| Local kids, Dukies team up for robotics contest
The chicken dance is not just for uniting humans of all ages in the spirit of synchronized hand-clamping: It's for robots, too.
Middle schoolers descended on the Levine Science Research Center Saturday for the RoboCupJunior regional competition.
The contest is part of a larger initiative in the Durham area to engage college students with children in sixth to eighth grades through robotics projects.
"Kids love robotics. It's amazing how much they can do with them," said Jeff Forbes, assistant professor of the practice of computer science.
The RoboCupJunior competition involved teams from two area middle schools, Chewning and Apex, as well as more than 60 students from Durham middle schools who came as spectators.
The International RoboCupJunior competition offers three challenges, explained Tom Settle, the robotics coach for Apex Middle School.
Robotic Jackson would stalk Nevada desert
The giant Jacko would be visible from incoming flights as it stalked the desert shooting laser beams, the firm behind the design told the New York Daily News.
The newspaper also reported that according to one source former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was considering investing in the potential long-term show. .
Home Theater Store to Offer K2 X-arm
K2 Mounts said Houston-based PRO Group member Home Theater Store will carry its X-arm robotic mount for flat-panel TVs."Home Theater Store has a well-deserved reputation for innovation and leadership," said Tony Grasso, K2's vice president of sales and marketing. "We're thrilled to partner with such an exceptional specialty retailer."Home Theater Store, founded in 1986, is a family-operated business, led by Mihir Mody. It has eight showrooms, with locations in Austin, Texas; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Houston and Phoenix. .
Tech victims include three faculty members
A German instructor and two engineering professors were among those killed during Monday's shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. Christopher James "Jamie" Bishop, who taught German, was struck while in his classroom, according to The Washington Post. Also killed were professors Kevin Granata and Liviu Librescu. Librescu, 75, saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his relatives told Israeli media today, according to The Associated Press. Students of Librescu, a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife telling how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said the wife, Marlena Librescu. Librescu, an Israeli, was born in Romania and was known internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, Ishwar K.
Students' robots take a test spin
ALLENDALE TOWNSHIP -- Two weeks ago, a team from Creston High School was part of the winning alliance at a robotics competition in Chicago. Thursday, the same robot slammed backwards into a wall, then lurched around a field to pick up an inner tube -- unsuccessfully. Jamie Bliss and Jonathan Plummer worked the controls hopelessly and conferred with team mentor Kirk Hedlich about electricity, polarities and a something called a PWM panel. The robot could not turn. The buzzer sounded to end the practice session, and the team retrieved its ailing droid. So what now? "Figure it out," said Bliss, 18. "It isn't magic. It's hard work, and you don't ever know if it's going to work or not." Copy that for more than 50 teams from across the Midwest and as far away as Brazil, that made Grand Valley State University's fieldhouse look like something out of a science fiction flick as they geared up for today's start of the West Michigan Regional of the annual FIRST Robotics Competition.
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