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FIRST LEGO League Team Blast: 1. Quote of the week; 2. Challenge release; 3. Product purchase; 4. Event registration; 5. Team Support; 6. FIRST Steps; 7.FIRST parody; 8. STEM in the news; 9. Celebration and shout-outs

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ANIMAL ALLIESSM Challenge noon EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 30. Please be sure to download the Challenge, Challenge Guide and Updates at that time and watch our package of Welcome to the Season videos to get started with your season.

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The 2017/2018 #FIRSTParody winner is... Follow Your Dream (International Coopertition) by FIRST LEGO League teams from around the world!

Second place goes to Get Up and Build With Me (Team Sycamore) and third place to How Far We'll Go ( FIRST Robotics Competition Team 744 - Shark Attack).

There were 36,611 total votes cast - way to #makeitloud! To everyone who participated in this year's #FIRST Parody competition: thank you for your creativity, inspiration, and FUN!

Congratulations!

FIRST is once again challenging our Community to help us #makeitloud during the third annual # FIRST Parody competition. We can't wait to see what you come up with this year! If you participated in prior years, we invite you to make a NEW video, and if it's your first time - welcome!

Overview:
We're celebrating what makes FIRST FIRST! Tell us what makes your experience in our programs so amazing - with a song! We want to see awesome, high-quality song parody videos that embody the spirit of FIRST and our Progression of Programs . To see last year's submissions, check out our playlist. If you haven't seen it, make sure to watch last year's winning parody video My Bot by Team 4201: The Vitruvian Bots.

What is a song parody?
Parody music involves changing or copying existing (usually well known) musical ideas or lyrics, or copying the particular style of a composer or artist, or even a general style of music. Although the intention of a musical parody may be humor, it is the re-use of music that is the original defining feature. (Source: Wikipedia)

Eligibility:
Any group or individual who is interested in helping #makeitloud- Participants, Mentors, Volunteers, Sponsors, Alumni, - anyone!

Expectations:
Submissions must be between 0:30 and 3:30 in length.

We encourage you to caption your video so viewers can see the lyrics.

Use your best judgment to keep your video in line with FIRST Values! Submissions should capture the FIRST Mission as an organization, rather than focus on just one program or experience.

Deadline:
Video submission must be uploaded to YouTube by Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 5pm (EST). Deadline extended to Friday, December, 1 2017 at 5pm (EST)

Submission Process:
Add your video!

Click here to add your video to our 2017 FIRST Song Parody Playlist.

Click on the "Add Videos" button.

Please only add the video you/your team has created for the 2017 FIRST Song Parody contest. All other videos will be removed from the playlist.

Share it with the world!

Tweet the link to @FIRSTweets, and include # FIRST Parody.

Award/Distribution:
Selection of the winning submission will take place in December 2017. The winning submission will be played at many FIRST events throughout the 2017/2018 Season, including, but not limited to, FIRST LEGO League Regional Championships and FIRST LEGO League Jr. Expos, FIRST Tech Challenge Super Regionals, FIRST Robotics Competition Regionals and District Events, and FIRST Championships.

Please be aware that by submitting a video to this contest, FIRST reserves the right to use the video in any way, without additional permissions. Questions? Email marketing@firstinspires.org

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interest and participation in science and technology

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The 2017/2018 # FIRSTParody winner is... Follow Your Dream (International Coopertition) by FIRST LEGO League teams from around the world! Second place goes to Get Up and Build With Me (Team Sycamore) and third place to How Far We'll Go ( FIRST Robotics Competition Team 744 - Shark Attack).

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Animal Allies Mission Build Instructions

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Animal Allies Mission Build Instructions

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Mission Model Building Instructions | FIRST LEGO League

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Building Instructions for the 2017/2018 HYDRO DYNAMICSSM Season Looking for building instructions for previous seasons? Check out Past Challenges. How do I build the Mission Models?

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The Definitive Guide to K-12 Computer Science

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The Definitive Guide to K-12 Computer Science

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Ask most US tweens or teenagers to name his or her hero, and you'll get a list long on professional athletes and short on engineers.

Dean Kamen, whose best-known invention is the two-wheeled, gyroscopic Segway electric vehicle (although you could debate whether it's his most important), decries that imbalance. In the same breath, he points to America's glorification of competition on the playing field as its best weapon in getting the next generation excited about innovation and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

"We've got a culture that is obsessed over sports and entertainment," Kamen, 63, observed during a recent conversation from his office, housed in a former textile mill in Manchester, N.H. "It works, so let's use that model to create among those same kids a passion for developing the one muscle that matters for their future, the muscle hanging between their ears."

This year, Kamen's 25-year-old non-profit organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition and Technology) will touch approximately 350,000 students, who will collaborate with more than 64,000 mentors and adult supporters in one of several challenges focused on assembling robotics technologies and programming them to handle specific tasks. An example of one tournament game is demonstrated in the video below:

Consider that there were only 20 teams in the first year, back in 1989. The original focus was on high-school students, but FIRST now reaches kids as early as kindergarten through its Lego leagues. "We are the only sport that every kid in every school can participate in, and then turn pro," Kamen declares.

Furthering his theme of turning technologists into celebrities, Kamen regularly recruits highly visible individuals who straddle both worlds to fire up kids. Exhibit A is Black Eyed Peas frontman will.iam, who created an apparel brand that incorporates recycled plastic bottles and is an active supporter of STEM scholarships and programs. (Did we mention will.i.am is also director of "creative innovation" for Intel, and a founding shareholder in Beats Electronics ?) Random trivia: Some of the technology the Peas wore onfield during their 2011 SuperBowl half-time show was created by a FIRST "graduate."

Kamen gives himself an average C grade for FIRST's overall visibility: he won't rest until every US school participates. But he believes FIRST gets an A+ for its transformative impact on those who have participated, including "big gruff engineers" who weep openly when their students earn a trophy.

Indeed, FIRST now has more than 3,500 sponsors that will contribute to $19 million in college scholarships in 2014 alone, including founding supporters like Xerox, Kamen's own DEKA Research and Development and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers; and strategic partners such as Google, PTC, National Instruments, Rockwell Automation and dozens of others.

"I can tell you right now, the reason we have so many great sponsoring companies is it isn't philanthropy to them anymore," Kamen notes. "It's enlightened self-interest. I think almost all the companies, including my own, that support FIRST and FIRST teams do it because we're creating our next generation of superstars."

Kamen is no slouch himself, of course, with more than 440 patents to his name. Aside from FIRST, the bulk of his time is dedicated to DEKA, the holding company for all manner of innovative medical devices, including next-generation prosthetics and orthotics.

DEKA's portfolio is incredibly diverse ranging from his first invention, a wearable infusion pump, to creations like Slingshot, a portable, low-energy water purifier being installed by Coca-Cola in developing communities. The income from those technologies funds more ambitious projects that may or may not every catch on, such as the IBOT Mobility System, an all-terrain wheelchair that climbs stairs.

"The unintended consequence of redefining success as lack of failure is that we quickly become so risk-averse."

DEKA's recruiting process is illustrative of the sorts of skills that FIRST is attempting to encourage. Anyone who wants in is subjected to a "whiteboarding" session that includes the candidate plus 10 senior people. The topic may or may not cover the person's actual area of expertise, because that's sort of a given if you've been invited.

Instead, the group debates all sorts of questions to which there is no right answer. More than anything else, the experience is meant to gauge whether or not someone can be a team player, and whether they are willing to take the sorts of well-reasoned risks necessary for meaningful innovation.

Here's what gets considered: "Do they get defensive? Do they go into denial? Are they willing to throw out ideas? Do they respond when you laugh? When they watch two of your own guys have a debate about what the right answer is, do they join in? Are they thick-skinned? Because in the end, all I want around DEKA are people that are passionate about technology that have a feel for it, like to be challenged by problems to which there is probably no good answer, that can collaborate when necessary, cooperate, but stand their ground and take a position and make sure [an argument] is well-heard and well thought-out."

