SmartKids Blog

The lighthouse project is a reality!

admin — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 01:18:56 +0000

The first lighthouse wifi radio has been installed in the Harrisburg neighborhood! read about it here: Augusta chronicle
Soo we will be creating a project for he local kids in the neighborhood that uses the lighthouse!

The Clubhou.se is open this friday!

admin — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:06:30 +0000

theclubhou.se/ Is now “real”. CSRAMakers, (And Smartkids, of course) has a place to teach and work and MAKE. Please come down this friday (12-7-12) and check the space out!. Its on broad street right across from the common.
Gotta like the tagline.. it says it all, no?

We love to create.

More than just thinking, we believe in executing as many ideas as we can. Good ideas can change the world!

theClubhou.se is something completely new — Leonardo Da Vinci’s Inventor’s Workshop re-imagined for the 21st century… and beyond.
We empower & enable.

They’re all in one spot: tools for drawing, planning, prototyping, and building almost any project.

More than just tools, we bring together minds — together we are strong. By working with other experienced professionals and hobbyists launch your ideas farther & faster than ever before.
Give your ideas a jet engine.

Our goal is to remove any obstacles in the path from an idea’s conception to its delivery. Need tools? We’ve got ‘em. Want to make your idea into a business? Don’t know how to build something? Let’s figure it out together!

Whether you want to design an app, a robot, a business, a racecar, or even a simple lamp theClubhou.se can help you make it a reality.
Open House
7 December 2012 5pm-9pm

Join us on First Friday for our inaugural open house!

Live DJing by one of our members, a meet & greet, snacks, robots, technology, blinky lights, all right in the heart of downtown Augusta!

Stop by, say hello, and see what the fuss is about.

Innovation festival was a success!

admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:40:15 +0000

Smartkids / CSRAMakers sponsored the “deconstruction derby” at the CSRA Innovation festival!

We had excellet participation, and Lots of kids participated in the activity! (A suprising amount of Girls.. Go girls go.)

I woant to Thank Dr. Anthony for carrying forth this event, I wish him much luck with the event in the future!

Here is his thank you letter to Smartkids.sc for participating:

Hello Ed, Fred, and Chris,

Thank you for supporting the inaugural CSRA Innovation Festival this past weekend at ASU. Having you and CSRA Makers, Refresh Augusta, and SmartKids at the innovation festival helped to inform attendees about innovations in our region. I believe that each attendee had a great time learning about innovations in the CSRA, and you helped to make that possible. I cannot thank you enough for that. In the next few days, be sure to check the website (www.CSRAInnovationFestival.com) and Facebook for photos, videos, etc. If I can be of service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Tony

_______________________________________

Dr. Anthony Robinson

Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship

Hull College of Business

Augusta State University

Office: 706.737.1455

Email: atrobinson@aug.edu

@InnovateDR

Cane Pressing! We made some Sugar Cane Syrup!

admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:31:18 +0000

Here is a picture of Arthur’s Cane press in action. We recruited some of the kids out to help install it, and Hannah helped drive the lawn tractor to power it.. Next time we need to find a mule or horse!!

Arthur’s Cane Press is going to be in action this weekend.

admin — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:15:54 +0000

Arthur Finally found some help to get the Cane press all the way together! We will be mounting it this weekend, and trying it out! I will be sure to post some pictures of this 100+ year old technology here in the coming days. Keep an eye out!

Sleep is important!

admin — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:34:02 +0000

I Just read this article. I was surprised by the severity of the numbers… That’s to say, how drastically sleep can affect performance and behavior. I need to make sure my kids get to sleep on time regularly! It’s important.

More Zzzs Earn A’s for Behavior at School

Fun day a Aiken S.E.E.D

admin — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 23:44:52 +0000

Had a fun day with Chris and Amanda demonstrating Mars Rovers and how DC motors work at the S.E.E.D (Science Education Enrichment Day) Day in Aiken today. Here is the thing… The kids that stopped at the booth REALLY seemed genuinely interested to learn. They were not there to simply get a free doohickey or whatever. It made me smile all day long. Quite a turnout!! They said they had over 3000 people visit!

Fun Educational Software!

Fred Alger — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:33:01 +0000

Can computer games teach science? Well, if the game is Kerbal Space Program, which involves building and piloting a rocket into space, the answer’s a resounding YES!

It starts off simple: build a rocket, put 3 little green guys in a capsule on top and hit the launch button. These little fellows live on a blue-green planet called Kerbin. It looks very Earth-like, but it’s about 1/10th the radius of Earth. Just like the Earth, Kerbin has a single moon, which the Kerbals call “Mun.”

The tutorial will take your intrepid spacefarers up to about 7km, but you’ll have to make it to at least 70km for a stable orbit. When in doubt, add more rockets! And see some of the most hilarious and cringe-worthy rocketry failures as you tweak your design.

The controls are simple and fun, and we found ourselves going to Wikipedia to look up real rocketry data just to try to get those little guys in orbit. It’s harder than it looks!

The free demo should provide hours of entertainment and learning, and it’s worth a look:

• Kerbal Space Program
• Basic principles of orbiting Earth
• “Gravity Turn” a useful maneuver for getting rockets up to orbital velocity.
• In order to stably orbit Earth, you need to clear the Mesosphere

Curiosity Rover Sends back 360° panorama

Fred Alger — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:02:32 +0000

You may have heard this week that NASA’s Curiosity Rover has landed safely on Mars. This is an amazing achievement for science! The rover itself is as large as an SUV and 15 times heavier than any rover sent to Mars. It carries a battery of scientific instruments to test the Martian soil and atmosphere. Back on Earth, scientists will stay busy for months analyzing and interpreting the new data. Findings from this mission may even pave the way for future human settlement on Mars!

Today NASA received the first panorama of Curiosity’s landing site. See the Press Release, and then Have a look for yourself at the surface of Mars! »

Fun Science: Turning the Higgs data into Music!

Fred Alger — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 22:13:05 +0000

So there’s been a lot of talk in the news lately about the Higgs Particle and what it might mean for the standard model of particle physics. But did you know that it sounds like Latin Dance music? Some clever researchers mapped some regularities in the data into musical notes and produced a rather catchy little tune:

Click for Audio Clip

-then-

Head on over to Discovery News to check out the full story.