Because Robots: website to inspire youth about technology.

[Chinmay]

Hi Everyone

I would like to introduce a new project that my team and I have been working on. In order to inspire our community with the values of FIRST, we started a program called “Because Robots!” to let everyone discover and explore science, math, technology, and robotics.

“Because Robots!” is going to be the theme that we’d like to pursue throughout our outreach activities this coming year. It involves campaigning throughout our community while spreading our interest of robotics to all people. We want people to really think about robots and technology when they come to a demonstation. Wherever there are people to be inspired, we will be there!

As part of this, we created a website which acts as a blog for people to submit interesting and inspiring links about robotics. Without further ado, I'd like to present

becauserobots.org


A few notes about the site
-We will keep the "Whats Hot" section updated weekly, and "Whats New" will always have fresh links to follow.
-We want people to think about the phrase "Because robots..." and submit their own quote to finish that thought. We'd love to get many more from the CD community on there. Team/FIRST apparel is encouraged!

Please let us know what you think! Your opinions, as always, are highly appreciated. Thanks, and we hope you enjoy!

-Chinmay Jaju

[Akash Rastogi]

This is best. Nice work Chinmay!

[rsisk]

Nice job, love the videos ;>

[Sean Raia]

Great idea, I hope to see this grow into something truly awesome.
I like the changing text under the title.
Constructive criticism: the text on the website feels rather short, i havent seen the videos (im on an iphone), but if you didnt make them i would consider expanding your descriptions.
Im no graphics designer... but to me the "style" looks very childish and uninspired.

Good luck with future development!

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by Sean Raia

Im no graphics designer... but to me the "style" looks very childish and uninspired.

Actually, I like the artsy "casual" look. Just my opinion =)

Nice site, Chinmay & the rest of 846. You guys rock.

[Sean Raia]

Originally Posted by EugeneF

Actually, I like the artsy "casual" look. Just my opinion =)

Nice site, Chinmay & the rest of 846. You guys rock.

Whoops, looks like the website wasnt fully loaded. Curse my lack of 3g...
Its not terrible, it does have direction but i dont think it looks "legit" for lack of a better word.
Oh well, cant please everyone

[Chinmay]

Originally Posted by Sean Raia

Constructive criticism: the text on the website feels rather short, i havent seen the videos (im on an iphone), but if you didnt make them i would consider expanding your descriptions.
Im no graphics designer... but to me the "style" looks very childish and uninspired.

Good luck with future development!

Thanks for the advice Sean. I think the "childish" and simple is what we were actually going for, but I'll make sure to bring it up and we will try and make it look more original and inspired. One idea was to have a "doodle" that adds to the current banner that changes every day. We have a student who hand drew the graphics on a tablet, and I really want to highlight her talents there. That may solve the problem

We want the site to appeal to a wide range of age groups especially 10-15 year olds, so we kept the text very minimal and non-technical for the most part. I'd love to add a larger description, but that comes at the expense of losing the "blog" feel of the site. I've also kept the videos short, usually 3 minutes or so, to encourage someone to just go down the list of posts and read/watch 5 of them.

Thanks for the input so far, and please keep the suggestions coming!

[Mr. Lim]

Add an archive of all the FRC memes that have surfaced on FB and other sites. Although not purely educational, it would attract/inspire your target market.

Also, it's related, since "because robots" has evolved into a pretty recognizable meme itself.

[JonathanZur1836]

A site like this is just what we need! It pains me to say it, but the truth of the matter is that people don't really know what First is, and what it means to us. To paraphrase Will.i.am from last year after Dean Kamen asked him to make First cool, "First is already cool, we just need to make it big.". It is true, we all know what this competition is about, but unfortunately, people begin to lose interest when you tell them "no, our robots don't tear each other apart, they shoot balls and hang tubes." They don't understand why we stay at school for hours on end working on one robot, or why we are constantly talking about it and explaining it. We need a way to showcase First in a nutshell, something that quickly and smoothly portrays First as the incredible organization that it is, and pulls people, including students, mentors, and sponsors in. I believe that this site is a fantastic start to that, keep up the good work!

[Aren_Hill]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lim

Add an archive of all the FRC memes that have surfaced on FB and other sites. Although not purely educational, it would attract/inspire your target market.

Also, it's related, since "because robots" has evolved into a pretty recognizable meme itself.

I'm still not sure how i feel about being the picture for that meme lol

[Chinmay]

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

I'm still not sure how i feel about being the picture for that meme lol

I can see how FRC memes can be added, that would be a fun post, maybe not a complete subsection of the site.

I cant seem to find one conclusive meme for the phrase, so I dont even know if the various applications can even be considered memes. Hopefully this site will become the primary usage of because robots.

If you all have a few free minutes, please take a picture and submit it to the website! We want to get a lot of teams and FIRST affiliated people on there spreading what they thing about robots!

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

I'm still not sure how i feel about being the picture for that meme lol

Imagine a cutout of a person in safety glasses in a team shirt holding up a wrench, or something else robot-related with the usual colorful spinning background.

Just an idea.


Great site 846! I'll be sure to spread the word to my friends and all other FIRST friends. I look forward to seeing more from you all!

[slijin]

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

I'm still not sure how i feel about being the picture for that meme lol

Quick, take a picture of someone else with an even bigger drill bit!

Then you can make them be the face for the meme <:

[Chinmay]

Hi Everyone

Wanted to post a direct link to an improved portion of the site where people can submit some content. There are easy steps on how to get your own picture onto the slideshow on the top of our site and in the gallery. Team/FIRST apparel is really great to include in the picture!

http://becauserobots.org/submit-picture/

If you find an article that really strikes you as interesting, we have improved the interface for submitting content.

http://becauserobots.org/submit-post/

I'll keep everyone up to date about new features, but I'm glad that the site is being received positively