By the way, what degree you hold is secondary, despite the fact that DEKA is in close proximity to some of the top science schools in the United States including Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Princeton Yale and, yes, the local trade school. Even though he's technically a physicist, Kamen never graduated from college and he jokes that all you need to apply for a job at DEKA is an "associate's degree," as in you know somebody.

All in all, he's an equal opportunity innovator: There's a wind turbine on Kamen's property and his garage includes one of the first Tesla electric vehicles to drive off the production line. When he's in the mood, he commutes to DEKA by piloting one of his helicopters. His own childhood was less than orthodox, maybe partly because his father was an illustrator for EC Comics, the label run by the founder of Mad magazine. By the time Kamen graduated high school (just barely), he was building gadgets in his parent's Long Island basement and making more money than both of them, combined.

Kamen credits his father for teaching him that making mistakes is simply part of the recipe for future success, especially when innovation is on the line.

"People are under enormous pressure, I think, to not fail," he says. "Parents don't want to see the pain of failure. The teachers punish you for failing. Your boss punishes you for failing. So people learn throughout their life gradually, to find all sorts of ways to not fail, which frankly is easy to do. But again, the unintended consequence of redefining success as lack of failure is that we quickly become so risk-averse and everything we do in life is only marginally better than what we did yesterday. Life is so short. We shouldn't waste any of it trying to do anything marginal."
BRAIN WAVES What was the best advice you ever got?
It was from my father when I was a little kid. He said, 'Find something you love to do and learn how to do it so well that you can make a living doing it, because if you don't do that you're going to have to make a living doing something you don't like doing.' ... Then the follow-up to that was 'Whatever you do as long as you continue to believe in it, don't give up.'
What was your biggest mistake, if you could list just one?
I've never regretted anything I've done, even the things that I've failed at. I've often regretted not trying something really big, because you'll never know.
What would you tell your younger self?
Get used to dealing with failure, as long as it doesn't hurt people around you, as long as it doesn't hurt you physically, or it doesn't hurt you so much that you can't pick yourself up. Don't be irresponsible in your risks, but as long as the project can fail without it causing the person to fail, keep trying, keep taking the best shots, learn from them, pick yourself up. If people ridicule you look them in the eye and say, 'Yeah, I may have failed, but at least I tried' and get on with it.

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Dean Kamen wants you to make mistakes | ZDNet

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Ask most US tweens or teenagers to name his or her hero, and you'll get a list long on professional athletes and short on engineers. Dean Kamen, whose best-known invention is the two-wheeled, gyroscopic Segway electric vehicle (although you could debate whether it's his most important), decries that imbalance.

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A listing of FIRST scholarship opportunities.

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A Suite of Hands-On STEM Programs for Every Age

Project-based, hands-on FIRST programs introduce students to engineering and coding in engaging, inclusive, and creative learning environments, where students work collaboratively to solve themed robotics challenges.

Because our programs are More Than Robots®, participants are guided by FIRST Core Values to build a better future.

FIRST® LEGO ® League introduces STEM to children ages 4-16* through fun, exciting hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today's students and teachers build a better future together. FIRST LEGO League's three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.

*ages and grades vary by country

FIRST LEGO League is...

FIRST® Tech Challenge students learn to think like engineers. Teams design, build, and program robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by android technology, and can be coded using a variety of levels of Java-based programming.

FIRST Tech Challenge is...

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interest and participation in science and technology

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FIRST is a global robotics community preparing young people for the future and the world's leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing STEM education.

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Could ROBOTS build bigger space telescopes? Machines in orbit could assemble replacements for Hubble

Space telescopes capture clearer views than ground-based telescopes

But building and maintaining telescopes in space is a difficult task

New Nasa concept proposes robots to construct telescopes in orbit

They w ould maintain and resupply instruments to help them last longer

Space telescopes like Hubble has given astronomers a unique glimpse at the universe unhindered by the thick atmosphere of our planet that can blur our view.

But hauling a huge telescope into space can be difficult, which makes it hard to build the bigger space telescopes needed to peer into the furthest reaches of space.

This problem could be solved by a new telescope-constructing robot capable of assembling a space telescope while orbiting around Earth.

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) came up with the new concept, which uses a modular structure so each part of the telescope could be carried separately.

THE MISSION TO FIX HUBBLE

The robotically assembled modular space telescope (RAMST) would require an assembly robot to build an extremely large telescope in space, performing tasks in which astronaut fatigue would be a problem.

The robot would perform tasks that would be too tiring for an astronaut. It would also provide ongoing servicing to the telescope, a task usually given to astronauts.

When the Hubble Space Telescope first went into space in 1990, a misaligned mirror meant the images being sent back to Earth were fuzzy.

A group of seven astronauts had to embark on a mission in 1993 to service the telescope and fix the mirror.

If a robot was on hand to service a space telescope, missions like this would be avoidable.

'Our goal is to address the principal technical challenges associated with such an architecture, so that future concept studies addressing a particular science driver can consider robotically assembled telescopes in their trade space,' the authors wrote in the Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS).

The main features of the telescope include a mirror built with a from smaller pieces which could then be put together by a robot.

The robot could also provide ongoing servicing while advanced metrology technologies to support the assembly and operation of the telescope.

Telescopes in space, like Nasa's Hubble, can peer into the most distant parts of our universe and produce some of the most detailed and stunning pictures of astronomical objects.

While its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope is set to be 2.7 times larger than Hubble, but it close to the limit of what can be built here on Earth.

Instead carrying a telescope in parts and constructing it in space allows for a larger space telescope to be built.

The ability to fly the unassembled components of the telescope in formation could also open up new possibilities and capabilities.

'The capability to assemble a modular space telescope has other potential applications,' said Harley Thronson, scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

'For example, astronomers using major ground-based telescopes are accustomed to many decades of operation, and the Hubble Space Telescope has demonstrated that this is possible in space if astronauts are available.

'A robotic system of assembly, upgrade, repair, and resupply offers the possibility of very long useful lifetimes of space telescopes of all kinds.'

The system architecture is scalable to a variety of telescope sizes different optical designs, the researchers said.

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Could ROBOTS build bigger space telescopes?

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Space telescopes capture clearer views than ground-based telescopes But building and maintaining telescopes in space is a difficult task New Nasa concept proposes robots to construct telescopes in orbit They w ould maintain and resupply instruments to help them last longer Space telescopes like Hubble has given astronomers a unique glimpse at the universe unhindered by the thick atmosphere of our planet that can blur our view.

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Ayah Bdeir: Building blocks that blink, beep and teach

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Imagine a set of electronics as easy to play with as Legos. TED Fellow Ayah Bdeir introduces littleBits, a set of simple, interchangeable blocks that make programming as simple and important a part of creativity as snapping blocks together.

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We hear a lot about student engagement these days. Research has shown that it gets kids involved, helps them learn and remember, and keeps them focused. But creating an educational experience that truly engages all students is not easy to achieve, especially in an age when the classroom must compete with thousands of sources of entertainment and information.

And yet, I think I may have discovered the secret - or at least one of them - for capturing the imagination, investment and memory of students of all ages: stop animation.

How do I know they're engaged? They keep telling me.

In the grocery store one day, a child made a point to stop me and say, "I remember when you came to my school and taught us about the states of matter."

At the hair dresser, another child called out, "Remember two years ago when we made stop animation movies about fact families? That was my favorite day at school." One of my former students even reminded me of a life-cycle stop animation lesson I had taught him 10 years earlier. That kind of reaction speaks for itself.

