Long Beach Kicks Off National Robotics Week 2014

"Established by Congress in 2010 to raise awareness about robots and their important role in shaping the future of education, industry and the U.S. economy, National Robotics Week brings together students, educators and influencers who share a passion for robots and technology." See the full press release from the National Robotics Week organizers here.

Any one of the groups involved in the Long Beach Celebration of National Robotics Week could have pulled off a nice event, but when
Shared Science, the Robotics Society of Southern California and the Long Beach BSA got together with friends at the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach and KidsTalk Radio... dare I say it?... 

Everything was AWESOME!

Now in its second year, this year's event was again held at the Long Beach Sea Base, which is managed by the Long Beach council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Some well known faces in robotics, robotics education and pop culture were there, gathered together by the groups involved.  Here are a few of the friends who came to support this community event.

R2 Builders
Mike Senna (on the Council of the R2 Builders group) and Victor Franco were there with their full-scale replicas of R2 D2 and Wall-E.  If you've ever seen them at fan conventions from Star Wars to Comic Books, to Maker Faires and Mini Maker Faires, you'll know just how in-demand full-scale replicas of the droids and movie robots can be... A special thanks to these enthusiasts who are called upon to present at many an event and conference.  If you would like to make one of your own, check out the R2 Builders group website at http://astromech.net/

Caprice Rothe
Caprice Rothe, who taught the mechatronics team for E.T. how to convert the jerky unrealistic movements of E.T. into smoother more natural movements was there.  Caprice happens to be a producer, director, movement artist and graphic artist and did a demo of how to walk like a robot.

Walter Martinez
Walter Martinez, CSULB Robotics professor was there.  What you may not know is that Walter competed in the Battlebots competition series which pitted makers of ramming, smashing, sawing and crashing robots against each other.

The Golden Machine
The Wilson/Poly FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) team #4997, the Golden Machine, was there.  For those who do not yet know, the team won the Rookie/All-Star award at the recent FRC competition in Long Beach, and will be headed to St. Louis for the national competition!  Go Long Beach!  The team is also participated in by members of the Brain Nuggets, a Long Beach home-schooled FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team.  The team is mentored by volunteers from Boeing, Northrop-Grumann and many in the Long Beach community.  You may wish to check out their website and donate to help cover the expenses of their upcoming trip.

Nuts and Volts and Servo Magazine
When I was talking to Victor Franco I recalled my dream of getting a bunch of kids together to make a droid, I was standing in front of the full-scale R2 D2 that Victor had built.  We talked about whether we would start with observations on the look of the droid.  Perhaps we would buy the LEGO kit.  Victor pointed across to the Servo Magazine booth.  Read articles.  Cut them out.  Learn one thing then another.  Good idea, I thought, re-energized to get a droid-making club started.

There was so much more.

Here are a couple of videos.  I'll be putting up more this week, so please subscribe if you'd like to see more:
Close up of R2 D2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOo3L83mWJw
Milliken Knights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMFUUdOQK1M

Many thanks to Shared Science's Michelle Wells and Jacqui Viale for the loads of effort to ensure that it all went smoothly!

Trish Tsoiasue lives in Long Beach and once thought she would start a club called the Hovershoes Club of America.  For now, she's working on some more grounded clubs, but hopes to one day come back to creating The Hovershoes Club of America.
Here are some blog posts on the subject and a video.
http://belmontshore.patch.com/groups/trish-tsoiasues-blog/p/bp--big-tinkers-and-hovershoes-lemonade
I can't find the post on this idea, but here's an (admittedly) Really Bad Video on the Hovershoes Club of America.  That's why I blog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtiZSpKF790