Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #02082
To: alt-beam@egroups.com
From: Jean auBois aubois@trail.com
Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 09:35:35 -0600
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: BEAM Wokshop '99
Ian's information about the workshop is apparently a little faulty. The
official notice given by the Lab is:
Beamers descend on Los Alamos Senior Center
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 5, 1999 -- Middle and high school students from
throughout New Mexico are invited to participate in the 5th Annual BEAM
robotics workshop on April 8-10 at the Betty Ehart Senior Center, next to the
Mesa Public Library in Los Alamos.
Hosted by the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, the BEAM
Workshop will provide participants with information, mentoring and materials
for constructing their own robots or for improving upon robots they bring to
the workshop.
"This year is slightly different from past BEAM Workshops in that we have a
special session for the younger robot enthusiasts," said Paul Argo, a staff
member in Los Alamos' Space and Atmospheric Sciences Group. "There will be a
workshop session on Saturday morning for grade school students and their
parents, or other adult companion, to come out an build a robot."
Kits for specific BEAM robot designs -- solarollers, solar flappers and
photopoppers -- will be available to participants. Each participant will
receive one kit; more complicated kits will be made available as the workshop
progresses and as supplies last. Kits are free to students and available at a
cost of $30 to $60 for adult participants.
Although some tools will be available at the workshop, students are encouraged
to bring their own safety glasses, soldering irons, mini-snips, needle nose
pliers and other tools as well as potential robot components such as broken
Walkman tape players, motors, transistors, gears, solar cells and other items
of possible usefulness.
The student participants will be working and having lunch at the Senior Center
on both Thursday and Friday. Los Alamos seniors are invited and encouraged to
join the students at the workshop and for lunch.
The BEAM acronym stands for biology, electronics, aesthetics and mechanics and
refers to the revolutionary approach to robotics pioneered by BEAM founder and
Los Alamos scientist Mark Tilden. BEAM robots are modeled more on the simple,
repetitive biological processes of insects than the complex, human-like
operations that are the goal of traditional robotics. Argo is one of several
researchers at the Laboratory exploring how adaptive robots can be applied to
specific functions in space or on Earth.
The BEAM workshop often includes such events as races between solarollers or
legged robot constructions and sumo wrestling, in which one robot tries to push
another out of an area. Last year's workshop and games attracted more than 70
students. In the past students from Pojoaque High School went on to participate
in the international BEAM games in India, and took second-place honors against
teams from 42 countries.
The workshop is sponsored and funded by the Laboratory's Science Education
Outreach office. As usual, there is no cost to student participants, but they
must provide a formal letter from their schools approving their attendance at
the workshop during school hours. To register or get additional information on
the workshop, send e-mail to Paul Argo at pargo@lanl.gov or call him at (505)
667-8355.
Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for
the U.S. Department of Energy.
---------------------------------------------------------------
jab
Do you have a BEAM question? Try one of the following sites -- they really
help!
BEAM Robotics Tek FAQ http://people.ne.mediaone.net/bushbo/beam/FAQ.html
BEAM Mailing List Archive http://www.egroups.com/list/alt-beam/
BEAM Online http://www.beam-online.com/
Chiu-Yuan's BEAM Page http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/6897/
BEAM Heretics http://www.serve.com/heretics/
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