As an elementary technology instructional specialist, I have been incorporating student-created stop animation projects in elementary school classrooms for more than a decade, in all subjects and grade levels. Without fail, kids love the process and the opportunity to express their creativity. And because they are so engaged, they seem to learn and remember the content they incorporate into their stop animation projects without even trying.

What to use it for

Stop animation is ideal for helping students learn about concepts that involve processes and progressions - anything that benefits from including an element of movement to explain how it works.

Why not just shoot a video? If you've ever watched a stop animation, you might think that it takes a lot of time to build a video-like sequence using only still photos. However, the medium is surprisingly easy to master and allows young students flexibility and creativity that would be much more difficult to achieve in video. For example, they can draw illustrations or use toys, Legos, manipulatives or household objects, such as cotton balls, to represent abstract concepts, like molecules or equations, that would be difficult to depict in a regular video.

Stop animation is also remarkably versatile. You can use it for just about every subject. Here are a few ideas to spark your imagination:

Science. Countless students have learned about the process of erosion by looking at a static picture in a book, with arrows to represent movement. But if the students can use stop animation to illustrate science vocabulary words, such as erosion and deposition, these abstract concepts start to have more meaning for them. Other science processes I have taught with stop animation include life cycles, food webs, the process of collecting energy, moon phases, fossilization, planet rotations, and recessive and dominant gene inheritance.

Math. Concepts that involve progression, such as place value and fractions, lend themselves well to stop animation. Students can also use math manipulatives to demonstrate how they solved a word problem. In primary math, students can use stop animation to demonstrate processes such as counting, patterns, addition, subtraction and fact families.

Language arts. In the primary grades, students are asked to practice spelling by sorting objects by the letters they start with. Have them use stop animation to show this sorting. They can also use magnetic letters to show how to create new words. Or they can show letter combinations that result in specific sounds or rhymes, Sesame Street style. Older students can create stop animation book reports or re-enactments of their favorite stories from literature.

Social studies. Have them use dolls, toys, Legos or clay sculptures to re-enact events from a historical figure's life, such as the travels of Lewis and Clark. Stop animation also works well to depict timelines.

How to do it
Stop animation is not as difficult or time consuming as it might seem. The technology tools have changed over the years, and my use of many programs and devices has given me a wealth of experience with the features of various apps and web 2.0 tools that can help with this task. And I have found that, with a little practice, kids of any age can knock out quality projects within a single class period. In fact, check out this video that a ninth grade student created in one hour to introduce elementary school children to the stop animation process.

Here are some basic steps for using stop animation to help students learn and express their learning about any subject, with tips for making the process as painless as possible:

1. Learn how to use the program.
If you don't have a movie editing expert on your staff for a one-on-one training, just watch one of the many free tutorials, likethis one that shows how to use Windows Movie Maker, on the internet. For elementary students, I recommend setting the timing of the slides to around .35. Try creating a few sample movies of your own, both for practice and to build a library of samples the kids can use for inspiration - which brings us to Step 3:

2. Have your students watch sample stop animations.
Show them your masterpieces and/or look for age-appropriatevideos on the internet. The topics of the films don't really matter, as the point of this step is for students to see how movement works in a stop animation before they start planning. Without this understanding, they are likely to present a completed project with four pictures that show stages instead of movement.

3. Select or create the materials.
My mantra is to keep it simple. You want the kids to be focusing on the content, not a complicated process.I usually have students create a stop animation to start with that shows basic movement, such as the difference of molecule movement in solids, liquids and gasses. Be creative but simple with the materials as well. I make a point to call itstop animation, because when I used to say clay animation, I saw teachers tense up as they thought of the mess. Students do not have to spend hours creating materials, and messes are not necessary. Have them use classroom manipulatives to start with. In the solid/liquid/gas example, we used cotton balls.

4. Repeat.
When students get the chance to do several projects on different topics, they'll not only practice and improve their stop animation skills, they will also start to feel more confident taking risks, which allows them to stretch their creative muscles. Try using stop animation in your classroom once a month for different content areas. The quality of these projects will improve over the course of the year, and it will take less class time to explain the assignment and master the technology skills.

Although most of my experience with stop animation has been in the elementary school setting, I have seen high school students create movies about molecules, DNA strands and other scientific processes. I have also taught stop animation after school, before school and at summer camp. And every time, I have found this project-based learning to be so motivating for students that they always want to create more, and so memorable that they master the content effortlessly. Most important, it helps them make the crucial transition from consumers of media created by others to producers of content they can share and be proud of.
Stephanie Hinshaw Hatten is Image: The Tardis materializing (cropped) by Spielbrick Films. Found on flickrcc.net. the district technology instructional specialist for Galena Park Independent School District in Houston, Texas. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership with a specialization in curriculum and instruction as well as a master's in instructional technology. She has been in public education for 18 years, and she believes in authentic, project-based learning and differentiated staff development based on instructional coaching models.

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Engage elementary students with stop animation!

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We hear a lot about student engagement these days. Research has shown that it gets kids involved, helps them learn and remember, and keeps them focused. But creating an educational experience that truly engages all students is not easy to achieve, especially in an age when the classroom must compete with thousands of sources of entertainment and information.

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ORLANDO - For years, Dean Kamen has been the closest thing the engineering and technologically entrepreneurial world has had to a rock star. Or, if not a rock star, then at least the kind of indie favorite who has hauled in a handful of Grammy Awards and should have long ago landed a record deal from a major label.

During his decades of tinkering, Kamen has been credited with the invention of the Segway and the iBot Wheelchair, along with 400 or so other domestic and foreign patents. He has received the Hoover Medal for American engineering, the Heinz Award for technology, the economy and employment, the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Bill Clinton for advancing medical care, the prestigious (and financially lucrative) Lemelson-MIT Prize, the ASME Medal form the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and, for good measure, the Global Humanitarian Award from the Tech Museum of Innovation. Heck, he has been accomplishing so much for so long that he was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame more than a decade ago.

To hear Kamen tell his own story, though - and he is surprisingly humble and self-deprecating - nothing has given him greater satisfaction than working with MIT professor emeritus Woodie Flowers more than a quarter of a century ago to establish FIRST, short for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The non-profit organization has inspired an estimated 1 million students to dive into all sorts of tech projects, most famously robotics, more recently LEGO. Today, the member list includes more than 400,000 students, more than 130,000 volunteer mentors and close to 40,000 robots.

Kamen delivered the keynote address at Rockwell Automation TechEd last month in Orlando, an hour packed with ideas, stories and inspiration. What follows is some of what Kamen has learned.

FIRST is in its 26th year, we've had 55% compound annual growth, and it's really nice that the word that keeps coming up on top every year is "inspire" first, not "education." Kids will get good in anything that adults make them think is important. That's why we have no shortage of entertainers and ball-bouncers. But they will not improve our quality of life, and the world needs to start making heroes out of the right people. I think the sports model works beautifully. Why don't we use it? LeBron James is not a phys ed teacher. When I started FIRST, all I said was, Let's find superstars from the world of tech. We can make a real difference with what happens in this world.

We started with 25 teams. This year, we had almost 46,000 teams in 86 countries, and we keep growing.

Ten, or 15, or 20 years from today, some kid in our stands will have cured Alzheimer's, or AIDS, or cancer, or built an engine that doesn't pollute. Look at these kids. They're the future, and there's a job out there for every one of these kids.

We can complain about the lack of kids studying science and engineering - we can complain about a lot of things - but that's not what engineers do. We don't complain. When we have problems, we solve them. You've got to have a voice. We've made it easy, we've organized it, and with so many great companies, I think we really can create a global network that will, for the first time in history, allow a generation to grow up and communicate, cooperate, and understand each other.

You can give them a vision of the future, and you can give them the tools to turn that vision into reality. When kids have a vision, and they have tools, and they have hope, they don't do what people did yesterday. The world is desperately crying for people to help fix it. It's time for the technical community to answer that call.

