Robots at Flory School

January 12, 2011 by Karl Geiger · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Education, Robotics

Flory (Moorpark public elementary school) has a new Science Specialist and Principal this school year. These ladies are super excited to launch a robotics program at Flory. Principal Tammy Herzog and Lynn White want to hit the ground running in their first year at the school and introduce the program to current 4th and 5th graders by February of this year.

This will be a terrific learning experience for these future scientists and engineers. Flory is seeking one-time donations to Flory PTA for the purchase of robots. Can you help make a difference? A financial contribution of 1 or 2 robots would be a terrific help towards our goal of purchasing 28 robots by February 2011.

The cost is $155/kit. Contact Lynn Darrow at 805-279-1184 or darrowlynn@yahoo.com.

For details, see the Robotics Program Fundraiser flyer.

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FIRST Lego League Robotics Competition

September 17, 2010 by Karl Geiger · 1 Comment
Filed under: Events, Robotics, Robotics and Automation

Come join us for a fun and crazy day of robotics featuring 9-14 years old students from local schools in their first competition of the year. It should be noisy! See them make robots accomplish amazing feats having a Biomedical Engineering theme. Just stop by and see what’s going on!

We are seeking volunteers to help during all or part of the day with various tasks from registration, setup, coordination, judging and refereeing. No experience with robotics is necessary! We will train you.

Where:
When:
Contact:
Competition Flyer

If you are also interested in being a mentor to a robotics team at a local elementary or middle school, please contact Bob Rumer (above). Mentoring involves attending practices and maybe team tournaments. Times would vary for each team as would your duties. You may be helping the students on hardware, software, or their research in Engineering.

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MS Robotics Studio Free Download

May 21, 2010 by Karl Geiger · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Programming, Robotics, Robotics and Automation

IEEE Spectrum reports Microsoft is now offering Microsoft Robitics Studio as a free download.

Erico Guizzo writes

Over the past year or so, Microsoft’s robotics group has been working quietly, very quietly. That’s because, among other things, they were busy planning a significant strategy shift.

Microsoft is upping the ante on its robotics ambitions by announcing today that its Robotics Developer Studio, or RDS, a big package of programming and simulation tools, is now available to anyone for free.

Previously, RDS had multiple releases: one free but with limited features, a full commercial version that users could purchase, and an academic version distributed only to partners.

By releasing a single version with full capabilities and at no cost, Microsoft wants to expand its RDS user base, hoping to amass a legion of hobbyists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other robot enthusiasts who will come up with the next big things in consumer robotics.

See “Microsoft Shifts Robotics Strategy, Makes Robotics Studio Available Free” for full article.

License and download at Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio Site

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Conejo Robotics Team at FIRST Robotics Competition

March 25, 2010 by Karl Geiger · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Computer, Events, Programming, Robotics, Robotics and Automation, Sensors

Wednesday, April 14 2009, Charles Seabury and high school students from Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake High show off their robots and discuss their efforts to win the FIRST Robotics Competition in 2010.

Competitive robotics has been gaining popularity nationwide as a supplement to the conventional science, math and engineering curriculum. Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Westlake High Schools now have competitive teams using the VEX platform, and the three schools together compete in the FIRST robotics program. We will describe the history of our program, the current activities ideas for the future as well as needs and opportunities for contributions from the engineering community. Examples of the VEX robots as well as our current FRC entry will be demonstrated.

Meeting location and directions.

We hope to see you there.

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Meet the Metalheads

March 20, 2009 by Karl Geiger · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Computer, Events, Robotics, Robotics and Automation

Wednesday, April 8 2009, Charles Seabury and high school students Kevin Jordan, and Steven Moore show off their results in the FIRST Robotics Competition.

Competitive robotics has been gaining popularity nation wide as a supplement to the conventional science, math and engineering curriculum. Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Westlake High Schools now have competitive teams using the VEX platform, and the three schools together compete in the FIRST robotics program. We will describe the history of our program, the current activities ideas for the future as well as needs and opportunities for contributions from the engineering community. Examples of the VEX robots as well as our current FRC entry will be demonstrated.

Contact the club through their Yahoo! Groups page, Conejo Robotics.

See pictures and videos from the presentation.