WEBVTT - Road Trip: FIRST Robotics

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Works dot com. Hey guys, and welcome to the podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Alison Madamel, the science editor how stuff Works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. And this is Robert Lamb, science rider how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff Works dot Com. And this episode we finally took

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff from the Science Lab on the road, although not

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<v Speaker 1>very far down the road, yeah, not not too bad

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<v Speaker 1>to the Georgia Dome for the first championship held April

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen through April seventeen, and we got up close in

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<v Speaker 1>personal with robots and their young masters. Yeah. It's it's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty cool, um just to I guess set the scene

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<v Speaker 1>for everybody. Uh again, this is the Georgia Dome. This

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<v Speaker 1>is where they play football hockey like football football. Yeah

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<v Speaker 1>you like I said that that's kind of the Southern

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<v Speaker 1>accent football, right I think. So, Yeah, this is the

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<v Speaker 1>first time, like we both of us went to it

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<v Speaker 1>last year for the blocks, so this was this was

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<v Speaker 1>the first time that I've been back to the Georgia Dome.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just not a sports guy. Uh. So you have

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<v Speaker 1>this big you know sports uh auditorium type deal, right,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's just but just just loaded with nerds. And

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<v Speaker 1>I mean that in the most complimentary, uh fashion possible,

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<v Speaker 1>Like these are just awesome nerdiness going on in this

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<v Speaker 1>this building. UM and of course chaperone's um, adult volunteers, UM.

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<v Speaker 1>Then and then then kids dressed up as their mascots.

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<v Speaker 1>It's amazing. Yeah, there are a lot of mohawks going on.

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<v Speaker 1>I actually I'm a big fan of the mohawks, so

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<v Speaker 1>that's that's always nice to see some mohawks. And they're

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<v Speaker 1>pumping music like all sorts of like high energy you know,

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<v Speaker 1>kind of kind of beats going on, and it looks

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<v Speaker 1>like everybody was on some sort of sugar um, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>just in a lot of audio visual stuff, like there's

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<v Speaker 1>something with like when we first got there, uh, the

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<v Speaker 1>rock was on this big screen talking about NASA. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know what that was about. But so while

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<v Speaker 1>we were at the First Championship, we actually took the

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<v Speaker 1>opportunity to interview the president of First, a gentleman named

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<v Speaker 1>President Paul Godonus. Let's let Paul explain what FIRST is

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<v Speaker 1>for those of you guys not familiar with it, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>FIRST stands for for Inspiration and Recognition as science and technology.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the world's largest robotics competition for grade school and

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<v Speaker 1>high school students that we started about twenty years ago

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<v Speaker 1>by inventor Dean Kaman seen invented the segue. He recently

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<v Speaker 1>a robotic prosthetic arm. He has four hundred patents for

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of medical devices, and he got this started

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<v Speaker 1>with twenty eight high school teams mentored by some local

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<v Speaker 1>companies UH twenty years ago and this year we have

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen thousand teams from grade school through high school around

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<v Speaker 1>the world participating in our robotics competitions. Blake Paul said.

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<v Speaker 1>High school teams have traveled from all around the world

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<v Speaker 1>to compete in the championships this weekend. Did you know what

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<v Speaker 1>what I'm talking about? That one team from the Middle East?

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<v Speaker 1>I think it was a combination Israeli UM like Palestinian

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<v Speaker 1>collaboration or something. Yeah. So you can see all these

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<v Speaker 1>teams cloud in their team shirts and their get ups,

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<v Speaker 1>and there's an awards for imagery I think, so that

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<v Speaker 1>kind of explained some of the crazy costumes. And then

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<v Speaker 1>there was like one team that was just a bunch

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<v Speaker 1>of robots and they were they had a human child

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<v Speaker 1>that they were forcing to compete in the really yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and everybody's wheeling their robots and trolleys to and fab

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<v Speaker 1>It's it's pretty cool. Well, hey, let's hear from some

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<v Speaker 1>of the mini teams that were competing. We're Team thirteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventy nine, the Gear Devils from North across Georgia and

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<v Speaker 1>right now we're working on fixing our kicker. Oh. We've

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<v Speaker 1>been competing for like about eight years and we come

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<v Speaker 1>to Georgia Dome pretty much every other year. Yeah, they

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<v Speaker 1>had that awesome Masca at the Blue Devil. I think

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<v Speaker 1>we'll get a shot of him on the blog if

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<v Speaker 1>we can which one vil. He's the devil who's blue. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>let's hear from another team. So we're from San Diego, California.