Six years ago, the U.S. still had one credible source of news - Stephen Colbert. Five times, I was on his show, and each time, he told me, Bring your arm, bring your wheelchair, and I'd say, Sure, Stephen, I have nothing better to do than come to New York and have you make a jackass out of me. I'll go anywhere if we can promote FIRST. If you help me promote FIRST, sure.

I don't go anywhere unless we can promote FIRST. I did ask the president, Please, bring the kids to the White House. I've asked four presidents - two Democrats, two Republicans, nice balance - in the 26 years FIRST has been around, Please, don't help us. The last thing I want to do is turn FIRST into another curriculum-based, in-school science fair. It makes it seem intimidating and difficult. Please, let us make FIRST an exciting alternative to the Super Bowl and the World Series. Every year, the president brings the winners of the Super Bowl and the World Series to the White House. In America, you get what you celebrate - in any free country, you get what you celebrate - and let's celebrate science and technology. The kids deserve the same recognition for their excellence in technology as the people who are excellent at bouncing a ball, or singing. The difference is the kids in FIRST have improved our quality of life, and will continue to improve our quality of life.

By the way, for any of you who have any doubt, if you chase the President of the United States around the White House with a 120-pound robot, the Secret Service has no sense of humor.

I Don't Start a Project Anymore Unless People Think We're Nuts

Moore's Law, we all know, is moving faster and faster and faster and faster. But if anything, our society and regulation are slowing down as people, organizations, institutions, countries get older and more reserved, more conservative. And it concerns me that the technical community keeps putting all these great things out there, but the rate at which they're getting adopted is slowing down, and it's in large part because the technological community doesn't have a place at the table. ... We ought to help society decide what are reasonable risks, what are reasonable benefits. If you leave it to politicians, I'm not sure they decide that very well.

Technology is an incredible amplifier of what can be done in this world. We need way more technical people. ... We can create, in every generation, an elevated standard of living.

I don't start a project anymore unless people think we're nuts.

The No. 1 cause of death among kids under 5 years old worldwide could be completely eliminated if we just gave people clean water. We've known that for years. We realized that all the normal methods of getting clean water to people require pretty big infrastructure. People think we get to play with technology because we're rich, and that's not the case. We're rich because we have technology. We don't spend hours a day looking for clean water - and when it's not clean, spending our time burying our babies. You have to rethink the situation. You can't deliver to the developing world a simple solution to make clean water.

If all the places around the world that don't have clean water had access to the supply chain of chemicals and filters and activated charcoal and osmosis, they'd probably have clean water. We had to come up with a robust solution that doesn't matter what's in the water, that doesn't need filters, that's just a box that has two hoses on it and has instructions to take the big, fat hose and stick it in anything that looks wet.

We were asked by DARPA to help put (arms) back onto some of these soldiers that have literally given their arms to this country and the security of the world. ... The goal was to build a device that weighs no more than the original equipment - nine pounds - and that can allow people who have lost their arms to do simple things that we all take for granted. In the Civil War, when a musket took out their arm, we gave you a wooden stick with a hook on it. One-hundred fifty years have gone by and now IEDs are doing this, and we give these young soldiers a plastic stick with a hook on it.

Losing an arm is pretty bad. I can't imagine that. But compared to losing two? I have my day job, and I have FIRST, but I'm at home, laying awake at night, thinking about these people who gave up two arms, and I'm thinking, How do you roll around in bed with no arms? (DARPA) gave us a couple years, and I told them, , I can build an arm that could do all. It would take longer to integrate it, but these young people have suffered enough. ... We agreed to disagree. We compromised, and did it my way.

That arm is critically important to a very, very, very, very, very small group of people, and I hope we keep it a very small group of people.

At the intersection of 3D printing and biotechnology, we are turning science-fiction into science at a rate that is just staggering. Over the next decade, you're going to see medicine change in ways that just makes the whole dot-com era look calm.

Technology at the most fundamental level, if it's properly integrated by people that get it, can change the world and can save lives.

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How Dean Kamen Will Keep Changing the World

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ORLANDO - For years, Dean Kamen has been the closest thing the engineering and technologically entrepreneurial world has had to a rock star. Or, if not a rock star, then at least the kind of indie favorite who has hauled in a handful of Grammy Awards and should have long ago landed a record deal from a major label.

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Mildred Johnson, North Salisbury Elementary School

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Code with Google’s goal is to make sure everyone has access to the collaborative, coding, and technical skills that can unlock opportunities in the classroom and beyond.

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Because Styrofoam can't easily be recycled, it often ends up in the trash. But a group of middle school students from Folsom, California, designed a digester that uses bacteria to eat Styrofoam-and turns it into energy and biodegradable plastic.

"It's a big problem in the world right now," says 13-year-old Emily Miner, one of the inventors of the tool, called the Polystyrenator. "A lot of Styrofoam is getting into waterways and affecting the environment negatively. Our robotics team thought it was a big problem that needed to be addressed."

The students dug through the latest research, and combined what they found into their own process. Now, their idea is a semifinalist in the First Lego League Global Innovation Award, an X-Prize sponsored competition that asks young students to create solutions for global challenges.

"It's not the traditional science fair, where you see something on a poster board," says Sarah Stray, the innovation award manager for First, an organization founded by Dean Kamen to get kids interested in science, technology, and engineering. (Lego later cofounded the competition.) "This is the real deal." The winner of last years' competition now has a working prototype; others have patented their designs.

For students, it's a chance to solve real problems while learning skills they probably don't get in school. "It's really hitting those 21st-century learning skills that we talk so much about-we are not giving students answers to anything," says Stray. "What we are doing is asking them to solve a problem. Anytime you're solving a problem, you're applying those broad thinking skills and the engineering/design process . . . skills that you're not taught in a traditional academic setting."

Miner and her teammates hope to bring the Polystyrenator to life. "It made me realize that even though we're all very young, it doesn't matter how young you are," she says. "You can still make a difference in the world."

Out of thousands of teams from around the world, 20 semifinalist teams will now compete for a $20,000 prize. Here's a selection of some of the our favorite ideas from the contest:

When a group of Bay Area middle school students looked through their school's trash, recycling, and compost bins, they found that only about half of the waste ended up in the right bin. They tested a sorting contest to motivate students to do better, but accuracy only improved to 58%. Next, they designed a robot to help: A Raspberry Pi-based device takes a picture of a piece of trash, then uses photo classification to tell someone which bin to use. The tool can improve accuracy to more than 90%.

After noticing how many chip bags ended up in the trash at their Florida middle school, a group of seventh and eighth graders invented Chipsulation, a type of insulation made from shredded bags. Because the bags contain polyethylene, they can't easily be recycled. But as insulation, in tests, the students found that chip bags were both more effective and cheaper than the standard material used in construction.

A team of fifth and sixth grade girls created a concept for a home device that turns food scraps and waste into fuel for natural gas appliances. Microorganisms break down the food, making methane gas that can be used in stoves, furnaces, or hot water heaters.

Plastic bags, made from polyethylene plastic, can't be recycled in most home recycling bins. When they are recycled-as from the bins in front of grocery stores-they're often "downcycled" into low-grade plastic products like recycled lumber. A team of Canadian students has a different solution: a plastic "composter" that uses bacteria to biodegrade polyethylene over a 15-week period. The process creates CO2, which can be reused in other products, and biomass that can be sold as fertilizer.

On farms, hay bales are often wrapped in 8 to 10 layers of plastic film before the hay is stored outside-helping preserve the nutrition in the hay for animals, but adding trash. A group of eighth and ninth graders from a rural community in Canada designed a bioplastic made from plant starch and fiber. After it's used, the bioplastic can break down into an edible product, or be used as fertilizer.

Plastic packaging usually ends up in the landfill, but a group of five students designed a new type of packaging that can be reused. Made from a material called shape memory polymer (SMP)-which can be easily flattened with heat or light, but later pop back into the original shape-the students envision that packages could be sent back to manufacturers, and used in an endless loop.

A team of sixth graders took on the problem of six-pack rings that kill marine animals when the animals are trapped, or when they eat pieces of the plastic. Their solution: plastic that dissolves when it's submerged in water, or exposed to rain.

Another team of students, now eighth graders, has been working together for three years, and now has a patent-pending process for dealing with Styrofoam waste. Their low-temperature system turns the Styrofoam into activated carbon, which can then be used in water filters.

In theory, bioplastics should be compostable. But when a group of Canadian students did research at their local composting plant, they learned that most bioplastics failed tests there, and can cause damage to equipment and costs from lost time. They modified a recipe for a decomposing plastic that can be composted-and then turned it into doggy bags, so pet owners can start composting their dog poop and the bags it ends up in.
Have something to say about this article? You can email us and let us know. If it's interesting and thoughtful, we may publish your response.

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10 Clever Student Inventions That Could Reduce Our Waste

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Because Styrofoam can't easily be recycled, it often ends up in the trash. But a group of middle school students from Folsom, California, designed a digester that uses bacteria to eat Styrofoam-and turns it into energy and biodegradable plastic.

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Alliances Corner

FIRST Alliances closed out the 2015-2016 season with a bang. Thanks to all who participated in the 2016 FIRST Innovation Faire, which was very well received. We are looking forward to having more participation at the two FIRST Championships next year in St. Louis and Houston.

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) produced an excellent video onsite that highlighted the FIRST Robotics Competition teams that were SWE Grant winners and qualified for the FIRST Championship. SWE, in conjunction with the Motorola Foundation, has been very supportive of teams that recruit both girls and boys to their teams and strive for gender equality among their ranks. This requires a strong commitment from the boys on the team to be accepting of girls in all roles and supporting women in STEM initiatives. SWE will again be offering the grants ($1,000) for the 2016-2017 season. Watch for details in the fall. Pictured here, SWENext members enjoy the 2016 FIRST Championship Event hosted by the Society of Women Engineers. (Photo Courtesy of Team 2220)

Planning is already underway for the 2016 SWE National Conference to be held in Philadelphia. FIRST will once again have a large footprint at the event as an exhibitor, workshop presenter, and host of teams representing the Progression of Programs at the Invent.It.Build.It. outreach event for area middle school students to be held on Saturday, October 29, 2016. If you are a local team in the Philadelphia area and would like to apply for participation representing FIRST, please contact Carla Proulx, Alliances Manager at cproulx@firstinspires.org for details. Middle and high school girls who wish to attend the event with their parent(s) are advised to register.

Congratulations to Ruthe Farmer, from NCWIT, who has rotated to the White House for the remainder of the Obama Administration. Ruthe will be a Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the Office of Science & Technology Policy, focusing on implementing the Computer Science for All initiative with a special emphasis on ensuring that underrepresented groups are included. In Ruthe's absence, Leslie Aaronson has joined NCWIT to continue the strategic leaderships of NCWIT's K-12 initiatives. Welcome Leslie!

The 2016 ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Annual Conference took place in New Orleans in late June. FIRST had a very large footprint as an exhibitor, and a FIRST Robotics Competition demonstration was given by local teams during the attendee luncheon. Additionally, a FIRST LEGO League workshop was held for area teachers looking to implement FIRST programs at their schools. FIRST Robotics Competition Team 987 "High Rollers" from Las Vegas, winner of the 2016 Chairman's Award, was also on hand to accept a plaque honoring their accomplishments in promoting STEM education. Many thanks to the local FIRST staff and Partners, FIRST LEGO League Teams 3575 and 4043, and FIRST Robotics Competition Teams 1927, 5965, 1912, and 4107 who did us proud!

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) has a new leader. Sylvia Acevedo will act as interim CEO, replacing the exiting Anna Maria Chavez. Sylvia brings a wealth of experience to the role, both as a former Girl Scout and as a STEM professional. She is a former rocket scientist and engineer, and is very active in women in STEM and Hispanic initiatives. With the GSUSA push to engage more girls in STEM activities, FIRST remains committed to supporting Sylvia's efforts in moving this initiative forward.

Brothers from Sigma Phi Delta take a break from Volunteering at the FIRST Robotics Competition Chesapeake Regional. Sigma Phi Delta, a fraternity of engineers, is a FIRST Alliance. (Photo courtesy of Jenny Beatty)
Back to Summer 2016 Newsletter

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interest and participation in science and technology

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FIRST Newsletter - Summer, 2016 - Alliances Corner

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FIRST Alliances closed out the 2015-2016 season with a bang. Thanks to all who participated in the 2016 FIRST Innovation Faire, which was very well received. We are looking forward to having more participation at the two FIRST Championships next year in St. Louis and Houston.

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FIRST Team Registration Site

We are excited to announce the release of the NEW Team Registration portion of our website, which will replace the existing Team Information Management Systems (TIMS)*. With this change, the need for four separate program Team registration systems goes away - the new team registration is now an extension of firstinspires.org website.

The process will reduce time on administrative activities, resulting in more time for Coaches and Mentors to work with their teams. Features include:

Simple, easy-to-use "wizard" approach to all program registrations;

Reduced data requirements and streamlined entry choices;

Simple dashboard launch point for all registration-related processes that shows the overall status of the user's teams across all four FIRST programs (e.g. If a Coach has a FIRST LEGO League Team and a FIRST Tech Challenge Team, he/she can check the status of each team from one location);

Register, pay for, and manage teams using a common workflow for all four FIRST programs;

Payment and grant processing functionality shows grants awarded and allows user to pay for multiple teams at once; and

Optimized experience for both desktop and smartphone browsers.

The new site will be launched with our FIRST LEGO League season opening on and then will be available for the opening of the other programs seasons:

All existing user accounts will remain the same, and all existing teams will be rolled forward to the new season as we normally do at this time of year and will be accessible from the new site. View example pages from the new site here.

Other FIRST sites are not changing at this time - but stay tuned as we continue our journey to improve the FIRST digital experience!

*for FIRST LEGO League Jr. and FIRST LEGO League teams in North America

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interest and participation in science and technology

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FIRST Team Registration Site We are excited to announce the release of the NEW Team Registration portion of our website, which will replace the existing Team Information Management Systems (TIMS)*. With this change, the need for four separate program Team registration systems goes away - the new team registration is now an extension of firstinspires.org website.

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Interested in Starting a Robotics Team?

FIRST Tech Challenge (for students in grades 7-12) is a project-based, STEM education program that gets your students excited about learning through robotics. Now is a great time to jump in and engage your students, while immersing them in the world of technology.

Take advantage of a grant to help offset the costs of registration.

New teams apply to receive a$750 grant ($275 to cover the full cost of registration and $475 to be used in our product storefront).

Existing teams apply to receive a $275 registration grant to cover the full cost of the season registration.

Are you, or someone you know, interested in starting a robotics team? Get more details about these grants.

Back to Summer 2016 Newsletter

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interest and participation in science and technology

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FIRST Newsletter - Summer, 2016 - Interested in Starting a Robotics Team?

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FIRST Tech Challenge (for students in grades 7-12) is a project-based, STEM education program that gets your students excited about learning through robotics. Now is a great time to jump in and engage your students, while immersing them in the world of technology. Take advantage of a grant to help offset the costs of registration.

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Dean Kamen Flies B-2 Spirit Bomber Maintained by FIRST Alumni

Marking the opening of the 2016 FIRST Championship in St. Louis, FIRST Founder Dean Kamen was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly in a B-2 Spirit bomber and experience the U.S. Air Force's cutting edge innovation and technology firsthand.

