Official Launch of the 2009 FIRST Competition January 4, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Career Development, Computer Science, Education, Learning through Fun, News & FYI, Personal Interest, Robotics, Volunteer Opportunities.add a comment
FIRST launched the 2009 worldwide competition season yesterday revealing the competition challenge game “Lunacy” to nearly 1700 teams comprising over 42,000 high school students worldwide. Each team now has six weeks to design and build their robot from a common kit of parts provided by FIRST. Team robots will compete in a series of events that culminate with the FIRST Championship event held in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is my first year serving as a mentor for Team Blitz, our award-winning FIRST robotics team. Last year, I accompanied Team Blitz members to the regional competition and watched both FIRST and Team Blitz in action. I was impressed by what I saw on so many levels that I decided to join Team Blitz for this year’s competition.
Founder Dean Kamen addressed Colorado teams assembled in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science IMAX theater. In his address to the teams, he spoke about the importance of technology as a solution to poverty that affects two-thirds of the world’s population. He challenged team members to use the FIRST to build relationships and learn from team mentors, many who are experts in the fields of engineering, project management and business.
Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST Na
tional Advisor and Pappalardo MIT Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, reminded team members to practice gracious professionalism during the next six weeks and throughout their careers as innovators.
The Colorado chapter of FIRST needs volunteers to help with the organization and management of this years statewide competition. This is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside some of the most remarkable and talented professionals that make Colorado their home. It is also an opportunity to contribute your time, energy and talent to developing the next generation of innovators, business managers and entrepreneurs. Be a FIRST volunteer and help shape the future of the next generation of leaders.
Parental Controls for the Home Network December 28, 2008
Posted by jimintriglia in Home Networking, Internet/Web Services, Learning through Fun, PC Security, Personal Computing.add a comment
Santa brought my son a Wii to replace his aging Playstation game console. The latest generation of the Wii gaming console is designed to connect to the Internet to enable updates to the Wii console and allow multi-user play with gamers all over the world. The Wii also enables users to surf the Net right on their TV.
Having a gaming console that is Net-aware presents an all new dimension in the gaming and simulation experience. It also presents a challenge for parents respective of securing their home network and protecting their children from inappropriate Web content and applications.
To continue the level of parental controls that I had established on my son’s
laptop, I now needed a home network solution that would enable me to apply parental controls to Net-enabled gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii and DS portable gaming platforms. Enter the iBoss Internet Parental Control router from Phantom Technologies.
The iBoss is a wireless G router designed to enable parents to assert parental control over their home Internet connection. The product manages both wired and wireless Internet access by personal computers, gaming consoles, anything that can connect to the Internet via the home network.
The iBoss won the 2008 iParenting Media Best Product Awards from family organizations and was received accolades in an online parental control forum. As Phantom Technologies was running a holiday special for the iBoss at $99.95 and offered a 30-day free trial, I decided to give it a go and placed my order.
From the reviews that I have read, the iBoss looks like a terrific solution. In addition to providing parental controls for the Wii, it will also provide an additional layer of protection for my sons laptop, which also has NetNanny parental control software installed.
Computer Simulations as Games: Not Just Pointless Entertainment December 22, 2008
Posted by jimintriglia in Education, Learning through Fun, Online Simulations.Tags: Education, Online Simulations, sailing
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The holiday season is a great time to meet new people, as numerous opportunities to attend holiday parties abound. While at a friend’s home this weekend, I met a couple who had brought their laptop along to the party.
Thinking I had met another workaholic, I asked the husband why he had brought the laptop to the party. He explained that they were competing in a virtual sailing race, mimicking the course of the actual Volvo Ocean Race that was occurring halfway around the world.
Curious, I accompanied him upstairs as he had to check the status of the yacht he was racing. Once upstairs in my friends home office, he unloaded navigation charts and then launched the race simulation software via the race website.
In a few minutes, he had an impressive dashboard up on his screen, with the position of his racing yacht graphically depicted along with statistics that reflected wind speed and direction, current latitude and longitude, etc. He then began pouring over an Excel spreadsheet of navigational course information to determine what change was needed to advance his yacht ahead of the others.
What struck me about this whole affiar was the knowledge this person had gained from competing in this online simulation. I had sailed for many years as a young adult, beginning with racing yachts. I had gained considerable knowledge and experience of both navigation and piloting of yachts of the size that were being sailed in the simulation.
While my new found friend never set foot on a sailboat or navigated a racing yacht, he had gained more knowledge about navigation, sail design and even racing tactics that I had gained in all the courses that I had taken and years I spent on the water competing in races.
I told my friend, much to his surprise, that if he ever visited a yacht club were racing was a passion, he would be quickly snapped-up by an owner who is passionate about winning recreational races that many yacht owners typically participate in. Further, his experience as an armchair navigator using a simulator would not be all that different from a real navigator’s activities about a racing yacht (except for spending most of his on-board time at a 45 degree angle).
This was yet another example of how computer simulated games can transfer real-world knowledge, skill and experience to people that engage them. I hope more high schools and universities pursue teaching fundamental and advanced topics using computer simulations, as students find such endeavors fun while they learn how such fundamentals apply to the real word.
As the number of simulations grow in response to the capabilities of personal computers, people will have more of an opportunity to participate in simulation games. When engaging such games, they will gain knowledge and skill that can benefit them in the real world if they so choose. This is a welcome alternative to the current genre of shoot-em-up and fantasy role-playing games, which consume a huge amount of time and return little in the way of knowledge and skills to the majority of the participants.
