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Detroit: Robot Fun!


Hello and welcome to a windy Saturday from the FIRST (Robotics) World Championship in Detroit, Michigan. What a blast!

We arrived on Wednesday and it's been a steady diet of robots, science, experiments and games, a college fair, and thousands of people - 40,000, they tell us - from around the world.

(Okay, full disclosure: The last few days have also included a lot of waiting, very expensive food, two lost kids, a few meltdowns which involved a thorough kick in the shin from the Toddler to the WAKWIR and the First Grader, and many loops around the Cobo Center looking for parking.)

Here are a few snapshots of this week's adventure. Enjoy!

FLL Team 2177: The Robettes - a MN Favorite! ❤

FLL Jr. Team from Romanian

WAKWIR on the Riverfront in Windsor, ON

Windsor Riverfront Fun Facts

Kids' Corner 

The oldest two kids have been busy with FRED and their robot. As of Friday night, the team was ranked 19th out of 68 teams with 6 wins - 3 losses - 1 tie. That last match was a nail biter! The Red Alliance was ahead but because of a 3 point penalty, the game ended in a tie.

Our Team 2883: F.R.E.D.
(Fighting Rednecks Engineering & Design)

FRED wins with the Red Alliance


The Greenbush Gators are also here. They're in a different division than FRED, and are ranked 1st of 68 teams in their group!

The WAKWIR says his favorite part was building with the all-white architecture LEGOS, virtual reality goggles and speaking with the Czech Lego League Team.

Awesome LEGO architecture!

Virtual Reality Goggles


The First Graders favorite part of this experience has been the hotel pool and the playground along the river front. We stayed on the Windsor, Ontario side and could see the Cobo Center (where the event was held) from our hotel.

Origami with a Korean FLL Jr. Team



And the Toddler said it was "the flying rockets" - which I think means the blue and red rockets animation on the jumbotron. After each match, the rockets launch and the one that launches the highest is the alliance with the most points, and the overall winner.

Rocket Blast Off!

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

2005 - The Airbus A380 takes to the skies for the first time
The double-deck airliner is the world's largest commercial jet.

1994 - South African citizens of all races are allowed to vote in a general election for the first time
The 1994 general election was held precisely 44 years after Apartheid was formalized by the government with the passing of the Group Areas Act.

1992 - For the first time in its 700-year history, the British House of Commons is presided over by a female Speaker
Betty Boothroyd served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000.

1961 - Sierra Leone becomes an independent republic
The West African country's first Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai, ended over 150 years of British colonial rule.

1810 - Ludwig van Beethoven composes “Für Elise”
“Bagatelle No. 25” for solo piano is one of the German composer's most popular works and one of the most recognized melodies in the history of music.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1963 - Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter, producer

1935 - Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek director, producer, screenwriter

1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, American general, politician, 18th President of the United States

1791 - Samuel Morse, American painter, inventor, co-invented the Morse code

1759 - Mary Wollstonecraft, English author, philosopher

(P.S. Happy Birthday to my mom - April 28th!)

Remembering You

1992 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer, ornithologist

1972 - Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana

1938 - Edmund Husserl, Austrian mathematician, philosopher

1896 - Henry Parkes, English/Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer

Play with some Legos, see if you community has a FIRST team with its own robots and gadgets, and and make it a great Saturday!

Go FRED!

Kim

Detroit Cityscape and some of the crew.




Comments

  1. You're helping Detroit with its comeback. Cheap land available there to start an artist colony.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd take Windsor over Detroit any day. But loved Detroit's architecture. Wayne County building and St. Mary's Catholic Church. WOW!

    ReplyDelete

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