Kids these days

[TRDfan]

Some of you may recall my son Geoffrey (aka TRDjr) from years gone by - colored a picture for Scott Dixon etc.

Well now he is on a high school robotics team that will be competing this weekend in the Twin Cities. This is such a cool concept for HS students. Dean Kamen (Segway) started it and now it is worldwide.

I'm a mentor (chaperone) for the team and will spend the next 3 1/2 days working with the team and cheering them on.

If you are interested, there will be live streaming (no ISP subscription required) at http://www.lacrescentrobotics.com/Media.html

and updates on the Team 2977 Facebook page.

http://www.usfirst.org/

[Ankf00]

first robotics is a cool org, they have a great bay area network.

good luck to your son:thumbup:

[Tifosi24]

Good luck to your son. I think I saw a preview for the competition on the local Sunday news last week.

[Ruok]

It's awesome that both you and your son are involved. I wish this was around back in the day.

My wife actually works with one of the 'strategic sponsors' and is the point person that determined the company's initial involvement, donates the $1mil per year on behalf of the company, and travels to a LOT of FIRST Lego League/Tech/Robotics competitions around the country and gets involved at every level from Dean to the kids and everything in between. She is instrumental in recruiting mentors from all of their various locations around the country, so she would be thrilled with your involvement.

I get to hear some terrific stories from her about teams from every walk of life, it is great to hear about some positive stories that are so often overlooked. Whatever you think of Kamen, he is doing some great stuff and giving back.

[Gnam]

Team 3013 straight outta Vallejo. West side!

From the Regionals in Sacramento last month:
(skip to 0:30)
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2011sac_qm47

They aren't trying to be, but the kids are inspiring.
The city is bankrupt, the school district is broke, unemployment is high, the school is rundown, and the kids are alright. :thumbup:

[TRDfan]

Sir Lancer Bots had some struggles, but finished with their best seeding ever, no move onto the final rounds.

Deam Kamen was there today. To the participants, he is like a rock star.


I did meet with a team from eastern WI to get some ideas for our teams business plan. I suggested to them that a demo at Road America for ALMS weekend would be pretty awesome.

Next year will be even more interesting - younger son 3rd year in FLL, my wife and I will most likely be FLL coaches, and I'll be the business manager for the FRC team. Cool program, awesome kids.