Boy Scout Camp Summer 2011
June 28, 29,30
July 5, 6, 7

New: Robotics Merit Badge!
At the Arrow Head Boy Scout camp at near Barboursville, WV, we worked on the requirements for the Robotics Merit badge.

I discussed safety, what robotics is, careers, and competitions.  For most of the six hours they programmed and built and accomplished challenges.

1. Safety
2. Kinds of things robots can do
3. General knowledge
4. Design, build, program, test.
5. Demonstrate. Do the following:
a. Demonstrate for your counselor the robot you built in requirement 4.
b. Share your robot engineering notebook with your counselor. Talk
about how well your robot accomplished the task, the improvements
you would make in your next design, and what you learned about the
design process.
6. Competitions - attend a robotics competition and report or report on 3 kinds
7. Careers opportunities in robotics.

See http://netapps.marshall.edu/lego/1/BoyScoutsBadge.html
for the complete requirements.

Since 1910, scouting has helped mold the future leaders of this country by combining
educational activities and lifelong values with fun. The Boy Scouts of America
believes and, through over a century of experience, understands that helping youth
puts us on a path toward a more conscientious, responsible, and productive society.
Robotics is an incredibly exciting and dynamic field that has transformed into the
premier vehicle for hands-on delivery of science, technology, engineering, and
math concepts. Through the creation of the Robotics merit badge, the Boy Scouts
of America has joined with LEGO Education to give Scouts access to the latest in
robotics technology, preparing them for life after school and potential careers in the
various STEM industries.
www.LEGOeducation.us/BoyScouts

http://www.legoeducation.us/about/item.aspx?art=4668

http://www.legoeducation.us/sharedimages/PDF/BoyScout17x11emailer.pdf
 

LEGO Links of Linda Hamilton
hamilton@marshall.edu
With support from 

For two weeks, from July 25 - July 2, 2011, Boy Scouts in four counties in West Virginia, as well as three counties in Ohio and Kentucky acquired more than life skills at Camp Arrowhead in Ona, W.Va.  Through a cooperative agreement with the Tri-State Area Council for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), RTI staff presented the robotics programming class Tuesday through Thursday each week from 10 a.m.-12 noon. Fourteen scouts and 4 Scout Masters worked in teams of two as instructed by Linda Hamilton, RTI Coordinator K-12 Outreach Intelligent Transportation Systems using LEGO robotics; Joseph Ingram, Student Assistant, Computer Science Engineering; Pankaj Pande, Graduate Assistant, Management Information Systems; and LeAndria Reed, Research Associate, Certified NTX program trainer.
The new Robotics merit badge was offered both weeks as part of the Boy Scouts of America's new STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum, one of 31 STEM related merit badges.  To earn the Robotics badge, scouts must, among other robot related requirements:  Design, build, program, and test a robot; demonstrate the robot and share their engineering notes; and explain how robots are used today.  The BSA took nearly 14 months to develop the badge with input from organizations including iRobot, Vex Robotics, and Boston's Museum of Science; plus Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy and NASA. The BSA estimates that more than 10,000 of the nation's 2.7 million Boy Scouts will earn a Robotics badge in this inaugural year.