Congressional Robotics Caucus

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by dlavery

The message was loud and clear: why in the world are you crawling to Washington to kiss the behind of some twit politician that never got better than a "C" in high school science? Just to beg for financial table scraps from the government? Why don't you think about the organizations that benefit the very most from the research you do - the corporations, the ones that make products (and therefore money) from your research output? Why don't you ask THEM to fund basic research? They are the greatest benefactors, should they not be the greatest contributors? You are attacking an easy source just because it is easy, rather than because it is appropriate. Shame on you.

So what changed Dean's mind? This makes his opinion on politicians (and we all know the official FIRST position on lawyers ) pretty clear. Why have we spent the past several seasons inviting our representation (Senators, Representatives, Governors, etc) to our events?

I'm well aware that FIRST does a fantastic job of recruiting corporations to our cause. I'm just interested as to why FIRST went after the government, especially given these sentiments.

Originally Posted by Dave's Summary of Dean's Words Revised Slightly

why in the world are you is FIRST crawling to Washington to kiss the behind of some twit politician that never got better than a "C" in high school science? Just to beg for financial table scraps from the government? Why don't you think about the organizations that benefit the very most from the research you do students we inspire - the corporations, the ones that make products employ (and therefore make money) from your research output inspired students?

[Travis Hoffman]

I find it amusing that the black dot on the map indicating Caucus member Congressman Tim Ryan's location is nowhere near his congressional district.

Have fun, Rich. Bring home some bacon.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

I'm well aware that FIRST does a fantastic job of recruiting corporations to our cause. I'm just interested as to why FIRST went after the government, especially given these sentiments.

I think it's a case of apples and oranges. Allow me to explain:

When the universities went to Capitol Hill, they wanted money for perspiration--the work to develop X, Y, and Z. When FIRST goes to the same place, we want money to help us with inspiration--the genius behind tomorrow's X, Y, and Z.

Or, to put it another way, the universities went to ask for money to develop a product (and presumably buy it in some way). FIRST is bringing a product that we'd like the government to buy.

I think this is a good question to ask, and I'm well aware that my answer probably isn't the correct one.

[ebarker]

IHMO,

On a great many matters it isn't the Federal responsibility to fill every pothole, correct every matter and inconvenience of the populace.

Federal participation in local education generally amounts to a few percentage points of total local education budget. Having said that the Fed's exercise a lot of leverage and guidance in how local policy is created and executed. That do that through legal means plus throwing around a little money.

I think the most we should want or ask for is some 'steerage' - some seed funding to do 2 things. a) focus schools on STEM, b) incentivise the process. Outside of that as far as I'm concerned "what happens in Washington needs to stay in Washington". Their participation in local education has already exceeded constitutional limits.

Succinctly put - leadership is the ability of someone to focus a group on a task so they will continue to move forward and make progress. Washington's role is to do that, by 'bully pulpit', policy, and seed money. And no more.

But I digress - leadership ? Washington ? - I thought this was the daily funnies......

Deans comments that Dave mentioned are totally hilarious... and well deserved by the universities.... I don't think there is any inconsistency here.

..

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by dlavery

2008 - Congressional Technology Caucus (I think that was it - Dave Flowerday may remember the correct event title
Team 111
Team 116

That was 2006, and it was as part of Motorola's display at the Tapping America's Potential 2015 event.

[Rich Kressly]

As promised...quick report from yesterday's caucus gathering:

From the Caucus briefing brochure found at roboticscaucus.org - here's a list of Exhibitors & Guests:

Banneker Senior HS, DC - FTC Team 2989
Bryn Mawr College, PA
Carnegie Mellon University, PA (This was actually Robin Shoop and the CMU Robotics Academy)
Forsyth Alliance Robotics, GA -(Rick Folea's group repsenting gobs of teams in many programs)
Foshay Learning Center / NGY STEM, CA - (FRC team)
Herndon High School, VA - FRC & FTC Team 116 / 519
Jefferson Middle School, DC - FLL Team 8180 KIPR - KISS Institute for Practical Robotics, OK (BotBall)
Lower Merion HS, PA (FRC/VRC 1712 - my gang)
McKinley Technology HS, DC - FRC Team 1915 Montgomery County Public Schools, MD
Sidwell Friends School, DC
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA (Ken Stafford and other WPI Staff)

From our team perspective, here's a copy of our school district press release (sorry for not having time to edit again):
"On Thursday, October 15 LMHS Robotics Team Captains traveled to Capitol Hill as exhibitors at a Congressional Robotics Caucus briefing. Inventor and FIRST Robotics Founder Dean Kamen was the day’s keynote speaker and attendees included several congressional representatives and staffers, industry leaders, and other robotics program exhibitors from K-12 programs, university programs, and non-profit organizations. Dawgma represented one of eight exemplary school-based robotics programs from around the nation on site to help Congress and Industry understand how important robotics education and competition can be to our national STEM initiative that is aimed at meeting the overwhelming present and future demand for scientists, engineers, and leaders. With 92% of Dawgma alumni currently pursuing a STEM-related career, team members had a chance to show attendees how LM Robotics has a positive impact upon students in both curricular and co-curricular settings from K-12 across the district. The day’s highlights for Dawgma included a visit from Representative Jim Gerlach, discussing the program with attendees from the iRobot Corporation & the National Science Foundation, and trading best practices with school and university exhibitors."