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<v Speaker 1>We're a rookie team from Canyon Crest Academy High scho Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>I love these guys. The aluminum nar walls and they

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<v Speaker 1>had to the narwhale helmets on, Like these helmets with

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<v Speaker 1>these big um it's not a tusk because it wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>our walls have I guess it's a tusk unicorn horn

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<v Speaker 1>tip deal coming out of their heads and you know, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>they're a little bit too cool for school. Initially, Remember

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<v Speaker 1>we had to chase them yeah. Yeah, and then they

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<v Speaker 1>finally rallied together and shout at their team name into

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<v Speaker 1>the microphone at the end. Yeah, and they had to

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<v Speaker 1>get a little bit organized the the that's some of

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<v Speaker 1>the teams were a little faster on the rally. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>the vibe at first I touched on this earlier, but

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<v Speaker 1>but it's just it's just awesome because these these kids

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<v Speaker 1>are running around and just enthusiastic about science and about robotics. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>the parents and the volunteers, the chaperones, everybody's just like

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<v Speaker 1>really gung ho um, and and the nerdiness is like

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<v Speaker 1>right out in the open. Uh, like just unabashed nerdiness

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<v Speaker 1>and geekiness and just just a love of science. And

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<v Speaker 1>it's just you know, it's in the air. It's it's infectious. Really.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, you just you want to go home and

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<v Speaker 1>hug your room, but give little games to play in

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<v Speaker 1>the living room, that's right, that's right. Yeah, And with

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<v Speaker 1>that vibe, you kind of get excited about the future

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<v Speaker 1>of robotics here in the United States and globally, right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's what it's all about. Yeah. So here's First President

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<v Speaker 1>Paul Gadonis again talking about how some of the high

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<v Speaker 1>schoolers involved in First Fair Leader in Life, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>they're fift more likely to go on to college after

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<v Speaker 1>they graduate high school. We have twelve million dollars of

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<v Speaker 1>scholarships open to them to enable them to go on

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<v Speaker 1>to college. And there are three or four times as

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<v Speaker 1>likely to study engineering or science than their peers who

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<v Speaker 1>weren't on a team. And it's not a different group

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<v Speaker 1>of students. We just had the exposure of being on

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<v Speaker 1>a first team. And we've got ninety thousand wonderful volunteers,

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<v Speaker 1>often professional engineers from companies like Cisco and Google and

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<v Speaker 1>Boeing and IBM and so on, and NASA who inspire

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<v Speaker 1>these kids, do you ask? Of course, has had a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of problems getting kids interested in science, technology, engineering,

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<v Speaker 1>and mathematics, and now we collectively knew these areas of

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<v Speaker 1>interest a stem right, and the US has launched initiatives

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<v Speaker 1>like this sum Education Coalition, which is co chaired by

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<v Speaker 1>folks such as the American Chemical Society and the National

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<v Speaker 1>Science Teachers Association to change that scenario. So here's Paul

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<v Speaker 1>talking about why he thinks the US has been struggling

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<v Speaker 1>with the issue. Well, things have changed. Well since when

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<v Speaker 1>I was growing up in the sixties. Uh, it was

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<v Speaker 1>the space race. It felt like a patriotic duty to

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<v Speaker 1>study math and science to get to the moon first.

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<v Speaker 1>But today our media tells young people that the way

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<v Speaker 1>to fame and fortune is to bounce the ball or

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<v Speaker 1>try to send your way into a Hollywood stage, instead

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<v Speaker 1>of using your brain to do something useful for our society.

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<v Speaker 1>And so that's what we're trying to show, that it's

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<v Speaker 1>cool to be smart. So I'm pretty sure that my

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<v Speaker 1>high school did not have a robotics team. How about yours?

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<v Speaker 1>We didn't. Yeah, would you have joined if they were? In?

