Where are the Robots?

At Fukushima, that is.  If you haven't watched this unbelievable video, it will drive home the sheer devastation of the events in Japan of March 11:


New Shocking Video Of The Japanese Tsunami by timbarracuda

In case you haven't heard, 50 lower and mid-level managers who have come to be known as the "Fukushima 50" have essentially offered their lives to shut down the Japanese nuclear facility damaged irreparably by last month's 8.9 earthquake and tsunami.  At last count, at least 5 of these brave martyrs have already died and another 15 have been hospitalized with radiation poisoning.

The blog American Thinker asks the question that's been on my mind lately:  Why are we asking 50 workers to sacrifice their lives when robots could do much of this work?  Where are the robots?

I mean, I love robots and all, but let's face it:  They're expendable.  Human beings are not.

Germany has offered their robots as assistance. 

So, if Japan and Korea are essentially the world's cradle of robotics, why aren't they using them to "cool down" the Fukushima plant?  Already today, robots are used in space exploration, fire fighting, advanced medicine and many, many other fields to supplement their human counterparts.

Let's get them programmed and working the front lines of this battle!!

The Beautiful Mind

The human mind is an amazing thing.  Mysterious.  Complex. 

It's a common axiom that we only use 10% of our brain's capacity.  Look at the research and you'll see a passionate debate over that number (most think 10% is too low), but the fact is that our brains have extraordinary untapped potential. 

How much can we learn about the human brain, though, by considering those whose brains are extraordinary?  I consider it a fascinating area of study, so I thought I would present three such cases:

Kim Peek
If you've never heard the story of the original "Rain Man", it's worth your while.  Kim Peek was a true treasure of a man who passed away late last year (December 19).  He could speed-read a book by reading the left page with his left eye and right page with his right eye at the same time and retained, it is estimated, over 98% of everything he read.  The norm is closer to 45%.



Jacob Barnett
Jacob is a 12-year-old whose IQ exceeds that of Einstein.  He enrolled at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) at the ripe old age of 8 to take advanced astrophysics classes.

Here, he takes on Calculus 2 concepts.  Warning:  This video is not for the feint of heart or any of us who, you know, struggle with Calculus 2.  :-)



Daniel Tammett

Another young man with remarkable abilities, Daniel Tammett is shown in this video extrapolating Pi to 22,500 digits. He says the numbers appear in his head as symbols. Unexplainable.



The questions raised by these remarkable individuals are staggering:  Just how much of our brains DO we use?  Can modern science replicate any of these extraordinary talents?  Are there teaching/learning methodologies that can even emulate 1% of what we see in these videos?

Or should we maybe just sit back and appreciate God's handiwork?

Education and The Future of Technology

If you are into stats and numbers then this is the video for you! It isn't just interesting but I really think it has some wow factor to it too!  The rest of the world is changing so fast around us, how on earth are we still so far behind on the education front?

At MIT, a new focus on generating "people" skills

This boston.com article goes back to 2009, but makes an excellent case for the necessity of "soft skills" in the business world, even for engineering and technology students.  It's probably as effective as any article I've seen in explaining why the Ameribotics' mission includes a broad range of arts, humanities, business and people skills rather than simple STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills.

What do you think?  Does our education of youth need to be more specialized and targeted to meet the demands of the 21st century, like education systems in India and China?  Or does it need to be more broad and diverse and focused on the whole person?  Certainly, there are strong arguments on either side of that discussion.

Differentiated Instruction

This may not be extremely educational but it's amusing and on topic.  I would imagine there are plenty of teachers out there who could sadly relate to some of the issues in this tongue-in-cheek video.

OCAD- What Can Creativity Do?

This is a pretty self explanatory but extremely captivating video that will make you really start contemplating, what can WE do  to further the world's progress through creativity?

Ameribotics Logo Contest

Dear friends, we need your input.

"Da Mutha Ship", Ameribotics, is running a logo design contest. What we have now on the website is just kind of, you know, amateur.

So, we've taken our first dip into the "Crowdsourcing" waters to find a new logo.  Much like Expedia, PriceLine and others have created forums where hotels and airlines can compete for customers, so have sites like 99 Designs created forums for graphic artists to compete for graphics arts projects.  WAY cool concept!

We submitted our logo project about mid-day yesterday (Monday) with a 48-hour deadline.  YOU can vote and comment on the designs, and we hope you will.

To get to the contest, click on THIS LINK.  Any comments here will be appreciated.

We'll have some finalists -- and a poll -- posted by mid-day tomorrow.

