Blue Hill, Maine: On July 31st, 2016, Dr. Seymour Papert passed away at his home, at the age of 88.  I had the opportunity to know Seymour from 2000 and we co-chaired the Learners, Laptops, and Powerful Ideas conference in 2001 and 2002.  Seymour also visited our camps on a few occasions both before and after his 2006 accident in Vietnam that left him with fewer opportunities to work with youth.

In 1980 Seymour wrote a pivotal book called Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas.  It seems that for his entire life he was looking for ways to incite children to learn; to think; and to create.

Working with LEGO was a natural connection and while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologies Media Lab, he was part of the original group that developed the Programmable Brick in 1996, which lead directly to the LEGO RCX MindStorms programmable brick in 1998.  Seymour's influence was so critical in starting this revolution that LEGO named the product line after his book and the concepts behind it.

We joined into the "movement" when I ran the 1st Maine FIRST LEGO League competition in 2000, just two years after the first kits were introduced.  That year an amazing 89 Maine students participated, out of the 15,000 United States students.  Children were using the LEGO robotics kit to think and create in a whole new way.

Now, 16 years later, the number of children using the LEGO Robotics kit, still named after Seymour's dedication and work, will see over 250,000 children in over 80 countries using the current generation of the MindStorms kit that started out in his lab all those years ago (wait, it was only 18 years ago... is that "all those years ago?").

Our highest FIRST LEGO League trophy in Maine is the Seymour Papert trophy. This trophy goes out to the Maine State Championship winner, which they get to display for one year before it comes back to be earned by a new team.  It proudly display's information about Seymour, along with his photo.

Thank you Seymour for getting us started; for caring about the passions and intelligence of our children; for hoping for a future where children learn by creating their world.  The world feels your influences every day and will for many years to come.  We will miss you.

​Tom Bickford

The Seymour Papert Trophy.  Maine's Stanley Cup for FIRST LEGO League teams! 

2016 Maine Robot Track Meets

Well, we can always tell when the track meet season is gearing up... we start getting calls and emails looking for comments.  So I figured I'd share two questions from this week, in case you've got the same question.

1. What do the Delivery Mission targets look like?
So Target #1 is a vertical object with a hole in it (see photo) and you have to insert the delivery object through this hole.
Target #2 is a line on the mat, and you have to get the delivery object over the line. (not shown)
In both cases, your robot has to be "clear" of the targets to stop the clock.

2. What do the wheels/cart look like for the strongest robot mission?
Other than looking at the directions on line, I've posted some photos here so you can get a feel for it.
​
The wheels are:

• 2" diameter RIGID CASTERS
  (rigid as in they don't move, not Rigid the tool maker)
• Non-swivel
• Non-bearing
• Hard-plastic (versus rubber or rubberized)
• Can be found at Harbor Freight, Home Depot, and Northern Tool (online) and probably at other places as well.
• All were listed at under $3 per wheel

​3. Why are there 3 u-bolt loops at the front of the cart?
In the early days... when the RCX's ruled the Earth, we had just one loop.  This gave a single attachment point for your robot to the cart.

As with all of nature, and with a little chaos theory thrown in, the cart goes straight (non-pivoting wheels and all) but your robot, even if set to go straight, will often veer off to one side or the other as a wheel slips, etc.  Given a single point of contact, this often resulted in your robot trying to pull the cart sideways (isn't going to happen).  So we added two additional points of contact so you could use 1, 2, or all 3 loops to connect to.  This allows more control.  

Having said that, it is a little disappointing how few people still take advantage of this feature and just connect to the center ring.  If your robot tends to veer sideways on a smooth floor surface when it is pulling a load, do some brainstorming about how to use these loops and fix your problem.  'nough said. 

Boston Dynamics has been working on Atlas, a bipedal walking robot for a number of years.  Atlas has competed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge and done well.  Their latest version, seen in the video, has come a long ways since its unveiling in 2013.
C3PO, we're getting there...

To read more about Boston Dynamics, check out the Wikipedia page. They brought us the Big Dog, the Cheetah, the Sand Flea, and Atlas, plus a whole lot more.

With origins at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it isn't surprising to see what amazing things they've come up with.  In 2013, Boston Dynamics was purchased by Google X (now X) but is still working away on robotics, robotic navigation, and other cool things.