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<v Speaker 1>Um see, I don't know, because my my initial reaction

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<v Speaker 1>would be, like, you know, thinking back to myself in

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<v Speaker 1>high school, I probably would be a little intimidated. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>I wasn't I wasn't that much of a science dork

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<v Speaker 1>at the time. You're more of an English doork, right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just a dork in general, I guess. But but yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and I would have probably thought, hey, I don't really

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<v Speaker 1>know how robots work, and you know, and and this

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<v Speaker 1>was you know, this was olden days when they weren't

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<v Speaker 1>in our living rooms eating dust, so um so yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I would have been a little intimidated. But but having

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<v Speaker 1>gone to the event, I know that it's more of

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<v Speaker 1>a team type deals and it's not like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>they say, all right, welcome to the team, go build

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<v Speaker 1>a robot they can shoot a basketball. And now it's

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<v Speaker 1>not quite like that. It's it's hey, we're working together,

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<v Speaker 1>et cetera. Right, So, about ten percent of US high

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<v Speaker 1>schools now have a first robotics team, but a lot don't.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's Paul and my More high schools don't have robotics teams. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a good question them, after all, they all have

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<v Speaker 1>a varsity basketball team or varsity football team. I think

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<v Speaker 1>part of it is just learning that first robotics is

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<v Speaker 1>out there, you know. So we are expanding the number

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<v Speaker 1>of teams. We're calling on schools, encouraging principles and teachers

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<v Speaker 1>to support a team. We're finding more corporate sponsors, companies

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<v Speaker 1>like Boeing and be A systems in Google who will

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<v Speaker 1>help fund teams. So I think primarily it's getting the

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<v Speaker 1>word out so that when we go into a high school,

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<v Speaker 1>we find that uh, kids sign up when they hear

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<v Speaker 1>about it because they think it's cool, or even if

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<v Speaker 1>they don't know about what it is. They get they

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<v Speaker 1>get started, um and boom they say, hey, this is

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of fun. And there is also the issue

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<v Speaker 1>of teacher pay with First right, our teachers getting paid

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<v Speaker 1>for their efforts. Let's hear from Paul on that to

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<v Speaker 1>the teacher, I mean, I'd like to see the teachers

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<v Speaker 1>get rewarded for doing this, uh financially, just like the

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<v Speaker 1>English teacher who runs the drama club or play or

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<v Speaker 1>the football coach after school. Uh. So we encourage that

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<v Speaker 1>among our school teams. But it's not as their teachers

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<v Speaker 1>are the only adults involved. There are thousands of volunteers

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<v Speaker 1>helping out, and a lot of them have related expertise

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<v Speaker 1>that they're more than willing to share. Right. We talked

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<v Speaker 1>to one of those volunteers, the kilt guy. It was

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<v Speaker 1>technically what a utility kilt until a kilt I think

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<v Speaker 1>they call them? Yeah, pretty cool. We talked to him

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<v Speaker 1>about his volunteering with First and because Robert said, guy

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<v Speaker 1>wearing a killer is bound to give some good quotes. Um, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a This is a U tailor kilt company

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<v Speaker 1>based in Seattle, a modernary reinterpretation of the kilt very comfortable.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm a great supporter of unbifurcated freedom. UM quick shout out,

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<v Speaker 1>I hope they give you a free one. UM. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>So I got involved in First a couple of years ago.

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<v Speaker 1>My my son was going to high school in Bridgewater, Massachusetts,

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<v Speaker 1>which had a team called Team at eight T J Squared,

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<v Speaker 1>which one of the first I don't think they were

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<v Speaker 1>in the first year of First, but they think they

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<v Speaker 1>joined him like the second year. It's a very old

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<v Speaker 1>veteran team. UM. And he he sort of had some

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<v Speaker 1>interest in robotics and dragged me along to one of

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<v Speaker 1>the meetings. And I'm a I'm a research engineer, electronics

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<v Speaker 1>engineer by training, so I got involved. They needed some

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<v Speaker 1>help with programming electronics. I got involved initially with the team,

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<v Speaker 1>and I thought I'd give a little bit back by

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<v Speaker 1>volunteering this year. UM. So we're running the practice field

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<v Speaker 1>where teams can but basically try out things they can't

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<v Speaker 1>really try on the field or they need to work

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<v Speaker 1>on the field. So teams are trying out the autonomous mode,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the first fifteen seconds of automatic operation. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>So that typically they need to do some tuning. They

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<v Speaker 1>might have several ideas, they want to make sure they

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<v Speaker 1>get the timing rights, etcetera. Um, and then some other

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<v Speaker 1>teams are trying out modifications and just trying some ideas

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<v Speaker 1>or different drive approaches, which again it's in a they

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<v Speaker 1>have a bit more time here and people aren't trying

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<v Speaker 1>to ram into you and everything, so it's an opportunity

