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We've just had our first LEGO Engineering Conference in Singapore with Prof
Chris Rogers as the Keynote speaker.
http://lsl.nie.edu.sg/lego.htm
Among other things I had the opportunity to give three presentations, of which
my favourite is the one on "GBC - A Fun Way to Learn Maths, Science and D&T".
Specifically I detailed a Rolling Ball Display Clock and its relevance to Maths,
Science and D&T.
My other presentations were on "Teaching Children Proportional Control using
ROBOLAB 2.9" and needless to say one on "Evaluating LEGO Air Compressors with
RCX and Control Lab". The models were also on display.
The slides can be found here for educators who might find them useful for their
classes.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=241093
Enjoy
CSSoh
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Hi, everyone...
A documentary called “Lovemarks-LEGO” will be broadcast for the first time this
weekend. I was originally told it was going to be a full-length film about
people’s passions towards brands like LEGO, IKEA, Starbucks (etc), but it seems
it has been shortened to a half hour and will deal only with LEGO. (Maybe?)
Lovemarks - LEGO
Channel 51, Horizon
Saturday September 30th
8:30 p.m. (20:30)
Hong Kong
The documentary was filmed by Fuji TV in Hong Kong, but it may also run in other
countries that have Fuji TV, or on extended satellite networks.
Last year, the filmmakers filmed a live
model-build and interviewed both Nathan Sawaya and I as part of the
documentary. They said they’d also interviewed other folks around the world,
including folks from TLG.
Sean
- - -
LEGO Certified Professional
www.seankenney.com
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This year’s National Junior Robotics Competition (NJRC) 2006 is more exciting
than ever. The organizers at the Singapore Science Centre has set some devilish
missions including one that requires your robot to literally go into water. To a
depth of 5 cm. Sounds like Mission Impossible?
Not for the students who make up the 397 Primary and 342 Secondary school teams
that are taking part in the competition.
http://www.science.edu.sg/ssc/events.jsp?type=17&root=0&parent=0&cat=317
The Mindstorms RCX, motors and sensors are about to be tested to the point of
destruction.
A good time to get the NXT?
CSSoh
http://fifth-r.com/
where Robotics is the fifth R,
after Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and computeR
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Among other types of robots, Telok Kurau Secondary School fielded an autonomous
NXT robot in the finals of the East Zone Robotics Challenge 2006 which was held
at the East Zone Science Carnival @ Victoria Junior College on 21 Jul 2006.
The NXT robot was able to follow the black line and go up the ramp to cross over
to other other side of the playing field. This is the first time that a NXT
robot has shown its prowess in a public robotics competition in Singapore.
Here the NXT is just getting onto the bridge. The ‘river’ is made of green
beans.
More pics here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=195467
The EZRC 2006 is a robotics challenge for Primary and Secondary school students
mainly in the Eazt Zone of Singapore. The purpose of the Challenge is to provide
students with opportunities to exercise their creativity and problem-solving
skills in the field of robotics. Details are at their web site:
http://www.vjc.moe.edu.sg/S&Tcentre/programmes/robotics_challenge/robotics_challenge2006.htm
The EZRC 2006 is a robotics battle of sorts. Teams of 4 students have to build
and program a team of one or more robots to compete against another team, with
the aim of knocking over or capturing target objects in the opposing team’s
sector, and also to defend the team’s target objects from being knocked over by
the opposing team’s robot(s). The robots could be autonomous or remotely
controlled via IR or radio control.
A wide variety of robotics hardware was seen at the EZRC 2006 but the NXT was
clearly the latest of the lot. Remote control via Bluetooth is certainly an
option in the near future.
Although Telok Kurau Secondary School did not win any prizes, it put up a
commendable performance in that all 3 of its rookie teams got into the finals
with just about 2 months introduction to robotics. And so they have survived
their baptism of fire and now look forward to their next battle.
CSSoh
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Finally got a chance to have a closeup look at the much talked about Mindstorms
NXT when Prof Mitchel Resnick (of MIT Media Lab) was here for the LEGO
MINDSTORMS Education (LME) NXT Regional Pre-Launch at the Singapore Science
Centre.
http://fifth-r.com/laosoh/robots/NXT/nxt_launch.htm
First impressions: the bots look rather bulky, don't think they will be able to
negotiate the narrower parts of the FLL 2005 field. And the line following was
kinda slow. Fun though.
Gotta have them, of course! Earliest delivery expected in August 2006.
CSSoh
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