Robotics for 4-H youth; did you see the Google driverless car?

4-H club pushes robotics and Lego Mindstorms; Did you see the Google driverless car? Link to 4-H robotics site and driverless car video.

November 11, 2010

The new 4-H year began Oct. 1, and the push toward robotics is on. Really cool robot posters are circulating around the country, the new 4-H Robotics website at https://www.4-h.org/resource-library/curriculum/4-h-robotics/ is up and running.  More downloadable materials will be added to it as the year goes on. One of the promised items that I am looking forward to taking a close look at is an updated robotics-training course. The one they have available now is based on a discontinued model of Lego Mindstorms.

Sometimes the training material development cycle is so long that the rapid developments in electronics overtake it before it is finished.  I hope that the new version of the course either will be less dependent on specific model or be based on the latest available model of Lego Mindstorms. I want to see more Lego cars out there parallel parking between the other toys on the toy room floor. I want to see them autonomously driving across the cluttered bedroom floor and throughout the house.

According to Honda’s actions, it appears that the tidal wave of robotics is due to hit our shores when the kids that were in high school three years ago are well established in their careers, are the establishment, and are our elected officials.  How far is that into a person’s career, mid-career?

Let us do the math. Three years ago was 2007. They were the high school graduating classes of 2007-2011.  Add four years of college makes the span 2011-1015.  Add 10 years to make them mid-career and that would make the years 2021-2025. The end of the initial surge will be when they have been in their career 20 years, which would be the years 2031-2035.  I must explain that this kind of social engineering is not my specialty so feel free to present your case for which years you see it all happening. Working this out here in my shop feels like a scene from the movie Back To The Future but in this case, the advice might be “buy stock in robots.”

ABC News does piece on Google driverless car

No longer confined to engineering trade journals, vehicles that drive themselves are in the popular news this past month. Did you see the ABC News video on the Google driverless car? https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/test-driving-google-car-11857670 Ordinary people are openly talking about the subject on the street and even AARP Magazine has a story about cars that drive themselves.

See links below for more about 4-H robotics and automated guided vehicles (AGVs).

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GO ROBOTS !

Paul F. Grayson – Chief Engineer

AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC

"Small engine and machinery repair"

TC TINKERS 4-H ROBOT CLUB

"Science, Engineering, and Technology"

390 4-Mile Rd. S.

Traverse City, MI 49685

(231) 883-4463 Cell

pgrayson@aimagic.org

AIM: https://aimagic.org

TC Tinkers 4-H Robot Club:

https://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/TC_TINKERS_4-H_Robot_Club/

Free 4-H club news letter:

https://groups.yahoo.com/group/TC_TINKERS_4-H_Robot_Club/join