primalmommy on sun 24 apr 05
We're home from Atlanta (to four inches of snow! Whose idea was it to
live in Ohio?)
I spent four days at the big Georgia Dome/convention complex where the
Olympics took place -- only this time it was 1300 kids from 20
countries, mastering the craft/science of robotics. We had kids from
France and Belgium, Newfoundland and Ontario, Brazil and China, Denmark
and Germany, Japan, South Africa, the UK, Switzerland, and more. Ty's
team challenged a team from Istanbul. I had all the Korean kids sign my
T-shirt.
I am so encouraged about the future when I see these brainy kids --
grade schoolers (and our homeschoolers) in the Lego robotics teams and
high schoolers competing with FIRST robotics -- totally jazzed about
what they were learning. Vince would have wet his pants to see all the
metal and hydraulics, all the innovation and mechanical invention going
on.
The Pit area had the "little league" guys in one section -- including my
son's team -- building robots using tiny lego attachments and
bionicle-arm looking things, run by computer chips the kids programmed
to perform tasks on a tabletop course. This year's theme was technology
to help the disabled. So the robots placed a CD on a desk top, pushed in
little chairs under a table, opened and latched a gate, flipped a flag
using light sensors, fed pets, put a basketball in a hoop and retrieved
a pair of glasses. The kids gave presentations on their research,
technology and teamwork, as well as what they did in their communities
to help the disabled.
It's hard not to get really excited about the young brains there, in a
Star-Trek-Next-Generation sort of way. It was like the NCECA energy of
potters, that excitement over a shared skill, only coming from younger
people, unjaded, with more energy and less ego.
And it wasn't just the teams, parents and coaches who were excited.
Walking (or riding segues) among the pit crews and talking to the kids
were folks like Steve Wozniak (the Apple computer guy) and Dean Kamen,
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen the owner/CEO of LEGO, and Woodie Flowers from
MIT. There were reps from NASA, Google and even the CIA, a rep from the
Bush administration, and sponsors from any multinational corporation
that cares about cutting edge technology. Watching these guys in Rolex
watches and expensive Italian suits conversing with 11 year olds was
great -- the kids didn't know (or care) who the big dogs were, and just
wanted to talk robotics. 8 million dollars in scholarships got dished
out to the big kids this year.
Our guys did great with their presentations, but with 78 teams
competing, their robot's runs couldn't beat some of the perfect scores
and great, outside-the-box attachments and inventions. It was a goof
thing for them to see how big the fish were outside the small pond of
our own state. The teams from Minnesota and Denmark walked off with a
lot of trophies! (Must be the lutefisk and salmiak.) Our guys got a
"gracious professionalism" certificate, and had a ball trading buttons,
meeting kids from other countries and getting autographs.
The big kids built massive aluminum things with wheels, treads, coils,
accordion bodies or telescoping necks, operated by a panel of buttons
and joysticks, made to lift and stack pyramids on top of tall forms. The
variations were amazing, and we spent a lot of time watching the big
bots and planning ahead for the high school years. They were kind of
intimidating and unpredictable -- one wrong move with the controls and
they could knock somebody down, flip over, or throw things at another
bot.
It was definitely a good people watching week. Some of the kids went
expressive with team shirts, mascots, mohawks or face paint. And the pit
area was a fascinating jumble of tools and computers and equipment.
During the opening ceremony, when First Lego League introduced the Board
of Directors, including world reknowned engineers, scientists, and other
really smart folks -- my hubby leaned over and whispered that there must
be a nerd vacuum in the rest of the country for these few days. There is
something about genuis, though, that shines through the eyes of folks
like that. No matter how much Bill Gates looks like a 12 year old with a
cowlick, he has the confidence that comes from knowing the difference
between superficial and substance.
I have some pix on my photo page but feel funny about posting pictures
of kids on the web and to a permanent archive. If you want to see them,
email me off list for the link. I also cobbed a few of my favorite wench
pix from people's nceca albums. (Nothing to join.)
This is about mastery and technology but I can't even begin to try to
pretend this is about clay. I am going to hit "SEND" and leave it up to
the moderator.
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
with buttons on my book bag from China, Turkey, and one with the
official seal of the CIA.
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