Postings
BCR Blackout — FRC 2200 — is ready for the Niagara College Event
Here is the reveal video for Burlington Community Robotics robot — ready for the Niagara College event March 8-9, 2025. Just as important: it looks like drivers / operators are ready too!Read more
Robotics Competitions – Burlington Community Robotics
The (former) MMR robotics team (now Burlington Community Robotics) is competing at Niagara College March 8-9 and at McMaster University March 29-30. Come out and see what these remarkable young STEM enthusiasts are doing, chat with them in the pit area about the robot and the robotics program, watch them compete...Read more
Vectors and Desmos in 3D
Recently, I’ve been working with Desmos in 3D. It is easy to perform a number of vector operations: defining a vector in 3D multiplying a vector by a scalar magnitude of a vector dot product cross product graphs of vectors are shown in 3D in a rotatable cube learn more...Read more
Joined Burlington Community Robotics (FRC 2200) as a Mentor
Yesterday, I dropped by the Burlington Community Robotics Shop to confirm my continued interest in supporting the team’s efforts. I enjoyed the opportunity to observe what youth team members were working on and chats with two other mentors. Today, I was very pleased to accept the invitation to join the...Read more
Reflections on Leaving Six Nations Polytechnic STEAM Academy
Today I end my third expat contract – the first was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the second in Dubai, UAE and the third in Brantford / Six Nations. What I find most interesting is in the similarities that there are between each and I am thankful that my life was enriched...Read more
Reflections – Failure is an Option
As I look at the successes and failures of our students – and my own successes and failures – I reflect on the thoughts of Buzz Aldrin, an American astronaut who walked on the moon… Adapted from “Failure IS an Option: Lessons I Learned From a Man Who Walked the Moon”...Read more
Putin’s War – There is No Place for Violence in a Modern World
Yesterday, watching a special presentation of Mr. Zelinskyy’s comedy show Servant of the People (on Vision TV Tuesday to Thursday at 10:00 PM or streaming on VisionTV.ca and Netflix). Lyn and I lamented at the stark differences in Kyiv then and now. Though life imitates art in this case, Putin...Read more
Developing Robotics Skills for 2022 FRC Season
A few days ago, I read a post that another team was developing skills to build a telescoping climber. I find this interesting because we too have been developing a telescoping climber. (I’ll add pictures to this post later…) We are using three tubes, two PCV of larger diameter and...Read more
Broken Wheel Award
Many of the robotics team members have graduated so this is a rebuilding year for our team — for many other teams too! Regrettably, the STEMley Cup competition is again cancelled (would have been November, 2021). So, our focus shifts to the 2022 season, we do want to engage team...Read more