my mom tells me that ever since I was 2
I have had this fascination with
computers and technology how they work
what is inside them and what they are
now capable of part of this fascination
is how technology is changing and
developing so quickly
look how far we’ve come as the first
computers in 1969 when a support man on
the moon it was achieved with only nine
megabytes significant unit power and the
computers they used was so big they
filled five living rooms while visiting
the Johnson Space Center in Houston I
learned from a NASA guide that today’s
average smartphone has enough computing
power the simultaneously launch manage
and control 10,000 Apollo moon missions
isn’t that incredible
technology is becoming increasingly
integrated into our lives Smart Homes
virtual reality augmented reality and
the Internet of Things and then there
are robots big ones and assemble cars
and tall parts of buildings and the
small ones that make your phone or
laptop in Russian robots literally
translated means job or worker or
according to the Oxford Dictionary a
machine capable of carrying out a
complex series of actions automatically
especially one programmable by computer
today you already have robots that can
cook for you help you walk again your
complex surgeries with precision and do
your accounts unfortunately there are
negatives to all that progress the World
Economic Forum predicts that 800 million
jobs will be lost by 2030 because of
automation it sounds scary especially
for any accountants in the room the
future of employment seems uncertain as
many traditional jobs they’ve
disappeared by the time I finished
university but this is not the first
time in history that automation is to
blame for job losses just think of the
introduction what did it automated Lou
in the 1800s well the development of
improved agricultural machinery like
tractors innovation and new industries
who are created and with its new in
different jobs history teaches us that
change is inevitable but change is
happening now such an incredible rate
that progress seems to overtake us I
watched a clip on the internet the other
day where leading economist Jack Ma said
something very true if we don’t adapt
the way we teach you’ll be in big
trouble 30 years from them education is
still the same as it was for the last
200 years
it is knowledge-based we cannot teach
our children to compete with machines
because they are smarter we have to
teach unique skills the machines cannot
catch up with us what do you teach he
believes we need to teach three human
skills like values Leafs independent
thinking teamwork care for others sports
and arts as knowledge alone cannot teach
you that when my parents went to school
they were told that if you work hard and
get good grades you will go to
university and get a job for life it is
becoming clear that this is no longer
true just having good grades in school
won’t secure a job or a steady income
the job market is changing so rapidly
the entire second through our economy
and now becoming obsolete or even taken
over by automation so if we can’t
outsmart tobots our machines what can we
do I believe we need to learn to build
them design them control them set their
ethical parameters and program them and
to achieve that I believe would you
introduce these skills in schools as
early as possible and how can we do that
by introducing robotics that by now you
wondering I can’t ever have an opinion
on all of this I am a founding member of
NACA BOTS a local Robotics Club I was
introduced to robotics at the age of
nine when I attended vex IQ robotics
workshop with a couple of friends
we were asked to build a remotely
operated robot they could pick up sort
and stack colored cubes we absolutely
loved the complexity and challenge of
building robots leading us to start a
local club pulling it lucky bolts we
answered many regional and national
competitions winning the national title
for the last three years and got the
chance to represent New Zealand and more
importantly turn lucky in the robotics
World Championships in the USA
turns out we were pretty good to placing
in the top 10 out of over 1,600 teams in
the last two years being involved in
robotics has taught our team a variety
of skills in a very short time they’ll
help us on our way to rat our lives and
prepares for tomorrow’s challenges let
me tell you why I think that robotics
can teach a range of skills that could
do problem solving creative thinking
teamwork communication skills the
digital literacy not to mention science
technology engineering arts and math or
more commonly refer to as steam but how
let me take you back to the 4th of
December 2017 our team the NACA BOTS had
just won the national team up
championship and were still full of
excitement as this met we qualified to
go to the robotics World Championships
in the USA for the third year in a row
we had one with a honking 35 points but
during our homework we found that some
Chinese teams were scoring over 400
points in their teamwork matches we had
some work to do we had to build a better
robot and start from scratch the aim of
the challenge called ringmaster the
2017-2018 game was to score as many
points as you could in one minute
by moving colored rings around a field
ring started
predetermined positions and had to be
lifted and placed on poles to score
points each ring on a poles were five
points and if they were all the same
color there were ten points each there
was also a bonus tray when released by
pushing both triggers on the side they
were left for another 15 rings and ward
another 20 points we realized we would
have to develop a robot that could move
swiftly and sort the Rings automatically
to be able to even get close to topping
the Chinese team score just start all
