Saturday, December 8, 2012

*Snort*

 While I was getting all the pictures ready for the annual Christmas Calendar for Barb I came across so many "Goober" shots. I put together a montage for your enjoyment :)

 






The last one made the Christmas card. Rob made me do it ;)

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Robotics Show Down 2012

 Robotics as defined by Wiki: Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation and application of robots [1] and computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing. These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of humans, in hazardous or manufacturing processes, or simply just resemble humans.  
My kids just like to play with lego mindstorms and try to complete the missions ;)
Jared was lucky enough to hang out for a few practices at the Kell robotics center. He will be familiar with this location if he decides to go to school there in the fall of 2013. Here is a picture of some light reading at the center. ;)
This year we had Jared on the team for Palmer Middle School (the school did not have a team for the last two years so this was Jared's first year with them) and we had Ryan on the Chalker Blockers (Jared's old team) under the direction of Ms. Taylor. They were excited to compete against each other.
 Uncle Ricky was in town along with Gran and Grandfather. Grammy and Pop Pop stopped by to enjoy the competition as well. Ryan was able to run the table all three times for her bridge program but unfortunately the robot didn't cooperate and she didn't achieve the mission. Jared never went to the table since he was behind the design of his team's robot.
 The competition was VERY close but Jared's team did advance to the Super Regionals while Ryan's team did not. Her team was able to score 95 points on their robot run but Jared's team was 235. Both teams did really well on their innovations and project design.
Here Ryan is explaining to Uncle Ricky how their invention would help out the elderly. 

Jared's team will advance to the Region competition in January 2013. Practices have already begun to get them ready for the next step. Ryan's group is done competing for the year but they still have a Spring Robotics club where she will mentor the younger kids coming up for next year's team. She wants to do it again next year so she must have really enjoyed it!