Screencap from RoboticsToys.com

Trossen Robotics has launched a sister site, RoboticsToys. Much like the main Trossen site, Robotics Toys is definitely fired up about robots.

Roboticstoys.com aims to be the number one place to find all your robotics kits, toys, and decor for that budding roboticist in your family. Robotics is a great way to spark an early interest with children in mathematics, engineering, and the sciences. There is nothing quite like building your first interactive creation and watching it come to life to kickoff a lifelong fascination of discovery and invention. Just be careful with how much time they spend behind closed doors or you just might come home to find this thing “negotiating” allowance increases with you.

They’ve got everything from a $10 HEXBUG to a $1200 Bioloid with something in between to fit most any budget.

Image: Adriana M. Groisman courtesy of usfirst.org

A few months ago, President Obama launched the “Educate to Innovate” campaign to strengthen competency in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. During this event, some students were invited to demonstrate their robot they built as part of the 2009 FIRST Robotics competition. One of those students, Steven Harris, commented on the importance of high school robotics teams and his experience with his own team:

“I have been a part of FIRST Robotics for eight years. My first exposure to FIRST Robotics was in fourth grade. On Saturdays, when my brother was a member of the team at Oakton High School, I got to go to the team meetings because my father was a parent mentor for the team, helping the members of the team build and design the robots…

…Currently not enough students are studying math and science. Programs such as FIRST Robotics introduce students to math and science in a way that is enjoyable and engaging while still being educational. These programs need to be made more available to students across the country.”

I couldn’t agree more. Building robots is an extraordinary cross-disciplinary experience including mathematics, engineering, programming, logical thinking and organizational skills. While this student’s experience happened to get special recognition at the White House, there are thousands of groups in high schools everywhere who are engaged in after-school robotics programs.

If your school has one, consider having your child join and get some hands on experience working with exciting technology. And if you are a parent with related experience, consider getting involved in your school’s program. Because solving tomorrows problems will take the bright and innovative students of today.

Read the entirety of Steven Harris’ comments at whitehouse.gov.

Related - Making Science Cool: “Educate to Innovate”

Photo By: Anton Olsen

We arrived at the University of Texas at Dallas campus about 7:30 and there was still frost on the trees as we drove through the campus. Almost a winter wonderland, and a little colder than I prefer. We didn’t take long to unload, find the pits and get setup.

After registration we hopped in line for the robot inspection. We ended up having some difficulty with the size restriction. The WeaselCube was designed to take advantage of most of the allowed 18 inch cube and squeaked through the sizing guide after we bent a little metal and moved some wires and zip-ties.

The qualifying matches got off to a slow start with a few field controller issues, but the pace picked up and we started kicking some ro-butt. We stayed undefeated through the qualifying rounds until we met up with 138M from Berkner High School. They beat us in a rather exciting game that ended with me accidentally dropping the large white ball on the ground instead of in our robot. With no ability to pick it up, we had to take the ten point loss.

The draft for the finals started out well with us seeded 8th. The top eight teams get to pick for the draft with the lower teams moving up if the other teams are picked. Team 136M from Berkner, seeded 3rd, picked us and we graciously accepted. We were joined by 136S, another team from Berkner.

The finals are held as a single elimination tournament with each bracket playing for two of three matches. First alliance with two wins advances to the next round. We won the first two matches of the quarter finals, then had a loss, win, and a final loss to be eliminated in the semi finals. The alliance that beat us took the finals in two matches. Congratulation to teams 2158F, 2158E (The AusTIN CANs from Auston ISD), 2848B (The All Sparks from Jesuit College Prep in Dallas).

We had a lot of fun, got to meet some great people, and definitely look forward to seeing our friends from Berkner at the VEX World Championship. I’m confident we’ll eventually qualify for the world championship, but I’ll be there as event staff, even if we aren’t competing.

Lessons learned: Center of gravity matters. Really. We fell over backwards during one match and couldn’t right ourselves. Fortunately we’d already scored enough points to win, but it was close. We also need more driver practice. A couple days with the new robot isn’t nearly enough time to get used to the controls and practice strategies.

You can see more pictures, and a little commentary on my Flickr Set:
2009 VRC UT Dallas

Future Texas events that we are planning to attend:
January 30th: Tyler Texas
March 6th 2010: Lovejoy Extreme Engineering Robotics Competition (Lucas, TX)
March 13th 2010: Texas VEX Robotics Championship (Houston, Texas)