FIRST.i.am

youremy-anchor: continueplease: nbcnews: Teen’s invention...

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:18:43 -0400

continueplease:

nbcnews:

Teen’s invention could charge your phone in 20 seconds

(Photo: Intel)

Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student’s invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.

Read the complete story.

Everybody, remember this face.
Remember this name.
If this becomes a commonly used & highly lauded discovery, at some point a White guy is going to take credit, even if he has to word it like “Improved upon a previous…”
No no no
Remember this brown girl.
Remeeeemmmmmberrrrr

OHMYGOSH I KNOW HER

20130413 185759 5D3A4092 (by danielernst)

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:00:46 -0400

20130413 185759 5D3A4092 (by danielernst)

lissak06: “To transform our culture by creating a world where...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:27:06 -0400

lissak06:

“To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.”

Dean Kamen, Founder

This past week I got to experience something pretty inspiring. It’s called FIRST and it’s a series of programs designed for students interested in putting things together, taking things apart and making things better.

Founded by Dean Kamen {inventor of the Segway and many other incredible life supporting products} Students ages 5 - 18 can join leagues/teams around the world to design and engineer solutions based on a theme provided by FIRST.

Each age group has a mission. For the young engineers, a Lego league, for the technical students a technical league and for the high school students interested in larger scale solutions, a robotics league.

All of this in an attempt to maintain youth engagement in STEM.

And once they’ve developed their solution to a problem, they compete against other local teams to determine which robot is the most creative, most innovative, most sustainable etc.until a regional winner is determined. The regional winners then move on to the world competitions. And believe me when I tell you that these solutions the students develop are some of the most brilliant ideas I’ve ever seen a 12 year old develop.

The event I participated in this past week brings the best teams from all over the world to St. Louis at the Edward Jones Dome to compete head to head in challenges set up by FIRST. It’s like the Olympics for STEM teenagers. And it truly is an international event. Students from China to New Zealand to Israel and Russia were all competitors at this weeks events.

As an example of the skills developed from these students involvement with FIRST, I met a team of 14 year-old kids who are applying for a patent on a solution they’ve created that helps retailers avoid selling expired goods to consumers.

I won’t go into too much detail, but the solution is incredibly smart and these kids are only 14! Imagine how bright their futures will be once they are exposed to larger industry problems. And that is exactly what FIRST hopes to prepare them for.

There are so many incredible companies, celebrities and local mentors who champion this organization to help spread the word of it’s value. From the company that I work for to NASA, Lego, Rockwell Collins, Coca Cola, and celebrities such as Morgan Freeman and Will I Am, the list goes on and on. And yet there are still so many people who do not know about the exciting role this organization plays in the engagement of STEM and our nations youth.

It was my first exposure to FIRST and it won’t be the last. These students are impressive. Their curiosity and tenacity for the sport is not only inspiring but motivating.

I hope you’ll look into the organization further and consider being a mentor to a team in your area. These students and their mentors are breaking the mold and making things better, one idea at a time.

And you don’t have to be an engineer to mentor a team, the students need mentors who can help set up business plans, help develop presentations and their communication skills and on and on. Typically there are a series of mentors who are able to help the team develop as many of these skills as possible. Please think about it. I know I am going to get involved here in Connecticut.

Image of FIRST championship competition via (The Life of Pat a FIRST team member)

hufflepuffingtardisfumes: Some pretty panoramic shots I took...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:38:02 -0400

hufflepuffingtardisfumes:

Some pretty panoramic shots I took this weekend at St. Louis.

First one is of our view from the Archimedes stands, second is the view of the city from the top of the St. Louis arch, third is the Einstein field from the top stands of the dome, and the last is the view of the Mississippi river from the arch.

Hey there! Would it be possible to post the list of URLs from the tumblr meetup here? I know there were some students who weren't able to go down to the pit that had the list.

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:34:25 -0400

Yep - have to end up linking them - I’m gonna work on it today, but I’ve gotta get thru some finals first. -LK

perfectly-nerdy

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:01:58 -0400

perfectly-nerdy:

Name: Phoebe
Age: 17
Team: 639 Ithaca, NY
Years: 4
Position: Administrator/organizer of all things data and physical. I also create a lot of the media for the team and I design/make all of our buttons. If that wasn’t enough I’m also the head scout which has recently been renamed scouting liaison/strategist.
Reason: I’ve written entire essays about why I joined robotics but to put it simply once I went to one meeting I couldn’t stop. I joined halfway through a build season when I was still involved with other clubs and the energy and work inspired me to take part. I wanted to learn how to do everything and almost immediately after started working to convince even more people to join the 100% awesome family that is FIRST robotics.
Obsessions: Doctor Who, Sherlock, Portal, Civ, Harry Potter, reading in general, making cool stuff for people, and baking.

libbykamen: whatisfrc: For the FIRST-ers who are heading to...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:26:50 -0400

libbykamen:

whatisfrc:

For the FIRST-ers who are heading to Champs soon! I really wanted a version of this just with the FRC fields (and Kamen). If we wanted to include the FTC fields we’d need one for Rosalind Franklin (The original artist already made one for Edison)

