Presumably one big reason is that although nice vertical columns are pretty to look at, they're difficult to type on... particularly since everyone's already used to touch-typing with the usual setup.
After a mess of lawsuits, Showbiz bought the nearly-bankrupt Pizza Time Theater (home of Chuck E Cheese).
(my entire childhood was spent terrified of Mr. Munch...)
I'd say the difference in losing 100 students in a group with 500 excess admitted as opposed to 1500 excess admitted is significant... but you're right, I'm missing the point anyways. Sorry. Was stuck in bed sick all weekend hearing about this and not seeing it; am cranky; that was uncalled for, my apologies.
2500? Do your Googling, buddy -- you're way underestimating MIT's yield. 1495 students were admitted for the class of 2009. In terms of percentages perhaps that says a lot about which school is viewed as more desirable in the eyes of incoming freshmen.
About the one-way rivalry thing -- don't feel too bad, Caltech. Us at MIT have spent years mocking Harvard and they don't even notice...:)
I spoke to one of the girls on MIT's team -- she pointed out that getting 15 students and a robot from Massachusetts to California and renting hotel rooms for the duration doesn't come cheaply, so the lion's share of this $11000 budget disappeared there, leaving the team with a bot budget in the same order of magnitude as the Hayden team...
My last year of high school ended last May (and how often do I get to say that like it's a *good* thing?) and I'd certainly disagree with that last sentence. Maybe not to the extent of saying robotics == good, programming fair == bad, but I wouldn't dismiss robotics that quickly.
One of the most appealing things about robotics, I've discovered, is that at the end you have something physical to show. Yes, I know, you can run the program, you can show people that, it's wonderful, and I've felt that sense of accomplishment when you track down the last bug (okay, second last, there's always one more) and it finally works -- but my friends and siblings were always a lot more impressed with the things they could touch and look at and watch demolishing trashcans.
If you're looking for nationwide competitions to join in on, my school has had a great experience with Battlebots IQ -- which is probably what you'd probably guess from the name. One of the downsides to a competition this focused on ripping other robots to shreds was that the rest of the girls in my high school didn't share my geekiness & bloodthirstiness, leaving me the only female presence on the school team -- which is a sad thing for an event trying to promote the coolness of this stuff to everyone.
On a smaller scale, another thing my old high school had great luck with was Lego Mindstorms -- they taught a class using them and, IIRC, found them an easy intro for people with no prior experience as well as a good meld of physical and virtual. There's a limit to how much you can do with them, of course, but they could be a neat starting point.
The other downside to a robotics competition as opposed to programming might be cost. Materials for making bots would add up quickly, I'd think, especially if you had many competing teams, whereas hopefully some of the resources for programming would already be there and the rest would be less financially significant. I don't know how much money you're throwing around, but I imagine it'd be a lot easier to fund bits than bots.
And -- to get a little bit more on track -- what excites high schoolers? Personally, thinking back: much of what appealed to me in programming (and part of why I'm now studying EE/CS) was the problem-solving aspect, so I guess my other obvious comment would be to say to capitalize on that. I was always interested in seeing how a problem could be solved by brute force or by elegant code or by unconventional sideways thinking -- and why some methods worked better than others, and when you could get away with the messy way.;) I liked being able to break down problems into bite-sized pieces, I liked all the logical thinking, I really liked writing something and realizing as it compiled and worked that wow, this was how they did it in real life!
... disclaimer: I graduated high school, I'm now attending a techie college, I may not be probably not all that indicative of the general population.:P
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Presumably one big reason is that although nice vertical columns are pretty to look at, they're difficult to type on... particularly since everyone's already used to touch-typing with the usual setup.
After a mess of lawsuits, Showbiz bought the nearly-bankrupt Pizza Time Theater (home of Chuck E Cheese). (my entire childhood was spent terrified of Mr. Munch...)
I'd say the difference in losing 100 students in a group with 500 excess admitted as opposed to 1500 excess admitted is significant... but you're right, I'm missing the point anyways. Sorry. Was stuck in bed sick all weekend hearing about this and not seeing it; am cranky; that was uncalled for, my apologies.
2500? Do your Googling, buddy -- you're way underestimating MIT's yield. 1495 students were admitted for the class of 2009. In terms of percentages perhaps that says a lot about which school is viewed as more desirable in the eyes of incoming freshmen.
:)
About the one-way rivalry thing -- don't feel too bad, Caltech. Us at MIT have spent years mocking Harvard and they don't even notice...
I spoke to one of the girls on MIT's team -- she pointed out that getting 15 students and a robot from Massachusetts to California and renting hotel rooms for the duration doesn't come cheaply, so the lion's share of this $11000 budget disappeared there, leaving the team with a bot budget in the same order of magnitude as the Hayden team...
I thought 19 was Applied Mechanical Engineering? You know, with the header classes taught by professors Florey and Tetazoo?
My last year of high school ended last May (and how often do I get to say that like it's a *good* thing?) and I'd certainly disagree with that last sentence. Maybe not to the extent of saying robotics == good, programming fair == bad, but I wouldn't dismiss robotics that quickly.
;) I liked being able to break down problems into bite-sized pieces, I liked all the logical thinking, I really liked writing something and realizing as it compiled and worked that wow, this was how they did it in real life!
... disclaimer: I graduated high school, I'm now attending a techie college, I may not be probably not all that indicative of the general population. :P
One of the most appealing things about robotics, I've discovered, is that at the end you have something physical to show. Yes, I know, you can run the program, you can show people that, it's wonderful, and I've felt that sense of accomplishment when you track down the last bug (okay, second last, there's always one more) and it finally works -- but my friends and siblings were always a lot more impressed with the things they could touch and look at and watch demolishing trashcans.
If you're looking for nationwide competitions to join in on, my school has had a great experience with Battlebots IQ -- which is probably what you'd probably guess from the name. One of the downsides to a competition this focused on ripping other robots to shreds was that the rest of the girls in my high school didn't share my geekiness & bloodthirstiness, leaving me the only female presence on the school team -- which is a sad thing for an event trying to promote the coolness of this stuff to everyone.
On a smaller scale, another thing my old high school had great luck with was Lego Mindstorms -- they taught a class using them and, IIRC, found them an easy intro for people with no prior experience as well as a good meld of physical and virtual. There's a limit to how much you can do with them, of course, but they could be a neat starting point.
The other downside to a robotics competition as opposed to programming might be cost. Materials for making bots would add up quickly, I'd think, especially if you had many competing teams, whereas hopefully some of the resources for programming would already be there and the rest would be less financially significant. I don't know how much money you're throwing around, but I imagine it'd be a lot easier to fund bits than bots.
And -- to get a little bit more on track -- what excites high schoolers? Personally, thinking back: much of what appealed to me in programming (and part of why I'm now studying EE/CS) was the problem-solving aspect, so I guess my other obvious comment would be to say to capitalize on that. I was always interested in seeing how a problem could be solved by brute force or by elegant code or by unconventional sideways thinking -- and why some methods worked better than others, and when you could get away with the messy way.