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<v Speaker 1>to to practice and to sort of, you know, get

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<v Speaker 1>a get a bit more experienced before you go out

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<v Speaker 1>into the scary stuff on the main field. I'm a

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<v Speaker 1>great supporter of unbifurcated food and that that was my

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<v Speaker 1>best line from the whole first interview, and it didn't

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<v Speaker 1>even come I'm sorry from you, Paul, that it came

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<v Speaker 1>from this volunteer. Go was awesome. Yeah, yeah, he u

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<v Speaker 1>he was. He was quite a character and it was

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<v Speaker 1>very enthusiastic about the whole of that. So you're probably wanting,

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<v Speaker 1>how does the high school team make it to the

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<v Speaker 1>the battle pits the first right? Well, uh, we asked

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<v Speaker 1>Paul the same thing. Typically in the fall, high school

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<v Speaker 1>team will get started a teacher, usually x as liaison

0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:15.240
<v Speaker 1>inside the school recruits students. Might be twenty five students

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<v Speaker 1>on a team, male female students, all ages UH and

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<v Speaker 1>then a few mentors from the local area from engineering

0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.679
<v Speaker 1>professional firms in the area will then form a team

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<v Speaker 1>and on the first Saturday of January, teams gather all

0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.720
<v Speaker 1>across the country and auditoriums and over the NASA satellite network,

0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.920
<v Speaker 1>we unveil the game. And it's a new game every year. UH.

0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.160
<v Speaker 1>This year is called Breakaway, which is robots playing soccer.

0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.559
<v Speaker 1>It's like soccer on steroids. And now we unveil that

0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:44.840
<v Speaker 1>game and it's a new game every year because these

0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.320
<v Speaker 1>are smart kids and mentors and we give them their

0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:51.679
<v Speaker 1>kids of parts, five motors, gears, software, sensors. The one

0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.520
<v Speaker 1>thing we left out was the instructions and then they

0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.640
<v Speaker 1>have six weeks to design, build, test the robot. They

0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.800
<v Speaker 1>have to create it up and then FedEx ships six

0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.640
<v Speaker 1>hundred tons of robots to forty four tournaments around the world,

0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.320
<v Speaker 1>so they're in it. UH these original events in that Atlanta,

0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.360
<v Speaker 1>New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, Tel Aviv, Toronto.

0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.840
<v Speaker 1>Uh in teams participate there fifty teams at an event

0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.960
<v Speaker 1>and the winning teams make it here to the Georgia Dolomons.

0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:24.040
<v Speaker 1>So this is the super Bowl of smarts. So are

0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.640
<v Speaker 1>any of you high schoolers interested in getting involved? Here's

0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:28.400
<v Speaker 1>Paul and how you can. And in case you're a

0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.200
<v Speaker 1>little nervous about signing up, it's a team thing, like

0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.160
<v Speaker 1>we said before, So no one's gonna expect you to

0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:36.280
<v Speaker 1>build this robot. I'll buy yourself. I would say, just

0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:40.559
<v Speaker 1>do it, there's no prerequisites. Uh, just joined a team.

0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.600
<v Speaker 1>I met a couple of high school girls who were

0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.719
<v Speaker 1>on the team in New Orleans. I asked him and said,

0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.480
<v Speaker 1>how did you get involved? I said, well, our boyfriend

0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:50.560
<v Speaker 1>signed up for this team. We decided to tag along

0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.080
<v Speaker 1>and someone stuck up power drill in my hand and

0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.679
<v Speaker 1>I'm hooked. And she says, I've been doing this now

0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:57.839
<v Speaker 1>and I'm gonna head to UH college next year to

0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:02.560
<v Speaker 1>study mechanical engineering. So again my high school experience, going

0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.680
<v Speaker 1>to high school in Tennessee, UM, there was mostly athletics.

0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.199
<v Speaker 1>I remember. It's like football, football, football, and little baseball

0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.240
<v Speaker 1>or softball whatever they play. Um, a little basketball, but

0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.640
<v Speaker 1>mostly it was football. So it's athletics. Um, you know,

0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.280
<v Speaker 1>you had a few little clubs on the side. Uh.

