For those of us who couldn't make it to the FIRST finals in Atlanta this week, National Instruments is posting some cool videos straight from the competition floor. Todd, a NI staff engineer, is doing "man on the street" interviews with the teams, talking about their robots, strategies, and ... costumes. Check out his interview with the Team FTC 7 Stormtrooper guy above. NI will be posting more videos tomorrow and Saturday.
NI is also announcing today that registrations are open for the Moonbots: Google Lunar X Prize LEGO Mindstorms Challenge. From the release:
The MoonBots Challenge is an exciting contest that challenges teams of kids (age 13 and up) and adult mentors to learn about robotics, the Moon, and space exploration by designing and constructing a LEGO MINDSTORMS robot that performs simulated lunar missions similar to those required to win the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE. Six-member teams are engaged in hands-on learning experiences, helping to inspire today’s kids to become tomorrow’s innovators and creative problem solvers who explore futures in science and engineering. The MoonBots Challenge is free and open to teams across the globe.
For more information, go to https://www.moonbots.organd watch the video below, an interview with Steven Canvin from LEGO about the competition:
Erico Guizzo is the Director of Digital Innovation at IEEE Spectrum, and cofounder of the IEEE Robots Guide, an award-winning interactive site about robotics. He oversees the operation, integration, and new feature development for all digital properties and platforms, including the Spectrum website, newsletters, CMS, editorial workflow systems, and analytics and AI tools. An IEEE Member, he is an electrical engineer by training and has a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.