I spent the day as I probably will spend much of tomorrow, watching several FIRST Robotics competitions online. As you may or may not know, I am a Mentor, or advisor, to our local High School’s robotics team, The Warlocks. We have been part of the program since 2005 and before that were half of a joint, two-school team.7a26762ecb4831364b5189d4e2b978c1_l

Take a stupid toy that I might buy to play with a puppy, and make it the center of a game that 1800 high school teams are set to play. What happens? Well, the entire stock of the toy instantly disappeared. The only outlet, Wal-Mart sold out in days and the manufacturer, importer, actually, had no plans to have more made. But, FIRST must have procured enough in advance to ensure the tournaments would go on. Continue Reading…