Robo-CATastrophe 6 at Columbia High School - Dec 4
Hope all dangerous robots will be restrained!
https://www.rt.com/viral/367426-robot-attack-china-technology/
Well, soon, perhaps! It may take a long time -- if ever -- when robots do anything more serious than break or have an uncharged battery. Seeing all the robots over the years in competitions, the most dangerous event is when the robot is dropped on your foot.
But if they do decide to take over some day, I hope they know I helped get kids into robotics!
RoboCAT is coming up soon!! If you and your kids are interested in sering true Project Based Learning in action, come to RoboCAT!
These kids build very complex robots, program them for "autonomous " actions using sensors and basic math, and program them for driver control to execute difficult maneuvers.
There will be 36 teams at RoboCAT and you can talk with any team while they are working at the team tables in the cafeterias at CHS.
Project Based Learning is what these kids are engaged in. Many know more about robotics simply by "doing" than kids in classes.
We hope, as a District, to expand PBL opportunities. Sometimes that may mean expanding pathways to graduation that are different from the traditional "sit in a classroom for ever and take standardized tests". (See "Option II" under NJ DOE.)
The PBL opportunity that robotics is but one example that allows students to learn teamwork in an academic setting and learn designing, building, programming and testing complex machines. they truly learn by making many mistakes -- the "success through failure" mantra of engineering. (See a YouTube video made by the club in 2011 after winning the NJ State championship and taking 2nd place in world championships in StLouis -- look for the video called "Iterative Design Process" by Team 4102.)
Come and watch and have your kids speak with the members of 36 teams including 3 from CHS!
On Sunday, Dec 4, the opening ceremony for the RoboCAT robotics tournament will include Mayor DeLuca of Maplewood, Principal Aaron from CHS, the Unaccompanied Minors who will do their rendition of the National Anthem and possibly one or two other welcomers! The ceremony should start around 9:45-10AM.
Watching the teams compete is exciting and your kids will have a lot of opportunity to speak with the different teams. I your kids want to help during the tournament by helping to reset the playing fields after each match, please PL me.
On Dec 6 the District will have its second educational summit. The future of education will be discussed with the community. One aspect of that is what opportunities are we providing our kids in this District -- a future they will live in will have robotics, autonomous cars, more and more software, artificial intelligence and many, many more technical innovations. This Sunday's robotics tournament is a small preview of what kids can do when given the opportunity.
Come by and bring the kids!
And if you can, bring a donation for the Boxes of Fun club at CHS -- see the flyer in the first post in this thread.
Just a few days until the big Robo-CAT robotics tournament at Columbia HS. You will see some really very interesting robots, a bunch of great kids (some right out of the Big Bang Theory and some that are just like your kids or the kids next door or down the street) doing very clever work in designing robots, coding them, operating them and then learning from their mistakes.
Jude - Is that you with the CHS cougar in the picture in the Village Green yesterday?
http://villagegreennj.com/schools-kids/columbia-high-school-host-36-team-robotics-qualifier-dec-4/
Jude said:
Oh dear! Sort of look like George Clooney, no?
Yeah, I could see the cougar's starring in "The Men Who Stare at Goats."
Two more days! Try and come by on Sunday and see a glimpse of the future!!
The big Robo-CAT Tournament went very well! The Columbia teams did well with our sophomnore team (#7959) capturing 2nd place!
Many thanks to the families who came by to watch -- saw lot of kids in attendance. All told, we had over the course of the eight hours north of 1000 people in attendance.
A number of teams came by the Boxes of Fun table and donated gists for the kids who wait for bone marrow transplants, sometimes waiting in the hospital for weeks and months. The link below is from one of the team's that we have worked with and the parent who runs the team's logistics. The story is about the Boxes of Fun program. The team that helped yesterday is called "Fear the Gear" and is based in Chatham.
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/articles/chatham-fear-the-gear-aids-outreach-at-columbia-h
The CHS Robotics Club is sponsoring the 6th Annual Robo-CATastrophe Robotics Qualifier on Sunday, Dec 4, at Columbia HS!
This robotics tournament is the largest one in the US FIRST FTC Division in New Jersey except for the State Championships. There will be 36 teams at CHS on Dec 4 including 3 from CHS.
Admission is free! Matches start around 9:30/10AM in the Main Gym. The teams work on their robots in the cafeterias, fondly called "the Pits". We expect more than 1000 people to attend during the day.
Bring the whole family and see the kids who will be designing, building and programming the robots of the future.
The CHS Robotics Club is partnering with the CHS Boxes Fun Club. Boxes of Fun provides gifts to kids waiting for bone marrow transplants at Hackensack Children's Hospital and New York Presbyterian Hospital Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. US FIRST's FTC division is helping by including the Boxes of Fun flyer with all communications to all teams coming to this event. We are asking community members if they can donate a gift -- a new, unwrapped, unopened gift that Boxes of Fun can deliver to the kids in these hospitals. Things that are hands on, games, origami and similar gifts are the best. Boxes of Fun will have a table at the event.
This is cross-referenced in Maplewood and in South Orange.