Robotics continues to thrive in Jamaica!
Thanks to the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations (USA) Inc. (UJAA), I recently attended the FIRST Technology Challenge – Jamaica National Championship that was held at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium of Jamaica College in Kingston. Twenty-nine (29) teams participated in the Championship representing 26 high schools from all across the island country including schools from as far west as the parishes of St. Elizabeth and St. James.
Having the privilege of serving as a judge allowed me the opportunity to meet and engage with all of the teams. It was a thrill to see and feel the excitement of the teams and witness their commitment and dedication as they competed in CENTERSTAGESM presented by RTX. During the 2023-2024 arts-inspired robotics season, FIRST® IN SHOW presented by Qualcomm, our teams celebrated the roles our STEM skills play in the arts, and design and build a world of endless possibilities.
The Winning Alliance was captained by York Castle High School Stingers and the Inspire Award went to the American International School of Kingston Hurricane. Both teams are in the process of preparing to attend the FTC World Championship which will be held in Houston, TX from 17-20 April 2024. In addition, Campion College and St. Jago High School will send representatives to the Dean’s List Awards as they join with hundreds of students from around the globe who compete for college scholarships.
As the FTC Jamaica programs continue to build, I am encouraged by the opportunities that these programs make available to our children. FTC Jamaica is now working on Jamaica’s second FIRST® LEGO League Exhibition/Competition which will be held on 29 June 2024. Twenty (20) teams will come together for this event in Kingston. Please incorporate this occasion on your calendar and stay tuned to this website for further time and place details are available.
RESOUNDING SUCCESS! - ROBOTICS & TURKEY 2023
For Immediate Release: December 4, 2023
Robert D. Jones
Hand & Mind LLC
handmindenrichment@gmail.com
203-550-3051 mobile
RESOUNDING SUCCESS! - ROBOTICS & TURKEY, THE 3-DAY YOUTH ROBOTICS CONFERENCE FEATURING ART & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, IN MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA.
The international conference broadens the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) talent pipeline by engaging children aged 9-14 yrs. old, particularly girls and children of color.
MT. VERNON, NY December 4, 2023
The inaugural Robotics & turkey Conference was held over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, Thursday, Nov. 23 to Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023 at the Holiday Inn Rosehall Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The international conference’s audience is FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics team delegations that consist of a team member, their parent, and a team coach. There are 45,000 FLL teams worldwide. The inaugural Robotics & turkey had an audience of 39 representing 14 different robotics teams from United States and Jamaica. Two-thirds of the registrants were female.
Robotics & turkey has been featured in Forbes and is endorsed by the Director of Admissions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Robotics & turkey’s theme is 2023-24 FIRST LEGO League’s MasterPiece theme: imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe.
On Thanksgiving evening, The Honourable Fayval Williams, MP, Jamaica’s Minister of Education & Youth delivered opening remarks and shared that only 50% of Jamaican schools have internet access. Despite that handicap, Jamaica excels in international robotics competitions such as FIRST Global Competition. The captains of Jamaica’s recent award-winning national high school robotics teams (2023 Gold Medalist in Singapore and 2022 Silver Medalist in Geneva) participated in Robotics & turkey and inspired the younger roboticists who attend primary, elementary and middle schools.
The opening keynote speaker, Mr. Malik Afegbua, a Nigerian-based film director and virtual reality developer, delivered a scintillating, pre-recorded presentation on “Ai for Good.” Mr. Afegbua has very recently collaborated with Ruth E. Carter, the film costume designer and winner of 2 Oscars for her designs in the Black Panther movies.
On “Black Friday” morning, Gunjan Mansingh, a Professor of Data Science at The University of the West Indies in Jamaica, delivered a highly interactive presentation on Art/STEM Integration in which participants contested in providing the necessary prompts for an AI program to generate a specified visual artwork.
Immediately afterwards, a 12-hour challenge was revealed by Robert Jones. The participants separated into 3 teams to create and to perform by 9:30pm that evening a unified artistic presentation that leverages the often-underutilized senses of taste, smell, and touch, and not exceed 10 minutes duration.
The half-day session on Saturday morning opened with an intriguing workshop on “AI & Misinformation” by Prof. Mansingh and closed with a conference summative presentation on “The Arts, Artificial Intelligence, and Chat GPT” by Dr. Evelyn Collins, founder of the Denzel Washington School of the Arts in Mt. Vernon, NY.
Conference registrants returned to their respective robotics teams with new strategies that are expected to improve team performance at upcoming qualifying tournaments over the next few months.
United States teams represented at 2023 Robotics & turkey were all from New York and were Cambria Warbots, Xaverian, Girl Scouts Troop 4760, IS 192Q, PS 35Q, Bronx EFKs, DWSA ArtSonics, and BBL Lions.
Jamaican robotics teams represented include Bethany, New Day, Shortwood, ORCS, and high schools Immaculate and Campion.
The 501(3)(c) conference sponsors were the New York Solar Energy Society and the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations (USA) Inc.
The 2nd annual Robotics & turkey Conference will be held Thu., Nov. 28 to Sat., Nov. 30, 2024.