Let Kids Rule the School

This is a fascinating article written for the New York Times by Susan Engel, on March 14th 2011.
Let Kids Rule the School
If kids are left to study by themselves or in groups are they sure for distraction and failure?  Would they learn more by studying and schooling the way they enjoy and are comfortable with?  This article at least makes us ask ourselves if we should just possibly ask the students how THEY want to learn.

Abraham Lincoln Rap

This may be slightly over the top but it forces us to wonder if a student would learn more in a blandly uninspired classroom, or more from unusual means like this corky yet creative rap song.

Riding the Innovation Wave

America is in crisis.  Soaring debt, falling home prices, creeping poverty, failing schools, foreign wars, crime-riddled inner cities.

But this is by no means the first time America has been in crisis, be it the Revolutionary War, Civil War or the Great Depression.

According to this article in the Boston Globe, it has been our spirit of innovation that has seen us through the tough times and into new ages of prosperity.  Today, though, "the United States...suffers from a national deficit of inspiration; we believe too little in our power to invent a better future to focus on priorities that will pay off not in the next quarter or even the next election cycle, but in the generations."

True statement?  Too much American Idol and not enough creative inspiration?  Or is the next big wave of technological innovation right around the corner?  Or is the next big wave of innovation already HERE in the form of iPads, robotics and the like?

What Does a Teacher Make?

OK, so the next time I'm invited to a dinner party with a bunch of lawyers and business people, I'm inviting this guy along. (**Warning, contains some caustic language**)

Blink

We at Ameribotics are compelled by the merging of art and science -- we believe the synthesis of right-brained and left-brained development is the key to our mission of whole-person development through robotics.

So, when one of us sees something like this video from CBS 4 in Denver, we get all excited. Please excuse my enthusiasm.

Check out this video and by all means, if you're in the Denver area, try to visit this exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.

Changing Education Paradigms

This is a video I'll probably show from time as the demographics of our audience changes.  I think it's my favorite education-oriented video of all time.

Fantastic food for thought.  Not only is the presentation one of the coolest things I've ever seen, but the subject matter is particularly pertinent and Sir Ken Robinson is one of a kind.  If you've never seen this video before, trust me, it is WELL worth 12 minutes of your time.

One key question left unanswered by the video, though:  How do we go from the anaesthetic to the aesthetic in education?  I'd love to hear people's thoughts.

National Pi Day

OK, quick.  Why is today National Pi Day?

It's March 14.  3.14.  Get it?  Yeah, I rolled my eyes too.  I was pushing for July 22, but what do I know?

But hey, it's also Albert Einstein's birthday (Happy 132nd, big guy!). 

So, in honor of the raw **intellectualness** of March 14, check out how musician Michael John Blake from Portland, Oregon has transformed the numbers of Pi into a song.  (Note:  The Youtube video has been pulled, but the "Listen Now" interview still works).

Or, here's an annoying -- but somehow addicting -- little video dedicated to the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.



Oh, and for what it's worth, National Pie Day was January 23.  Sorry, we missed that one!

Passion, not just Data, Should Drive Learning

Academic standards are like the old saying about fire: "Great servant, terrible master".

Yes, we need standards to ensure that our children are learning to read, write, do basic math and think.

But in what seems to be an ever-increasing enslavement to academic standardization, have we sold out our childrens' natural passion for learning?

Lisa Nielsen has an excellent piece in the Huffington Post discussing standardized tests and how they're stifling our children -- and, perhaps even more importantly, our teachers.

Slam Poetry -- Taylor Phillips

So, geniuses of the 21st century, THIS is for you!

Is Creativity a Curse?

I was listening to local Denver radio the other day and Dom and Jane (Mix 100) were discussing the "curse" of creativity and how it's embraced, but not really, in today's world. 

Is creativity as a whole feared and maybe even frowned upon in today's world? Do people have the general misconception that creativity can only be used in the arts and doesn't exist in science, engineering or math? Or maybe it's feared because people don't want to change from their cookie cutter ways and creativity involves thought, and thinking is just too much to ask for these days!

Valedictorian Speaks out Against Schooling

If only more of us had the true thinking skills -- and chutzpah -- of Erica Goldson, the young lady who gave this amazing speech in 2010, we could turn around the education industry in no time!

I'd love to hear peoples' thoughts on the anti-establishment tone of the video.  Notice the discomfort of the folks sitting to Erica's left (our right) throughout the video (**snicker snicker**).

Robots getting groovy.

These guys are breaking out some serious dance moves! It's rumored that the robot on the front right is going to be a contestant on the next "Dancing With the Stars". Just Joking!...Or am I?