Looking forward to this weekend's VEX tournament at Gulliver, in Miami.  It is a big one.  47 teams.
We have a good robot and are tweeking it constantly.  We have three teams there. We are 4515 a,b,and c.

Hello all,
Back on the net after many moons spent relocating in Florida.  We now have a robotics business called Greenbot.  We teach, coach and help schools start robotics clubs and teams.  More soon!

Monterey

This past summer I spent an amazing week at the MATE center in Monterrey learning all about underwater robotics. This is some of the best professional development I've ever had. They take you from novice to knowledgeable in one week. Besides all the great training you get to be in Monterrey for a week...one of my favorite places. BUT...remember to bring a sweater. Sunny California is pretty cold in certain places on the coast, even during the summer.

The upshot of these past several years of researching this subject is that on April 9 of 2011 we will have a MATE underwater robotics competition at the American School in Japan.

One great event to keep an eye on is the World Robotics Olympiad. This year the event will take place in Manila. This event is on Nov. 6 and 7, 2010.

Get more information about this event from:

http://www.wroboto.org/

When we went it was really a successful event with 19 countries involved from around the world. It has only grown since then.

One tip! Use RobotC to program your Lego robots...your NXTs. RobotC is available on a trial basis from:

http://www.robotc.net/

Check out robotC for mindstorms and suddenly your lego mindstorms set becomes a serious programming teaching tool.

Just download the firmware to your NXT and your in business. There are over 150 sample programs you can download. Have the kids download them and change the numbers in them to see what happens. In my opinion this is the most effective way to teach programming.

RobotC is every bit as easy as the Mindstorms tile program!

The Following looks like a really great opportunity to break into microrobotics.

You are invited to join us at the ...
First Hawaii International Micro Robot Conference and Tournament.
July 16-19, 2010
'Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai'i, Hilo Hawai'i

Contact Art Kimura of the NASA Space consortium for applications and further details.

art@higp.hawaii.edu

While your at it you might take a look at this:
http://www.hanahou.com/pages/Magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=790&MagazineID=50

Hexbug nano

Remember our VEX tournament at the American School in Japan on November 11. As part of the VEX initiative we were chosen to be part of the hexbug promo. Here is Yuki Tanimoto's hexbug teaser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Wxk1KQUQ0

Enjoy...

Underwater robots

One of the most exciting and inexpensive robotics avenues available is the underwater robot craze that's happening all over the world right now. It is largely a result of the MATE center (Marine Advanced Technology in Education) run out of Monterey Peninsula College. Jill Zande and her crew are running ROV (remote operated vehicles) contests as far away as Hong Kong.
One of the more exciting facets of this trend is a lot of really great Professional Development for teachers. One such training session is coming up soon.

"The 2009 CEF Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Building for the Classroom workshop. Please forward to any and all who would have interest.

Workshop: 2009 CEF Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Building for the Classroom

Date: Friday Afternoon November 6th - all day Saturday November 7th

Location: Great Lakes Water Studies Institute at Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City Michigan


For more information contact: fortonke@tcaps.net