Go to roboticsturkey.org for more information. ###
Forbes Article on Robotics & turkey
Written by Paolo Gaudiano, October 18, 2023.
Fostering STEM Diversity And Inclusion Through Robotics & Turkey
Virtual Fundraiser - Robotics & turkey in Jamaica!
The Robotics & turkey Virtual Fundraiser, held on September 15th, totally engaged donors, robotics team members, parents, coaches, and conference keynote speakers in a lively 1-hour program. The fundraiser’s purpose was to subsidize travel for team delegations to the international youth robotics conference over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
There were riveting testimonies by coaches and amusing ones by team members aged 9-14 years old. The Q&A, moderated by Ms. Chitra Nawbatt, investor & growth advisor, was very insightful as each of the 3 conference keynote speakers addressed 2 key questions:
"The robotics conference’s theme is the 2023-2024 FIRST LEGO League’s MasterPiece theme: imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe. Some say the STEM/art integration theme should attract more youth to try STEM. Do you agree with that premise, and if so can you provide any evidence or suggest any tactics?"
"This robotics conference is intentionally in-person with a call of action for attendees to rapidly communicate and implement conference learnings to their entire teams. From your perspective, what are the pros and cons of this format particularly for team members?"
Please view the highlights video to get a better understanding of Robotics & turkey, as well as to see US-based team members clamoring for Robotics & turkey in Jamaica!
Multi-Sensory Communication of the Boston JerkFest Experience
Robotics teams shouldn’t overlook the culinary arts for innovation project ideas as we explore the 2023-2024 FIRST LEGO League’s MasterPiece theme: imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe.
Art is “a process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to senses or emotions”. Boston JerkFest 2023, where I served as emcee for the Chef Jerk Cookoff, strongly appealed to all 5 commonly known senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
By the way, Jerk is spicy Jamaican BBQ. I’m a pioneer in growing the market for Jerk BBQ. Thirty-two years ago, while a student at Harvard Business School, I wrote a business plan for a Caribbean restaurant and entertainment concept featuring Jerk BBQ in Cambridge, MA, and successfully started and operated it for a decade.
The 10th annual Boston JerkFest on July 8, 2023 was a great event! It was held at Harvard University, adjacent to Harvard Business School and the new complex for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Many say this year’s JerkFest was better than last year, which was declared Boston’s best 2022 food festival by Boston Magazine. How can we better communicate this wonderful multi-sensory event beyond a video clip?
Jamaica Hosts Inaugural FIRST LEGO League Competition on May 27, 2023
On a balmy Saturday, at Mona Heights campus of the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, the inaugural staging of the FIRST LEGO League Competition was held. Organized by FIRST Technology Challenge Jamaica (the authorized FIRST representative for the Caribbean), nine (9) primary schools from across the island participated in the event and were judged for their performance in the robot game, in robot design and for overall performance including teamwork and innovation.
Seven of the nine participating primary (elementary) schools were sponsored by their alumni associations in the USA who are members of the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations (USA) Inc. (UJAA). One additional school was directly sponsored by UJAA.
Three awards were presented at the close of the day’s events to:
§ Beulah All-Age and Infant School (Parish of Clarendon) who received the Champions Award. They displayed exceptional teamwork and showed great innovation in their presentation to judges. They not only did well on the field (Robot Performance) but was also a top contender for the Robot Design Award.
§ Pike Primary and Infant school (Manchester) who received the Robot Game Performance Award. They demonstrated an outstanding performance in the robot game and received the most points on the field. Their robot was able to complete the tasks efficiently and flawlessly, showcasing their expertise in programming and engineering.
§ Shortwood Practising Primary and Infant School (Kingston) who received the Robot Design Award. They were recognized for their outstanding robot design. Their robot was not only functional but also aesthetically appealing. Their attention to detail and innovative approach to design were truly remarkable. The other nominees were: Operation Restoration Christian School & Newday Primary.
UJAA has been on the forefront of robotics in Jamaica since 2009. To us, the support of STEM education in general, and robotics in particular, is a way to equip our young people with the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century.
We look forward to a significant increase in the FLL Jamaica program in the coming years, and to their participation in Robotics & turkey Conference in November 2023!
View the Opening Program here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/W9ejn9lLZJ8?feature=share
An AI Project Under FLL’s MasterPiece Theme?
Can we develop a new revenue stream for performing artists through Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that augment fans’ post-concert experiences?
That could be an innovation project idea for any robotics team under the 2023-2024 FIRST LEGO League’s MasterPiece theme: imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe.
The AI augmented fan post-concert experience idea came to my mind as I used Apple’s i-Movie software on my i-Phone to collage my personal photos and video snippets the day after attending a sold-out Grace Jones concert at the 2,200 person capacity Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC on the evening of May 31, 2023. Grace Jones is my first cousin. Also, Grace is my first major concert since the Covid-19 pandemic ended.
I’m curious as to whether children currently involved in FIRST LEGO League (mostly ages 9-14) can fully relate to the AI augmented fan post-concert experience idea as I surmise most of them have yet to attend their first in-person concert for their favorite performing artist. When they do have their first big fan in-person concert experience, let us carefully observe how they use the concert photos and video snippets they take.