Sources are the same: Kapil Bhagat & safetygogglesatnight

UH I KIND OF LOVE THIS. Amazing.

rennyintheimpala

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:41:20 -0400

rennyintheimpala:

Name: Renny
Age: 19
Team: 2145, Linden, Michigan
Years: 6
Position: I was on the team for five years, and am now a mentor
Reason: My mom is the coach, and I wanted to spend more time with her. Fell in love with robotics instead.
Motto: “I’ll fight you right now”
Obsessions: Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Supernatural, origami, sushi, Ikea, Doctor Who, concerts, hockey, machines of any sorts, and a lot more.

thisisnotamagnet

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:55:56 -0400

thisisnotamagnet:

Name: Meaghan
Age: 17
Team: 548
Years: 3
Position(s): Sponsorship lead
Reason: My eighth grade science teacher told me he thought I’d like it. He was right.
Motto: It’s an occupational hazard.
Obsessions: EVERYTHING

FIRST-ers Meetup!

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 10:28:00 -0400

Signal boost the heck out of this to your fellow FIRSTers.

We’ll be doing a tumblr meetup at 12:30 on Thursday of Championship - on the 2nd level of the convention center (Last year, it was by the Chairman’s presentation rooms, and that seemed to work out.)

Basically, from where the pits let out, go up the big staircase that’s right there, and you’ve arrived! If someone wants to make a little sign or something that’s cool, but TBH I can’t drag it around all day because I’m all over the place.

I am hoping to be on my Segway if I can get it down there, so I should be a pretty easy target.

(Speaking of, any NJ/PA area teams taking a bus down that want to do me a huuuuuuuge favor? Love you forever. Message me on libbykamen.tumblr.com)

-Libby

Meetup, Post #2

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:11:37 -0400

Thursday in the lunch-hour seems to work best for most - maybe we want to do 12:30 or even closer to 1 so that people who are busy have a chance to grab lunch. Let me know what you think? I’ll have a definitive post on this once we get some responses. -LK

(via 500px / Photo “Engineer’s Art” by Crystal...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:00:36 -0400

(via 500px / Photo “Engineer’s Art” by Crystal Vongnaphone)

Championship Meetup?

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:17:56 -0400

If we were to do a meetup again like last year, what day would be good for FIRSTers? Last year was Thursday at lunchtime. I’d love to meet all you guys again! -LK

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/yeruham-israel-robotics-for-world-championship-in-st-louis

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:00:37 -0400

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/yeruham-israel-robotics-for-world-championship-in-st-louis:

I was browsing CD today and I came upon this thread:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=115398

Basically, 3211 (RCA winners from Israel) needs help raising money to go to St. Louis.

averyrobotsenioryear: Hello FIRST-ers. I need your help. In my AP English class, we do a project...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:43:57 -0400

averyrobotsenioryear:

Hello FIRST-ers. I need your help.

In my AP English class, we do a project called the I-Search. A couple of months ago, I had to ask a question of myself. Mine was about robotics, of course.

This is where you come in. As I go into the final stages of this project, I need stories from real people on real FIRST teams (preferably FRC related stories as that is the focus of my project).

If you would submit your happiest memory with FIRST and/or how FIRST has changed your life, I would greatly appreciate it. Funny, happy, what keeps you coming back. Anything you are okay with me and my English teacher reading. I plan on using several of these to accent my report. Thank you so much for your commitment. To avoid character limits, you can send in your stories on my blog for this project, my personal blog, or email them to me (averyrobotsenioryear@gmail.com). Please include your name, team number, and years involved with FIRST, including years in programs other than FRC. If you have any questions, you can ask me here.

Thanks, Claire.

Another note: Please don’t submit anything to this blog. These are for my uses only, and I don’t want to be swarming the ask box here. Thank you once again. Claire.

FIRST Robotics Competition (by Natick Soldier Systems Center)

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:00:45 -0400

FIRST Robotics Competition (by Natick Soldier Systems Center)

FIRST FRC KICKOFF 2011 (by 4FX Design and BotBash)

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:00:38 -0400

FIRST FRC KICKOFF 2011 (by 4FX Design and BotBash)

team3313: So we absolutely LOVE our new Team 3313 wristbands....

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:00:36 -0400

team3313:

So we absolutely LOVE our new Team 3313 wristbands. #swag #omgrobots http://bit.ly/ZYXB6X

FIRST Robotics (by Riley Found)

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 17:00:50 -0400

FIRST Robotics (by Riley Found)

kittiesandphotography

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:00:45 -0400

kittiesandphotography:

Name: Korryn
Age: 16
Team: 3504
Years: 1 year hollaaa
Position(s): Mechy girl mainly, was the chassis leader this year.
Reason: ‘cause engineering was something i was really interested in and i wanted to try it out
Motto: i just want sleep
Obsessions: reading, kitties, music (and concerts), tea, running/exercising (love/hate relationship), art, and lots of other stuff.