I'll make some pics available soon, but we took with us a banner outlining our robot, people, outreach, and curriculum impact histories. Along with Photos of FRC/FTC/VRC Robots we had several robotic senior projects on display - mostly VEX-oriented, our Elevation VRC Robot, curriculum materials. We also distributed a handout of robotics education resources highlighting many programs and platforms - free resources as well as those available for purchase.

In all a productive day.

[Mr MOE]

Rich:

Thanks for the details.

Congrats to Dawgma and other robotics teams (FIRST and non-FIRST) participating in this event. I hope it was successful in continuing to get the word out that these programs are important to current and future STEM education initiatives.

Great job all!

-J-

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally Posted by icurtis

So what changed Dean's mind? This makes his opinion on politicians (and we all know the official FIRST position on lawyers ) pretty clear. Why have we spent the past several seasons inviting our representation (Senators, Representatives, Governors, etc) to our events?

I'm well aware that FIRST does a fantastic job of recruiting corporations to our cause. I'm just interested as to why FIRST went after the government, especially given these sentiments.

Dean didn't change his mind. There is a slight difference between his opinion of the universities going to the government and his homework regarding getting more politicians aware of FIRST (I'm assuming that's what you're talking about.)

My understanding is that Dean wanted us to show politicians what we're doing, and show them the importance of Science and Technology. This is a tad different from the idea of going to the government to "beg for financial table scraps".

So in other words the goals are different (one being finance oriented, the other social).

Originally Posted by ebarker

But I digress - leadership ? Washington ? - I thought this was the daily funnies......

Maybe we should try to get a FIRSTer as president . But of course, that'd be lunacy (business as usual )

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

Dean didn't change his mind. There is a slight difference between his opinion of the universities going to the government and his homework regarding getting more politicians aware of FIRST (I'm assuming that's what you're talking about.)

My understanding is that Dean wanted us to show politicians what we're doing, and show them the importance of Science and Technology. This is a tad different from the idea of going to the government to "beg for financial table scraps".

So in other words the goals are different (one being finance oriented, the other social).


Maybe we should try to get a FIRSTer as president . But of course, that'd be lunacy (business as usual )

I suppose. But if the goal is to get a FIRST team in every high school, I have a hard time believing there would be a federal mandate without federal money. (Or maybe I don't )

No doubt, in 50 years, FIRST will be sitting pretty financially, as all the FIRST alumni will be sitting on the boards of FIRST's benefactors. Now that's a future we can look forward to.

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally Posted by ebarker

I suppose. But if the goal is to get a FIRST team in every high school, I have a hard time believing there would be a federal mandate without federal money. (Or maybe I don't )

Especially once all the pork is tied on .

Still if you want to get help from the government you sort of have to play by there rules (and seeing as they write the rules it often pays to have their help ). There is also technically a distinction between begging the government to slip funding to an organization/institution, and asking the government to make supporting an organization more financially appealing.

[rfolea]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

I suppose. But if the goal is to get a FIRST team in every high school, I have a hard time believing there would be a federal mandate without federal money. (Or maybe I don't )

Actually, the best quote of the day from Dean was "You do NOT have to put a FIRST team in EVERY high school - only the ones you care about"

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by rfolea

Actually, the best quote of the day from Dean was "You do NOT have to put a FIRST team in EVERY high school - only the ones you care about"

And if you would carefully dissect what the Caucus is pushing, it's robotics education "in general" as it may be the most powerful way to meet our society's STEM needs. Dean's agenda is "a FIRST team in every school" which fits nicely as a subset. IF funding were to ever become available, I believe it would be for the more generalized need - but there's still work to be done to get there. IF federal funding for robotics education would ever exist, I would think/hope that FIRST teams would be some of the best on the planet at figuring out how to access such funds. Of course, for now, that's all conjecture. Lots of work to be done to get there, but the work of the Caucus is certainly rolling the ball in a positive direction.

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by dlavery

The message was loud and clear: why in the world are you crawling to Washington to kiss the behind of some twit politician that never got better than a "C" in high school science? Just to beg for financial table scraps from the government? Why don't you think about the organizations that benefit the very most from the research you do - the corporations, the ones that make products (and therefore money) from your research output? Why don't you ask THEM to fund basic research? They are the greatest benefactors, should they not be the greatest contributors? You are attacking an easy source just because it is easy, rather than because it is appropriate. Shame on you.

Now there's a generalization if I've ever seen one.

My own representative, Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), holds a PhD. in physics from NYU. He also taught for some time at Swarthmore, and was the Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. I'm willing to bet he earned much more than a C in his high school science classes. As such, he pushes strongly for more science and technology in schools, and received an award from ASME for his efforts.

Perhaps a bit of research on Dean's part would have served well in this case.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

Now there's a generalization if I've ever seen one.

My own representative, Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), holds a PhD. in physics from NYU. He also taught for some time at Swarthmore, and was the Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. I'm willing to bet he earned much more than a C in his high school science classes. As such, he pushes strongly for more science and technology in schools, and received an award from ASME for his efforts.

Perhaps a bit of research on Dean's part would have served well in this case.

But was he in Congress when Dean gave the speech? Also, I think it's most likely a reference to the unnamed politician who got the award. In addition to probably being a paraphrase by Dave...

Not all politicians are "stupid" in certain areas, true. But as the joke goes, 99% of lawyers make the rest look bad. There's an exception to every rule. It may be the stunned politician, it may be Congressman Holt.

[Rich Kressly]

Well Dean did say in the presence of legislators on Thursday, "...and I'll continue to try very hard to never understand this place..." However, he did it in a context that most folks in the room, including legislators and staffers, understood.