https://www.youtube.com/watch?61=&v=-hUPRcY46Fc The Honeybee Crisis Most of us are aware of the honeybee crisis. The environmentally sustaining species - pollinating 80% of the world - have been dying out at a surprising rate. So, scientists in Japan have been working on a backup plan, just in case: Pollinator drones. How Pollinator Drones Can Help In the distant future, these little drones could help assist the decreasing number of honeybees. These robots have a strip of fuzzy … [Read more...]
Meet Forpheus, the Ping-Pong Playing Robot!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyKLDNzGGI Robotics is becoming more and more impressive as we progress through the modern age, and Forpheus is a fun example of how it can help improve human skill in tons of different tasks, even sports. Forpheus is a robotic ping-pong training buddy that uses three different sensors to recognize not only where the ping-pong ball is going, but also study its opponent’s body movements and posture to help predict where and how fast they will strike next. As … [Read more...]
You Can Now Hold Hands With Your Loved Ones From Miles Away
Over at MIT, they’ve been working on something that might just be the next generation of user interfaces: Shapeshifting Augmented Reality Display. To put it simply, a bed of movable pins is connected to computers that can read digital content, such as a video of you moving your hands, onto a physical 3D space. The pins move up and down to render the video quite incredibly. This technology could be used to hold hands with someone across the planet, share physical things digitally, and even help … [Read more...]
Machines Can Now Finish Rubik’s Cube Without a Human’s Help
You may be thinking that you’ve seen robots solving a Rubik’s cube before, but before now, they could only do so with the help of human-made algorithms, which are a set of rules and processes that the machine would follow. Students at the University of California have solved the problem with a process called “autodidactic iteration”. This allows a machine to figure out possible solutions for itself. Supposedly this algorithm can solve 100 percent of randomly scrambled cubes in 30 moves or less! … [Read more...]
Code Breakers
In Code Breakers after school engineering club, kids get a glimpse into the world of security engineers, exploring everything from how computers talk to each other to how things we do, say and wear sends a message. Think about all of the information you share on social media or other internet outlets each day. Security engineers work to safeguard our personal information from hackers and frauds, and they're always developing new ways to protect our information. During … [Read more...]
Velcro Comes From Burrs! And Other Technologies Inspired By Nature
Nature is the ultimate genius when it comes to adapting, inventing and solving problems. Time and time again, we look to nature for inspiration in creating everything from daily use items like Velcro, to innovative technologies like space robots. Here is a summarized version of a list put together by Cathal O'Connel, detailing 10 amazing ideations from nature. Wow your child with these facts, sure to inspire the creativity in them, as well! Velcro is inspired by burrs, easily … [Read more...]
Press Release: Kids Voluntarily Going to Summer School
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Original Press Release Cleveland, OH – Over 1,700 kids in Ohio age 7-13 are voluntarily signing up to take 15 hours of class to learn science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) skills during the summer. Any parent who has ever struggled to get a child to complete homework may wonder how this is possible, but the answer is … kids love learning what they love. Classroom Antics, a leading provider of technology summer camps in Ohio, has been capitalizing … [Read more...]
National STEM Video Game Challenge
Classroom Antics believes technology education should inspire, excite, and enrich the lives of children, and we are very excited when such a large number of respected organizations band together to give children an opportunity to show off their skills in events such as the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Inspired by the Educate to Innovate Campaign, President Obama’s initiative to promote a renewed focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, the National STEM … [Read more...]
USA Missing at World Robot Olympiad
On November 18-20, 2011, Abu Dhabi will play host to the 8th annual World Robot Olympiad (WRO). World Robot Olympiad is an event where teams of three students, guided by their teachers and coaches, create, design and build robot models using LEGO Mindstorm NXT that compete in one of three competition categories. This year they anticipate over 35 countries and over 13,000 teams from around the world will take part in WRO activities. However according to the website the United States will not be … [Read more...]
New LEGO NXT Sensor: Inertial Motion Unit
Classroom Antics is very excited that Dexter Industries, a leader in advanced sensors and peripherals for LEGO MINDSTORMS, announced the release of a new sensor for the LEGO MINDSTORMS system. They are releasing a proper 6 Degree of Freedom (DOF) Inertial Motion Unit (IMU) sensor which measures rotation and acceleration of robots built with the LEGO MINDSTORMS system. The sensor is both an accelerometer and gyroscope for the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. The new sensor can measure acceleration, tilt, … [Read more...]
