Ultimate Challenge - Driving a Rover on Mars

Long past the time their systems were expected to quit, the Mars Rover robots, Spirit and Opportunity, continue to roll. These two are real robots on a real mission, collecting and transmitting data on Mars. NASA provides an excellent site of information and imagery on its web site. Visit http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/

The distance to Mars makes for slow conversation with the robots. "The average smallest distance between Mars and the Earth is 78 million kilometers or 48 million miles (and the average greatest distance is 378 million kilometers or 235 million miles)" (Astronomical Institute, 2003). Divide the distance from Mars by the speed of light, then by 60 to get minutes. If 120,000,000 miles aways, a message takes 11 minutes to get there and 11 for a reply. The location of the robots can be found by clicking the Spacecraft link at mars.google.com.

Omega Team Sweats the Details

Omega team consults with the coach, Dr. Howell!

A Model for a 2 week Robot Camps ages 11-14

It is not too early to start thinking about using the knowledge learned at Robot Camp to run a camp for students in this region. Note this model for such a robot camp being run by Rensselaer.

Lego Robotics Does Rubics Cube

As an example of the building intelligence in the Lego Mindstorms community, a fellow with the name of Starpoint posted a solution to the Rubic's Cube using Lego engineering. Wow!

Make - a great magazine for digital builders

http://www.makezine.com/

For digital builders of all ages, check this online publication out. Please post interesting items from this magazine and site.

Alpha Team Design Time

Here the Alpha team designs a solution to a challenge.