While at Whiteman Air Force Base for the flight, Kamen met with two FIRST Alumni, now Air Force maintainers who keep the B-2 flying and mission-ready every day. The maintainers, 2nd Lt. Ben Petry and Staff Sgt. Stephan Kuipers, lead specialized teams to meet the B-2's unique systems, structural, and programing challenges.

Petry is a maintenance officer assigned to the 509th Maintenance Squadron's (MXS) Aerospace Ground Equipment shop. He leads more than 80 Airmen who maintain equipment systems such as generators, hydraulic systems, and lift trucks, which support B-2 maintenance and ultimately keep it flying. The Airmen provide comprehensive equipment maintenance including structural, engine, and circuitry troubleshooting and repair. Understanding engineering theory and how systems works together is an essential part of their jobs.

Kuipers is a 509th MXS crew chief shift lead, responsible for supervising and training up to eight Airmen who help maintain all 19 B-2 Spirit bombers at Whiteman AFB. Crew chiefs ensure the B-2 is flight-ready. From inspection to issue identification and resolution, they follow a strict process. Kuipers and his team are the first to inspect the B-2 after landing and the last to check the aircraft before takeoff. Therefore, attention to detail is paramount.

Kuipers also mentors FIRST Robotics Competition "Team Bronco Bots" from Lee's Summit, Missouri, during his off-duty time. This year, under his mentorship, the team competed at the FIRST Championship. Austin Ahern, the current high school build team leader for Team Bronco Bots' has been accepted to the Air Force Academy and will start this June.

Read coverage of the flight in Lee's Summit Tribune.
Back to Summer 2016 Newsletter

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interest and participation in science and technology

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FIRST Newsletter - Summer, 2016 - Dean Kamen Flies B-2 Spirit Bomber

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Dean Kamen Flies B-2 Spirit Bomber Maintained by FIRST Alumni Marking the opening of the 2016 FIRST Championship in St. Louis, FIRST Founder Dean Kamen was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly in a B-2 Spirit bomber and experience the U.S. Air Force's cutting edge innovation and technology firsthand.

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Each season, teams from all over the world participate in all three aspects of FLL: the Robot Game, the Research Project, and the FLL Core Values that focus on teamwork, good sportsmanship, and friendly competition. This season, over 33,000 teams participated worldwide! In FLL, students are immersed in real-world science and technology challenges. Teams come...

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Each season, teams from all over the world participate in all three aspects of FLL: the Robot Game, the Research Project, and the FLL Core Values that focus on teamwork, good sportsmanship, and friendly competition. This season, over 33,000 teams participated worldwide! In FLL, students are immersed in real-world science and technology challenges.

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are not traditionally known for quick thinking, but new research shows they can make complex decisions using just two brain cells in findings that could help engineers design more efficient robots.

Scientists at the University of Sussex attached electrodes to the heads of freshwater snails as they searched for lettuce.

They found that just one cell was used by the mollusc to tell if it was hungry or not, while another let it know when food was present.

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Snails' efficient thinking could help design robots of the future

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are not traditionally known for quick thinking, but new research shows they can make complex decisions using just two brain cells in findings that could help engineers design more efficient robots. Scientists at the University of Sussex attached electrodes to the heads of freshwater snails as they searched for lettuce.

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Entertainment / Life Science / Life Science

"What's not cool about infinity?"

Science:

Danica fell hard for mathematics in college and has been "solving puzzles" ever since. She has a theorem named after herself and has written a slew of best-selling math books for middle schoolers.

Secret:

Two words: Winnie Cooper. Danica played Winnie on the TV classic "The Wonder Years." Yes, she broke poor Kevin's heart... but a heartthrob's gotta do what a heartthrob's gotta do.

Are You the Girl from "The Wonder Years"?

Math Doesn't Suck

My First Kiss

Danica McKellar became a child star on the iconic television series, "The Wonder Years." Her famous kiss with onscreen paramour Kevin Arnold showed once and for all what it looks like "when a man loves a woman." Danica continues to act in movies and TV, but now devotes more of her time to writing math textbooks targeted at teenage girls. Her goal? To make math fun. And to help girls feel confident about doing math.

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Entertainment / Life Science / Life Science "What's not cool about infinity?" Science: Danica fell hard for mathematics in college and has been "solving puzzles" ever since. She has a theorem named after herself and has written a slew of best-selling math books for middle schoolers. Secret: Two words: Winnie Cooper.

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The field of robotics is full of surprises, with creatively designs sporting forms or functions that defy expectations of what machines can do.

In this vein, the latest buzz in miniature robotics is the "RoboBee."

Led by engineers at Harvard University in collaboration with Northeastern University, the RoboBees project aims to create autonomous robotic insects capable of sustainable, independent flight.

The team's primary research covered a number of areas to reach this goal, overcoming obstacles related to micro-manufacturing, actuation materials, small-scale energy storage and algorithms capable of effectively controlling individual and coordinated swarms of robots.

Micro Robots Inspired by Nature

The initial inspiration for the RoboBee came from flies and other insects. The team was intrigued by the incredible ability of small insects to self-launch, navigate and perform agile actions despite their small bodies.

"Bees and other social insects provide a fascinating model for engineered systems that can maneuver in unstructured environments, sense their surroundings, communicate and perform complex tasks as a collective full of relatively simple individuals," said Robert Wood, professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard, and principal investigator on the RoboBee project.

"The RoboBees project grew out of this inspiration and has developed solutions to numerous fundamental challenges -- challenges that are motivated by the small scale of the individual and large scale of the collective," Wood continued.

The current RoboBee design weighs only 84 milligrams, which is lighter than a real bee despite being about the same size.

As the project progressed, the team designed and demonstrated increasing capabilities with their miniature flying robots - from the first controlled flight of an insect scale robot back in 2012, to the current generation that can swim. The next goal: RoboBees that can sense their environment using lasers.

Conserving Energy with Biomimicry

Earlier this year, the team demonstrated RoboBees that can perch during flight to save energy, emulating bats, birds and butterflies.

"Many applications for small drones require them to stay in the air for extended periods," said Moritz Graule, one of the researchers who participated in the RoboBees project as an engineering student at Harvard University. "Unfortunately, smaller drones run out of energy quickly. We want to keep them aloft longer without requiring too much additional energy."

The RoboBee can stick to almost any surface, from glass to wood to a leaf. (Image courtesy of Harvard Microrobotics Lab/Harvard University.)

"A lot of different animals use perching to conserve energy," said Kevin Ma, a post-doc at SEAS and the Wyss Institute. "But the methods they use to perch, like sticky adhesives or latching with talons, are inappropriate for a paperclip-size microrobot, as they either require intricate systems with moving parts or high forces for detachment."

Instead, the team turned to electrostatic adhesion. This is basically the science behind the effect of a static-charged sock that clings to a pants leg or a balloon sticking to the wall.

For example, by rubbing a balloon on a wool sweater, the balloon becomes negatively charged. If the charged balloon is brought close to a wall, that negative charge forces some of the wall's electrons away, leaving the wall's surface positively charged. The attraction between opposite charges is what causes the balloon to stick to the wall.

"In the case of the balloon, however, the charges dissipate over time, and the balloon will eventually fall down," said Graule. "In our system, a small amount of energy is constantly supplied to maintain the attraction."

The RoboBee uses an electrode patch and a foam mount that absorbs shock. The entire mechanism weighs 13.4 mg, bringing the total weight of the robot to about 100mg, which is closer to the weight of a real bee. When the electrode patch is supplied with a charge, it can stick to almost any surface, from glass to wood to a leaf. To detach, the power supply is simply switched off.

"One of the biggest advantages of this system is that it doesn't cause destabilizing forces during disengagement, which is crucial for a robot as small and delicate as ours," said Graule.

The patch requires about 1000 times less power to perch than it does to hover, which dramatically extends the operational life of the robot. Reducing the robot's power requirements is critical for the researchers as they work to integrate onboard batteries into untethered RoboBees.

"The use of adhesives that are controllable without complex physical mechanisms, are low power and can adhere to a large array of surfaces is perfect for robots that are agile yet have limited payload -- like the RoboBee," Wood added. "When making robots the size of insects, simplicity and low power are always key constraints."

Future Flight of the RoboBee

So what can these RoboBees be used for, either individually or as a swarm?

The research team sees them applied to assist in reconnaissance, aid in remote communications or even act as artificial pollinators in agriculture.

(Image courtesy of Kevin Ma and Pakpong Chirarattananon.)

"Aerial microrobots have enormous potential for large-scale sensor deployment to inaccessible, expansive and dangerous locations. However, flight is energy-intensive, and the limitations of current energy storage technologies severely curtail in-air operations," said Jordan Berg, an NSF program director familiar with the project.

Berg continued, "Because the capabilities of flying insects far exceed those of similarly sized machines, many researchers seek design inspiration from nature. NSF-funded projects such as this one show that innovative solutions can arise from exploiting a synergy between biological ends and engineered means."

And it's not just the RoboBees that are enjoying the fruits of the project's labor; members of the project have taken some of their advances into other projects.

"We have had some nice successes with translation of some of the technologies that emerged from the RoboBees project," Wood said. "For example, several of the RoboBees principal investigators are now participating in a DARPA-sponsored project making new surgical tools based on the popup microfabrication technologies developed in the RoboBees project."

Meanwhile, research on the RoboBees continues. Currently, the team is working to make the perching mechanism omnidirectional, which would enable the robot to land anywhere. They are also developing onboard power sources that could allow the RoboBees to fly completely untethered.

As exciting as these mini-robots sound, they aren't expected to be ready for use in the real world for another five to ten years, according to Wood.

Nevertheless, this is a great example of how long-term sustained research through universities provides opportunities for engineering students.

To learn more, check out the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory website.

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RoboBee: The Latest Buzz in Micro Robotics

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The field of robotics is full of surprises, with creatively designs sporting forms or functions that defy expectations of what machines can do. In this vein, the latest buzz in miniature robotics is the "RoboBee." Led by engineers at Harvard University in collaboration with Northeastern University, the RoboBees project aims to create autonomous robotic insects capable of sustainable, independent flight.

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Groove X

Kaname Hayashi has found a new obsession.

Hayashi is the "father of Pepper," the charming humanoid robot from Japanese carrier SoftBank Mobile and French company Aldebaran Robotics. Pepper, with its circular doe eyes and welcoming smile, is billed as a robot that can read your emotions. It's available for sale and has even enrolled in school.

Like any proud parent whose kids leave home, Hayashi had a void to fill. He's doing that by creating a robot that could serve as a true companion.

"We all feel lonely," Hayashi said. "We lie if we say we don't."

Hayashi's ambitions for artificial intelligence and social robotics comes as tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft pour resources into building out their own AI. While Amazon Echo and Google Home can answer history questions or order you pizza, the notion of a companion robot pushes the boundaries of AI by not just figuring out who we are emotionally, but by simulating near-human levels of empathy and compassion. Pepper is just the first iteration.

And Pepper is not a breed of his own. Other bots like social robot Jibo, Asus' smart companion Zenbo and Paro the seal are all designed to offer companionship to varying degrees. The big question usually asked of these products is whether they will move beyond what a smartphone is capable of and truly be able to perceive and respond to human emotions. Reaction to the results of current efforts has been mixed, but with AI evolving there's good reason to be optimistic.

Katie Collins

There's already burgeoning interest. By 2020, one in 10 American households is expected to own a robot, up from one in 25 currently. (Today's robots are more in the vein of a Roomba vacuum cleaner.) Every month, 1,000 Pepper robots are put on sale in Japan and sell out within minutes as demand far outstrips supply. Pepper will hit the US market later this year.

You got a friend in me

Companion robots "make a lot of sense," according to Kate Darling, a research specialist at MIT Media Lab and expert in human-robot interaction. "Humans are able to develop all sorts of relationships, whether requited or not, for example to animals and even to things," she said.

There are, however, specific factors that need to be at play for such relationships to form between people and robots. In a long-term study looking at 70 robots in 70 homes over the course of six months, Maartje de Graaf, a researcher at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, found that the robot had to be capable of meaningful communication for its human owners to be able to treat it as a true companion.

A major finding from the study was the identification of one factor crucial to the formation of this bond. This was that "the participants felt they could share personal information with the robot and that they the robot was capable of responding empathically to their personal stories," she told CNET.

Curing loneliness

Count Hayashi as a believer in the robot companion movement. He left SoftBank last year to start his own company, Groove X, to focus on a follow-up to Pepper.

Katie Collins

His new office sits high above neon-lit Akihabara, a district in Tokyo known as "electric town." A team of 10 or so engineers and designers consult with each other in hushed tones around a single bank of desks, pausing only to acknowledge Hayashi, an enthusiastic and infectious smiler, as he enters looking almost too dapper for the minimal setup. It's here that he laid out his vision in an interview with CNET.

It goes back to loneliness. It's a good instinct, Hayashi believes -- human evolution has relied on it by encouraging us to form groups. But nuclear families have shrunk, leading to more isolation.

Social networks and games provide ways for us to "cheat loneliness," but Hayashi believes we need more meaningful interactions in our daily lives to "heal" us.

This is where his new companion robot comes into play.

'Cuter than BB-8'

Hayashi wants to bring his robot to market in 2019. Groove X has already settled on the design.

It won't be humanoid and it won't resemble an animal. Instead, it will be "completely new -- nothing like anything," he said, who teased it will be "very cute -- cuter than BB-8."

Unlike Pepper, it won't talk. It'll also be smaller. Hayashi points to "Star Wars" as a hint of things to come.

He asks me who I like better, R2-D2 or C-3PO, the sci-fi franchise's marquee droids. I choose cute-as-a-button R2-D2, just like 80 percent of people asked. "It is difficult to explain why R2-D2 is sweet," said Hayashi with a soft, but pronounced lisp. "But you know that he is sweet."

Design is just a small part of the project. Groove X is dedicating another three years to development because building this robot is for Hayashi as much an exercise in engineering as it is bringing together anthropology and psychology.

Whereas many robotics projects are all "theater" -- publicity stunts or concepts -- Groove X's droid will have "substance," Hayashi said. As such, when hiring the 20 or so employees currently working for the company, Hayashi looked beyond their hardware and software expertise. They needed to appreciate that they were aiming to build "not just clever AI" but "a creature."

Lessons from Pepper

Hayashi watched people interact with Pepper over the past few years and learned plenty that he will apply to his new project. For instance, Pepper's ability to speak was not a key factor in people forming bonds with the robot, he said. Instead, he observed that people seem to naturally seek out sensory communication with the robot.

When the robot was taken to France, for example, people greeted him effusively, even though he only speaks Japanese. They hugged the robot and left lipstick marks on both cheeks.

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Similarly, Pepper's voice recognition was not trained to recognize the higher pitch of children's voices, so not being able to interact with the robot made them sad. But their reaction to him changed when Pepper gained a hug function -- they quickly formed a physical attachment to the robot.

Hayashi drew comparisons between this relationship and animal-assisted therapy, something that Darling also believes is a great indicator of how we will relate to robots in the future. "We already know such a thing works," Hayashi said. He wants his new robot to be able to offer a similar level of support and comfort.

Hayashi is confident that there will be interest in his robot after seeing the demand for the 198,000 yen ($1,900) Pepper. His new robot will prove even more irresistible to consumers than its humanoid predecessor, he boasted.

As for its price? Hayashi hopes it will be "reasonable," but will reflect the fact that the technology is "more clever than a MacBook Air."