0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.120
<v Speaker 1>And that's actually a huge deal. The whole you know,

0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:21.760
<v Speaker 1>divide between you know, what are you gonna push the

0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.240
<v Speaker 1>kids to do? What are you gonna, you know, inspire

0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:28.040
<v Speaker 1>them with the idea of an athletic superstar or you know,

0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.720
<v Speaker 1>a scientist. So we asked Paul about this. Well, I'm

0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.480
<v Speaker 1>pleased to see that more high schools are now awarding

0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.520
<v Speaker 1>a varsity letter in robotics and some teams get sent

0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.040
<v Speaker 1>on their way to the championship with a pep rally

0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.120
<v Speaker 1>uh the day before, which is the right type of

0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.080
<v Speaker 1>value system here, you get what you celebrate. This is

0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:51.720
<v Speaker 1>what we're celebrating. But I met a young woman who said, uh,

0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:55.640
<v Speaker 1>she was dropping out of high school uh as a sophomore,

0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:57.920
<v Speaker 1>and then her guidance counselors stopped her and said, you

0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.000
<v Speaker 1>ought to join this robotics team. And she said, her

0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.360
<v Speaker 1>mother said you have to do this. Uh. And she said, mom,

0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.839
<v Speaker 1>it will be social suicide for me to join his

0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.959
<v Speaker 1>robotics team. And her mother drew credit sated, well, and

0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.200
<v Speaker 1>you can't be a cheerleader anymore. She got on the team, UH,

0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.360
<v Speaker 1>thrived on it. UH. And I saw her she uh

0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:19.480
<v Speaker 1>now is a mentor of a team because she wanted

0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.280
<v Speaker 1>to get a degree in mechanical engineering. She's got a

0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.440
<v Speaker 1>great job as a design engineer, and she says, I'm

0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.160
<v Speaker 1>now giving back and I think it's the coolest thing

0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.280
<v Speaker 1>I ever did, and it really changed the course of

0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.640
<v Speaker 1>my life. Yeah, speaking of cheerleaders and females, and yeah,

0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.840
<v Speaker 1>of course we know that there are male cheerleaders too.

0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.080
<v Speaker 1>Did you have many male cheerleaders at your school? I

0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.280
<v Speaker 1>don't remember. I don't think we did. Cheerleading was not

0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.920
<v Speaker 1>a big thing in the North Beast where I grew up. O. Yeah,

0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.240
<v Speaker 1>so soccer. A lot of people played soccer. A lot

0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.960
<v Speaker 1>of people are persistent about chasing that ball around. So

0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.400
<v Speaker 1>we were wondering what First was doing to attract female

0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.160
<v Speaker 1>students to robotics. And it's a lot. As it turns out,

0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.240
<v Speaker 1>at the high school level, about of our teams are

0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.240
<v Speaker 1>made of females, which is higher than the sence and

0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:04.160
<v Speaker 1>engineering population in general. So I know we're attracting more

0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:08.040
<v Speaker 1>girls to the competitions. Uh what We're reaching out with

0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.200
<v Speaker 1>them in a couple of ways. We've made up an

0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.400
<v Speaker 1>alliance with the Girl Scouts, and there's a Girl Scouts

0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.200
<v Speaker 1>patch that you can earn by being on a robotics team.

0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.200
<v Speaker 1>We just formed an alliance with the Society of Women

0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:24.200
<v Speaker 1>Engineers to have these female professionals serve as mentors for

0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:29.840
<v Speaker 1>these teams. Uh. And we're also awarding new areas we're entering,

0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:33.480
<v Speaker 1>like the green field, and so we are creating a

0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.040
<v Speaker 1>green recycling projects, green energy audits as a way to

0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.000
<v Speaker 1>attract more females to do things that they see socially

0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:45.840
<v Speaker 1>relevant beyond building a robot. And that's working. Obviously, robots

0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.080
<v Speaker 1>continue to just get more and more advanced leading up

0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.680
<v Speaker 1>to the day when they inevitably become self conscious and takeover. Um.

