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 […]
Meet Forpheus, the Ping-Pong Playing Robot!
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Scratch Programming is like LEGO Building
Scratch is a programming language for kids that makes it easy to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share their creations on the web. It was developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab with the goal of developing a program that was more “tinkerable”, more meaningful, […]