over again was hard but necessary first
we all gathered around the whiteboard
and developed ideas on a new robot
developing a robot to rise to the
challenge is interesting using creative
thinking problem-solving the teamwork we
decided on the essential parts we need
first a drivetrain a way of picking up
rings and a way to solve the honks next
we brainstormed how to build those
essential parts figuring out how to
assemble a sorter drivetrain and
conveyor involved science technology
engineering arts mats and creative
thinking and lots of it once we had to
conceptualize their ideas we started
prototyping putting bits together to see
all work better building the final robot
felt like the neverending story there
was always something to change or add we
were constantly redesigning or
strengthening our robots now it was my
turn to shine being a team programmer
all that was left to do was to program
the robot how the drivers felt work best
changed the control said it’s
streamlined the driving and adding
shortcuts to speed up certain tasks
during the team programming helped me
gain a deeper insight into the
technology involved and gave me a good
chance to apply digital literacy to
maximize the robots efficiency I would
like to point out that all of this is
done by kids like me
next robotics the organization that runs
the competition has a hands-off policy
all of the building designing developing
and driving has to be done by the kids
with no adults help this even extends
over fundraising efforts as all of the
sponsorship communications has to be
done where the students at long last it
was time to pack up a robot rather large
have loved in the USA
the robotics wide champions all our hard
work in advance did help if it wasn’t
over yet on arrival we found that the
robot had been crushed in its box but
thankfully we’d spent so much time
working on it that we knew it inside out
and got fixed after four days and ten
matches cilenti’s which were of teens
whose language we couldn’t speak we came
out seventh in division and night in the
finals
so why am I telling you all of this
because I feel the my involvement in
robotics has given me a head start into
my own future teaching me skills I can
build on through life in the many years
to come whether we like it or not
computers automation technology and
robots will always be part of our lives
and will always be smarter faster and
more efficient in a human in many areas
if we don’t be left behind by technology
we can’t be reduced to spectators
instead get involved with technology
evolving and working alongside it and I
think robotics is a pathway to achieve
that my dad’s favorite quote is by Sun
Tzu in the art of war know your enemy
and know yourself and in a hundred
battles do not be defeated or my updated
version no technology and know yourself
there are a hundred years you’re not they no unemployed thank you
I have had this fascination with
computers and technology how they work
what is inside them and what they are
now capable of part of this fascination
is how technology is changing and
developing so quickly
look how far we’ve come as the first
computers in 1969 when a support man on
the moon it was achieved with only nine
megabytes significant unit power and the
computers they used was so big they
filled five living rooms while visiting
the Johnson Space Center in Houston I
learned from a NASA guide that today’s
average smartphone has enough computing
power the simultaneously launch manage
and control 10,000 Apollo moon missions
isn’t that incredible
technology is becoming increasingly
integrated into our lives Smart Homes
virtual reality augmented reality and
the Internet of Things and then there
are robots big ones and assemble cars
and tall parts of buildings and the
small ones that make your phone or
laptop in Russian robots literally
translated means job or worker or
according to the Oxford Dictionary a
machine capable of carrying out a
complex series of actions automatically
especially one programmable by computer
today you already have robots that can
cook for you help you walk again your
complex surgeries with precision and do
your accounts unfortunately there are
negatives to all that progress the World
Economic Forum predicts that 800 million
jobs will be lost by 2030 because of
automation it sounds scary especially
for any accountants in the room the
future of employment seems uncertain as
many traditional jobs they’ve
disappeared by the time I finished
university but this is not the first
time in history that automation is to
blame for job losses just think of the
introduction what did it automated Lou
in the 1800s well the development of
improved agricultural machinery like
tractors innovation and new industries
who are created and with its new in
different jobs history teaches us that
change is inevitable but change is
happening now such an incredible rate
that progress seems to overtake us I
watched a clip on the internet the other
day where leading economist Jack Ma said
something very true if we don’t adapt
the way we teach you’ll be in big
trouble 30 years from them education is
still the same as it was for the last
200 years
it is knowledge-based we cannot teach
our children to compete with machines
because they are smarter we have to
teach unique skills the machines cannot
catch up with us what do you teach he
believes we need to teach three human
skills like values Leafs independent
thinking teamwork care for others sports
and arts as knowledge alone cannot teach
you that when my parents went to school
they were told that if you work hard and
get good grades you will go to
university and get a job for life it is
becoming clear that this is no longer
true just having good grades in school
won’t secure a job or a steady income