0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.160
<v Speaker 1>We didn't have thought about that though. Some friends of

0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.560
<v Speaker 1>mine were really saying, Hey, ask him, when, what are

0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.000
<v Speaker 1>the chances of robots becoming self aware of this year's

0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.000
<v Speaker 1>first and taking over humanity? Um? And we should ask

0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.640
<v Speaker 1>them about the singularity totally. Yeah, And I figured it's

0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.080
<v Speaker 1>probably like each first, you know, get all the robots

0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.480
<v Speaker 1>together in one room, they're gonna talk, they're gonna organize. Um. Yeah,

0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:13.920
<v Speaker 1>what goes on after the lights go down in the

0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:15.800
<v Speaker 1>Church of Dome. I don't know if maybe next year

0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.720
<v Speaker 1>we'll find out. But we asked Paul about about some

0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:21.640
<v Speaker 1>of the technologies that the bots are showcasing and how

0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.480
<v Speaker 1>that's changed first over the years. Yeah, and what kind

0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.560
<v Speaker 1>of technologies they're gonna adopt for future competitions. Well, we're

0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:32.040
<v Speaker 1>getting more and more sophisticated. I got this year. There's

0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:37.640
<v Speaker 1>a versephisticated video camera and Intel help donate Classmate PCs

0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.520
<v Speaker 1>for the driver's station. We're using out WiFi as a

0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.360
<v Speaker 1>means of communicating between the robots. Uh. And so you're

0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.200
<v Speaker 1>gonna see some awesome play out there with robots on

0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.520
<v Speaker 1>their own finding the targets, shooting the balls. In the future,

0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.560
<v Speaker 1>you'll see things like optical character recognition uh and uh

0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:58.640
<v Speaker 1>even online simulations of what we're doing. So my favorite

0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.720
<v Speaker 1>robot is Maximum Alien from the Black Hole fictional. Uh.

0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.040
<v Speaker 1>So I had to ask Paul what his favorite robot

0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.280
<v Speaker 1>is and he let us know. Well, I saw a

0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.520
<v Speaker 1>robot built by one of the first Robotics team members

0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:15.399
<v Speaker 1>with the Lego mind Storms robot. You put a scrambled

0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:20.000
<v Speaker 1>Rubics cube in its arms. The video camera scans it

0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:24.520
<v Speaker 1>in nine seconds, transmits the data into a laptop where

0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.800
<v Speaker 1>he's programmed an algorithm that solves it in four seconds,

0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.760
<v Speaker 1>and then instructs the arms to unscramble it and solve

0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.840
<v Speaker 1>the entire Rubisque problem in fifty three seconds, and this

0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.560
<v Speaker 1>young man is thirteen years old. That is a cool

0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.520
<v Speaker 1>robot and a pretty cool kid. That's a good answer.

0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.920
<v Speaker 1>I totally saw that video on YouTube with the Rubick's

0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:47.240
<v Speaker 1>Cube robot, did you. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty amazing. I

0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.359
<v Speaker 1>mean it's no you know, kill a red robot at

0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:53.359
<v Speaker 1>this rating, Anthony Perkins. But it's pretty good. So that

0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.239
<v Speaker 1>wraps it up for first Stuff from the Science Lab

0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.840
<v Speaker 1>road trip. We hope you guys enjoyed it. And as always,

0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.440
<v Speaker 1>you can type robots or robot into the search bar

0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.919
<v Speaker 1>and how Stuff works homepage and see what good stuff

0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.000
<v Speaker 1>that brings up. We've got things about robot armies, robots

0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:10.440
<v Speaker 1>getting married, robots becoming self aware and taking over the world. Yeah,

0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.600
<v Speaker 1>we just every news you wrote about robots being alive. Yes,

0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:15.200
<v Speaker 1>I like that article. I thought it. Let's give on

0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.119
<v Speaker 1>And of course we're getting more technologically advanced to you.

0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.080
<v Speaker 1>And we're on Twitter now, so follow us on Twitter

0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.320
<v Speaker 1>with Lab stuff and look us up on Facebook as well.

0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.159
<v Speaker 1>We're on their stuff from the Science Lab. Just put

0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.800
<v Speaker 1>that into the bar and search for it, and you

0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:32.080
<v Speaker 1>can always shoot us an email at Science Stuff at

0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.359
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you

0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:36.439
<v Speaker 1>think of the podcast, if you have any suggestions for

0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.439
<v Speaker 1>future episodes, and let us know about your relationship with

0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.280
<v Speaker 1>with robots if you are, especially if you're a member

0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.679
<v Speaker 1>of robotics team or volunteer with one you know, let

0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:47.880
<v Speaker 1>us know about your experiences. We'd love to hear from

0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:58.119
<v Speaker 1>you for moral this and thousands of other topics. Is

0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.600
<v Speaker 1>that how stuff works dot com. Want more house stuff works,

0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.120
<v Speaker 1>check out our blogs on the house stuff works dot

0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:04.879
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