcot; just flying the entire team there with a 130 lbs robot and support equipment can be very taxing.
My kids learn a lot every year. Some of the HS students joined the team not having used a hacksaw before; by the end of the build period, they were operating our CNC milling machine. Others became good 3D Animators, CAD users, and web gurus. It's also about APPLYING what you learn in the class room. Kids can learn all the physics from a book, but the concept is really reinforced when you have to sit down and calculate gear reduction ratios for building a ball pickup scoop. As for mentors, we get about as much out of a program as the kids; I was a horrible manager when I first started, and slowly I've managed to hone my managerial and leadership skills. Of coures, like anything in life, you get what you put into the program. The students that learn the most are going to be the ones that always show up and volunteer to help. We were at a pre-ship competition, and the kids from the Micro$oft team (The X-Bot, insert booing here)were just sitting around playing basketball, while we were busy troubleshooting our robot. We can all guess how much of *their* robot is student-buit.
Would I mentor a BattleBot IQ team if I have the chance? Why not? FIRST is a great program, but it still have miles to go as far as marketing goes, compared to Battlebots, and if it's another way to get kids interested into science and technology, who cares what banner they compete under?
Links:
FIRST's website:
F.I.R.S.T
Team #824 - Students Working Against Time
Dan Rupert at Rancho Bernardo High School has been using the students in his CAD classes to design and build his Bots for years now.
My words are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
Battle Bots is an unbelievably stupid show.
One good reason might be because they contain so many misconceptions and factual errors.
You say, "it looks like we're going to get kids to do that to." Seems you left off a word or two at the end of the sentence -- kids to do that to what?
...the real men do Junkyard Wars
jr high girls seem to be less given to battling. this site tells of a robotics course they pretty much designed- http://www.geocities.com/meighreaux/
-josh
Gee, anyone heard of FIRST? http://www.first.org
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At my high school, we have a thing called Senior Technology Research Labs (tech labs for short). Many of the seniors that take the Robotics Tech Lab create BattleBots and actually compete in real BattleBot competitions.
I belong to the ______ generation.
They make these kids buy $800 radios where $100 ones would do........ just so dean kamen can go build some scooters. Wow!
Sure a few corporate teams do well, but it's the mentors on the team that make the difference. Many of the big teams you're so [seemingly] intimidated by are fueled by some dedicated people who also happen to know how to effectively run design process and come up with a solution to playing and winning the game each year. There are many _very_ well funded teams who flop many more times than not. This year we ran with only around $14,000 ($9,000 of the 14 was corporate.) We won a regional, and were also a divisional finalist at nationals. 2 Years ago we also won a regional, and that same year two kids who absolutely worked their butts off won an animation award.