Ghanaian Robotics Team

[Greg Marra]

I never saw this video posted here, and I came across it on YouTube. The Firebirds, FRC433, have been working to get a FIRST team started in Ghana. This video shows some of what has happened as a result. I think it's absolutely amazing, and I wonder if anyone can share any information about how their work to spread interest in science and technology internationally.

Check it out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6BMdbteQEEk

[ManicMechanic]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

I wonder if anyone can share any information about how their work to spread interest in science and technology internationally.

http://gothiclawngnomes.org/Afghan%20Team%202007.aspx

The Gothic Lawn Gnomes have adopted an FLL team in Afghanistan, which participated in the Washington FLL Championship via Skype. You don't see it on this year's roster, but last year they had a girl on the team and an Afghan mom as a non-engineering mentor. The positive interaction between genders in a place like Afghanistan is only one of many amazing things about that team.

[Mr MOE]

Greg:

Thanks for posting this. We had known about the Firebirds outreach to Ghana for the past few years. It's great to actually seethe people and the robot.

Congratulations, Firebirds! I'm looking forward to hearing more and more about the growth of this fantastic project!

[Jeff K.]

For the past several years, we have been working with the Barclay School in England and they have brought two Vex teams to America for the past three years, two to compete. They are hoping to be able to start FRC next year.

We also have had a connection to a school in Baku, Azerbaijan and video conferenced with them. They have an FLL team, a Vex team, and are working on starting an FRC team. If you don't know where it is, it's by Turkey.

Last summer, we went to Hawaii and hosted three workshops using Vex, two teacher ones and one student one that had over 100 students. When we attended the Hawaii regional, we saw many of the faces of the teachers and students that attended the workshop. They were running great and loved their first regional.

This summer we will be going back to Hawaii to continue doing the workshops, and then continuing on to teach more workshops, where we will use the Vex platform and FRC platform to teach students and teachers.

Working with different people teaches you how different cultures value things. It was very rewarding seeing the student's and teacher's faces light up when they could get their robot working, or when they got an idea and started ferociously tinkering with their robot. The experience of sharing the message of FIRST is just as rewarding or even more than of experiencing FIRST for yourself because not only you experience it, but many others do as well.