the job market is changing so rapidly
the entire second through our economy
and now becoming obsolete or even taken
over by automation so if we can’t
outsmart tobots our machines what can we
do I believe we need to learn to build
them design them control them set their
ethical parameters and program them and
to achieve that I believe would you
introduce these skills in schools as
early as possible and how can we do that
by introducing robotics that by now you
wondering I can’t ever have an opinion
on all of this I am a founding member of
NACA BOTS a local Robotics Club I was
introduced to robotics at the age of
nine when I attended vex IQ robotics
workshop with a couple of friends
we were asked to build a remotely
operated robot they could pick up sort
and stack colored cubes we absolutely
loved the complexity and challenge of
building robots leading us to start a
local club pulling it lucky bolts we
answered many regional and national
competitions winning the national title
for the last three years and got the
chance to represent New Zealand and more
importantly turn lucky in the robotics
World Championships in the USA
turns out we were pretty good to placing
in the top 10 out of over 1,600 teams in
the last two years being involved in
robotics has taught our team a variety
of skills in a very short time they’ll
help us on our way to rat our lives and
prepares for tomorrow’s challenges let
me tell you why I think that robotics
can teach a range of skills that could
do problem solving creative thinking
teamwork communication skills the
digital literacy not to mention science
technology engineering arts and math or
more commonly refer to as steam but how
let me take you back to the 4th of
December 2017 our team the NACA BOTS had
just won the national team up
championship and were still full of
excitement as this met we qualified to
go to the robotics World Championships
in the USA for the third year in a row
we had one with a honking 35 points but
during our homework we found that some
Chinese teams were scoring over 400
points in their teamwork matches we had
some work to do we had to build a better
robot and start from scratch the aim of
the challenge called ringmaster the
2017-2018 game was to score as many
points as you could in one minute
by moving colored rings around a field
ring started
predetermined positions and had to be
lifted and placed on poles to score
points each ring on a poles were five
points and if they were all the same
color there were ten points each there
was also a bonus tray when released by
pushing both triggers on the side they
were left for another 15 rings and ward
another 20 points we realized we would
have to develop a robot that could move
swiftly and sort the Rings automatically
to be able to even get close to topping
the Chinese team score just start all
over again was hard but necessary first
we all gathered around the whiteboard
and developed ideas on a new robot
developing a robot to rise to the
challenge is interesting using creative
thinking problem-solving the teamwork we
decided on the essential parts we need
first a drivetrain a way of picking up
rings and a way to solve the honks next
we brainstormed how to build those
essential parts figuring out how to
assemble a sorter drivetrain and
conveyor involved science technology
engineering arts mats and creative
thinking and lots of it once we had to
conceptualize their ideas we started
prototyping putting bits together to see
all work better building the final robot
felt like the neverending story there
was always something to change or add we
were constantly redesigning or
strengthening our robots now it was my
turn to shine being a team programmer
all that was left to do was to program
the robot how the drivers felt work best
changed the control said it’s
streamlined the driving and adding
shortcuts to speed up certain tasks
during the team programming helped me
gain a deeper insight into the
technology involved and gave me a good
chance to apply digital literacy to
maximize the robots efficiency I would
like to point out that all of this is
done by kids like me
next robotics the organization that runs
the competition has a hands-off policy
all of the building designing developing
and driving has to be done by the kids
with no adults help this even extends
over fundraising efforts as all of the
sponsorship communications has to be
done where the students at long last it
was time to pack up a robot rather large
have loved in the USA
the robotics wide champions all our hard
work in advance did help if it wasn’t
over yet on arrival we found that the
robot had been crushed in its box but
thankfully we’d spent so much time
working on it that we knew it inside out
and got fixed after four days and ten
matches cilenti’s which were of teens
whose language we couldn’t speak we came
out seventh in division and night in the
finals
so why am I telling you all of this
because I feel the my involvement in
robotics has given me a head start into
my own future teaching me skills I can
build on through life in the many years
to come whether we like it or not
computers automation technology and
robots will always be part of our lives
and will always be smarter faster and
more efficient in a human in many areas
if we don’t be left behind by technology
we can’t be reduced to spectators
instead get involved with technology
evolving and working alongside it and I
think robotics is a pathway to achieve
that my dad’s favorite quote is by Sun
Tzu in the art of war know your enemy
and know yourself and in a hundred
battles do not be defeated or my updated
version no technology and know yourself
there are a hundred years you’re not they no unemployed thank you
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