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Man seeking robot: One inventor's quest to cure loneliness

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Kaname Hayashi has found a new obsession. Hayashi is the "father of Pepper," the charming humanoid robot from Japanese carrier SoftBank Mobile and French company Aldebaran Robotics. Pepper, with its circular doe eyes and welcoming smile, is billed as a robot that can read your emotions.

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Our Robot’s Name is Eva | Lynn Crockett | TEDxElCajonSalon

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Lynn Crocket is blowing up stereotypes to engage students from around the world to play with robots. Welcome to the universe of robotics leagues that positions science and engineering as a spectator sport. For more information on this TED talk go to www.TEDxElCajon.com.

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Lego robotics | Electrical engineering | Science | Khan Academy

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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Disney

That Mickey Mouse greeting you at Disney World may one day contain a robot instead of a very petite person.

Disney Research, an international network of research labs to "push the scientific and technological forefront of innovation" at the company, is working on what it calls a "hybrid hydrostatic transmission and human-safe haptic telepresence robot." That's a very wordy way to say the robot essentially mimics the moves of its puppet master, an operator viewing everything through the eyes (i.e. cameras) of the robot.

"The operator is visually immersed in the robot's physical workspace," the researchers wrote in a technical paper for the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation on May 16.

Cameras mounted on the robot, which is wearing a "Jimmy" nametag, stream video to an operator who's wearing a head-mounted display (which appears to be an Oculus virtual reality headset). The operator's motions are mimicked by the robot, and the haptics feedback, which is sort of like the iPhone's 3D Touch, allows the operator to almost feel what the robot is feeling. This lets the robot handle delicate objects, carry out precise motion and interact with humans.

A video released by Disney shows the robot playing a xylophone, picking up and then cracking an egg, threading string through the eye of a needle, patting a girl's cheeks and playing catch with a balloon.

"The current hydraulic robot offers incredibly smooth and fast motion, while maintaining backdrivability and bidirectional force reflection, allowing safe interaction with people, and the handling of delicate objects," the researchers added.

Disney didn't immediately respond to a request for more information. It's pretty safe to assume we won't see these robots in Disney theme parks anytime soon, but it's not crazy to imagine them rolling out in Disney World one day.
This article also appears in Spanish. Read: Disney trabaja en robots que pueden imitar los movimientos de la gente

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Disney's working on robots that mimic people's movements

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That Mickey Mouse greeting you at Disney World may one day contain a robot instead of a very petite person. Disney Research, an international network of research labs to "push the scientific and technological forefront of innovation" at the company, is working on what it calls a "hybrid hydrostatic transmission and human-safe haptic telepresence robot."

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For female students pursuing STEM degrees, the gender barrier may not always be explicit, but it's pervasive. Through increasing the visibility of mentors and encouraging girls to try STEM activities early on, many feel the gender barrier can be dismantled.

USA TODAY College reached out to five women pursing STEM degrees at institutions across the country to hear their experiences of being a woman in a male-dominated major.

Principia College junior Annika Erikson didn't plan on majoring in computer science with a minor in business administration when she came to college. Unhappy with her political science classes in her first semester, Erikson decided to try something new in her second.

"I took my first programming course, having no prior experience, and was so challenged by the subject that it actually became motivating and fun, particularly because you have such tangible results," Erikson says. "I loved the way that it taught me to think; to look at the big picture, devise a plan that will ultimately achieve the end goal in an efficient manner, and appreciate small bits of progress along the way. Best of all, I constantly have a strong desire to become a better programmer and computer scientist."

Erikson says she found a role model in a female engineer she worked with at her internship last summer and wishes she had more female teachers and professors to encourage other women to study STEM.

"(The female engineer I worked with) was so well respected among all coworkers for her intelligence and incredible achievements, and was in no way labeled as being different," Erikson says. "We need more strong female role models to create and illustrate the norm, not stand out."

Fiona Waller, a Principia College junior dual majoring in chemistry and educational studies, also believes having strong mentors at an early age can help bridge the gap for women in the STEM fields - it's what pushed her into pursuing STEM.

"I've wanted to do something in the sciences since having a really great teacher in middle school who encouraged me, especially as a woman, to pursue my interest," Waller says.

Having male allies, Waller says, can help push the movement forward as well.

"If men don't speak out on behalf of their coworkers, friends, daughters, then they are part of the problem," Waller says. "For example, my dad has always been a huge supporter of me pursuing a degree in STEM. He works in a STEM industry, and has never put any limitations on me because of my gender. In fact, he's encouraged me often because of my gender to pursue STEM and defy the stereotypes."

University of Michigan senior studying mechanical engineering Jelena Rosenberg has always been interested in STEM activities, and says while for the most part her gender doesn't make a difference, it is still a factor.

"I was brought up to believe that women can do anything that men can, but occasionally, studying and interning in a field with fewer than 20% women has made me very aware of my gender," Rosenberg says. "I found this to be especially true in a plant work environment, when I was one of a few women on the shop floor. I constantly felt the need to prove myself in order to stand out, and it sometimes seemed that people presumed that I represented all women in my position when I acted. If I made a mistake, it was not me making a mistake, it was a woman making a mistake. I felt pressure to perform well in order to positively represent my gender."

Rosenberg says she has never experienced any blatant sexism in any of her classes, but at times has been faced with microaggressions.

She believes the best way to combat microaggressions and encourage more women to pursue STEM fields is to introduce them to STEM activities at a young age - like her father did to her - and have more female mentors.

"Often times, young girls are just as interested in science as young boys," Rosenberg says. "The gap comes in adolescence when young women begin to feel societal pressure to avoid STEM fields. I believe that having a STEM mentor or role model while young women are transitioning from childhood to adolescence is crucial to preserving their interest in STEM fields."

Like Rosenberg, University of Iowa sophomore Maria Larraga who's studying biomedical engineering with a minor in math, believes teaching girls STEM activities early on can help encourage them to continue to study it later on.

"Boys are introduced to cars and machines and technology from a very young age. In high school I felt that many girls did not take tech ed classes because they were dominated by male students and felt that those skills were not essential for females," Larraga says. "So basically just really encourage girls to take those classes and teach the boys that women can be just as good as them."

She said she only received microaggressions during her freshman year when her male lab partner did not trust her answers and continued to double check them - going as far as repeating procedures she had done to be sure. He stopped though as the semester went on and she continued to do well.

Overall, the tight-knit community she found among the other female STEM majors has made her lover her major even more.

"I've found that women in STEM majors tend to get along well and form really close friendships, since there aren't that many of us. We're all there to help each other out," Larraga says. "Even though we're a minority, a lot of student organizations have women in their executive boards. I think girls get more involved in the community, and so a lot of times it doesn't feel like we're as outnumbered as we actually are."

Emma Kinery is a University of Michigan student and a USA TODAY College correspondent.

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Ramsey Touchberry, University of Florida

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An inside look at what it's like to be a female STEM major

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For female students pursuing STEM degrees, the gender barrier may not always be explicit, but it's pervasive. Through increasing the visibility of mentors and encouraging girls to try STEM activities early on, many feel the gender barrier can be dismantled.

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STEMcentric is the home to the popular LEGO robotics tutorials. Wether you have the Lego EV3, NXT or RCX you'll find tutorials here to make your life easier. This is also the place for a vast array of related resources, some of them from the now defunct OPAS website and some new.

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Classroom Solutions for STEM and STEAM | LEGO® Education

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LEGO® Education solutions teach children 21st century skills for future success, starting with preschool and moving through elementary, middle and high school.

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Break it down and build it back up

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BrickLink - Buy and sell LEGO Parts, Sets and Minifigures

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Bricklink® is the world's largest online marketplace to buy and sell LEGO® parts, Minifigures and sets, both new or used. Search the complete LEGO catalog & create your own BrickLink store.