BotNews: Botball Season 2008
February 2008
In This Issue
Botball Store
Email Archive
NASA Webchat

Botball Store has new items in stock!

Creates and Batteries: KISS Institute is now able to sell iRobot Creates at our online store (previously they were only available through the iRobot site). Used around the globe by colleges, engineers, and robot enthusiasts, the iRobot Create is sure to prepare you and your students for the 2008 Botball season and next big thing in robotics.

Also available is the iRobot rechargeable non-APS battery. Sold with charger, the battery performs longer than the stock battery box, and is compatible with the docking stations available from iRobot.

IFI Kit:Our friends over at Innovations First Inc. have designed a set of building pieces specifically to meet the needs of our Botball teams and our Botball Store customers. The IFI Set is only available at the Botball Store, and offers unique and innovative new pieces to build with. The parts in this kit were chosen with the Create in mind, and can be used with LEGO pieces. In fact, the set includes a variety of building materials including two metal plates that make mounting items to the Create much easier.

Remember: We accept Purchase Orders! What better way to support the Botball Program or to get all the coolest robot equipment?

IFI Kit

Greetings!

It is already almost time for the first regional Botball Tournament!  On March 1 we will launch into the 2008 tournament season.  KISS Institute staffers are really looking forward to seeing the unique and innovative ways Botball teams solve this year's challenge.  We are also anxious to see how the Creates will be utilized...
GET IN THE LOOP:  Botball Email Archive
Did you recently register for Botball and now you would like to catch up on all the Botball news you have missed? Do you need to review the workshop checklist but you can't find it in your in-box?

You are in luck!  We recently added an area on Botball.org called 'Email Archive'.  The archive contains all of this season's Botball newsletters, regional emails, and reminders!

You can access the archive by 2 ways:

1.) Go to Botball.org and mouse over the yellow BotNews menu.  Then click on the 'Email Archive' link.

2.) Go to Botball.org and select your region's name from the "Find Your Regional Info" dropbox at the top, center of the front page. Click on the 'Email Archive' link from your regional page. 

Or, you can just use this link:

http://botball.org/current-season/email
NASA WEBCHAT: Phoenix Mars Mission Engineering
NASAIn honor of "National Engineers Week," NASA's Robotics Alliance Project (Diamond Circle Sponsor of the Botball Program) is hosting a webchat for young people interested in robotics and engineering.

Are you interested in becoming an engineer? Ever wonder about what it's like to work on a mission to Mars? Learn more by participating in the live webchat, "Phoenix Mars Mission Engineering."

This is a great chance for students to ask questions of a diverse group of engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Arizona. Each 30 to 45-minute chat will focus on what these engineers do for their job, what it's like to work "on Mars," and the exciting career paths for engineers interested in space missions. A transcript of the chat will also be available online shortly following the end of the event.

WEBCHAT: Phoenix Mars Mission Engineering
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
10:30 a.m. PT and 3:30 p.m. PT Pacific Time

http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/neww08/chat.php
We need your pictures!
Botguy has been so swamped preparing for this year's tournaments that he hasn't had time to get out to all the workshops and take pictures.  If you have photos from your regional workshop, please email them to me and I will make sure they get added to Botguy's Flickr Page.  We would like to have photos from at least one event per region. 

Thanks for the help!
 
Jenny Grigsby
Public Outreach Coordinator
KISS Institute for Practical Robotics