Hat's off to team ROBONINJA for a 3rd Place Finish!

I'd like to say congratulations to the students who make up team Roboninja for their great effort on tonight.  I've gotten word that they were able to bring home 3rd place.  Considering that they only had two opportunities to program the robot for missions, this is a great achievement.  Be on the look out for these young men in the future.  Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to work with them again.

Team ROBONINJAS!

Mission Testing

Thank you to everyone who came out to STEMS 2014!

Hello everyone.  It was great seeing some returning faces at the STEMS event on yesterday.  More and more children are beginning to get excited about learning STEMS subjects.  I'm blessed to have been able to be apart of this event and this year I was able to bring one of my very own robotic creations.  I tried my best to make sure that every child who wanted to give it a test drive was able to do so.  I believe that they all enjoyed it and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Folding Robots!

Here's a little article I found on Engadget today...  It's about a new robot design that allows for a machine/robot to change it shape by folding.  The thing that I like about technology so much today is that it's perfect for Sci-Fiction movies.  Take a read for yourself.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/08/origami-robot-self-assembly/

2014 S.T.E.M.S fair August 23rd!

Hello everyone!  It's that time of year again and the S.T.E.M.S  fair at St. Phillip's A.M.E. church is right around the corner.  As always expect there to be some great presenters and activities.  Of course I'll be holding down the Robotics part of the fair and this year I'm bringing a surprise.  The event is Sat Aug 23rd from 9 am to 1 pm.

NASA's got BIG PLANS

I love reading about this stuff.  What was once just dreams and movies is now slowly becoming reality.  One day space exploration will resemble what we see in the movies.
Click the link below for the full article.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/01/tech/innovation/mars-2020-rover/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Theory of Alternate Problems

Today I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for quite some time.  I call it, the Theory of Alternate Problems (ToAP).  The basic premise is this, that what we call "solutions" are not and do not really solve problems, but actually manifest other or alternate problems.   This can be looked at as a concept similar to the Law of Conservation of Energy or the Law of Conservation of Mass.  If you're not familiar with either of these laws or concepts I'll try to give the premise of them.  Basically energy is neither created nor destroyed, but only changed or transferred.  The same concept can be applied to mass or matter.  For example when a piece of paper is burned the things that make up the paper still exist but are now in different forms i.e. ash and smoke.

Okay, now let's get back to problems and ToAP.  So here is a real world example of ToAP.  People needed to travel great distances more efficiently so we created the automobile.  The automobile enabled us to travel the distance more efficiently, but contributes to air pollution and highway fatalities(alternate problems).  An obese person wants to lose excess weight so they take a diet pill which helps them to lose the weight, but produces some other health side effects(alternate problems).  These are just two simple examples that come to mind.  This concept is not saying that what we call problem solving is not a good thing and that you should not attempt it.  Moreover, it's saying that you can treat ToAP as a Pro's and Con's assessment of whether or not it is better to deal directly with your current problem now or to deal with an alternate problem later.

One thing to note about ToAP is that the alternate problems do not always manifest themselves right away. The effects of a proposed "solution" are not always immediately apparent to the proposer.  Sometimes the person(s) who proposed the "solution" may never even see or experience the alternate problems that manifest (which goes on the perpetuate the belief that proposed "solution" did indeed solve the problem). The Alternate problems may appear much later on as a birth defect or global warming.  

The concept or theory of ToAP is not to say that problem solving is bad and that we as a society should stop doing it, but more so to say that as we approach a problem in our individual or collective lives we should look to see what alternate problem will manifest due to this current "solution" we are about to implement.

NEW SERIES - Ideas to Ponder

Hello everyone!  Happy belated New Year!  It has been a while since I've made a post here, but it is time to get back on track.  There has been so many advances in robotics just in the last few months and I will do my best to make this a destination hub for that information, but that is not the topic of this particular post.  I want to make you aware of a new series I'm starting.  It's called "Ideas to Ponder".  These posts will be used to shed some light on a thought or new idea.  They'll range in topics, but should be very interesting to think about.  So I hope that you'll take a moment to read them and feel free to make comments and share your thoughts as well.

dBp