I'd add a reflection:
think on your market.
Even underperforming economies have access to gobs of money to be able
to pay for anything, they really do not care much about costs, and they
seem to care even less about performance.
What I am focusing on is Yama Ploskonka at 11 years old, a
maker-in-the-bud (scratch your own itch, they say). I was blessed with
hard-working parents that would make the extra effort to get Yama to be
able to move forward (I recall a major family meeting at about that age
where I was asked what did I need for my Lab), but some colleagues at
The Robot Group were not.
So price/cost , access is paramount in my designs.
Kids should be able to get the whatever it is on their own steam, and
grow from that.
Expecting someone else will pay is probably not going to work too well
Geeks are exceptions in society, and as outliers are often not allowed
to use the expensive stuff that the school has (remember the recent
testimonials from Uruguayan kids) - people who *do things* put the
expensive stuff at risk, which is probably true. Since mistakes are not
allowed, taking risks must be stopped.
I want to open opportunities for
the few, the geek, the kidbots
(a paraphrase on an ad you may be familiar with)
Now, in the USA, nobody will take your educational product seriously if
it is priced at less than $100 ;-)
<yamarant>
I've not given up on "quality education for all", but maybe it's too big
a goal, so I am focusing on helping these few, who have the greatest
need, being despised by the one-size-fits-all school, and, if
*en-abled*, can make the greatest difference as they grow up.
Bang for the buck, as it were: so far, 2 M XOs, say half a billion USD
in expense, has produced something like 5 programmers, maybe a dozen
bloggers.
Ahem.
Solutions made for "all", as Sugar was at least intended to be, will
never work as well as things that take into account that it is
self-evident that every man is created different.
On 09/27/2012 10:40 AM, Dr. Gerald Ardito wrote:
Tony,
I have seen pictures of the Butia with the XO driving the vehicle. I
am having trouble with the Spanish.
I have been playing with the TI Launchpad as a potential robot
"brain." Walter had offered making some plugins for Turtle Art for
this potentially.
I am also wanting to play with the XO and Arduino as well.
I will share any progress.
Gerald
On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 9:17 AM, Tony Anderson <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
I am wondering how this TI MSP430 running on XO 1 - Robotics! relates to the
Butia project in Uruguay. Is this a better solution?
What appeals to me the most about Butia is that it enable the child to its
own XO driving the vehicle. Can this be done with the MSP430?
In Uruguay there was a demonstration of the Lego robot - pathetic! It was
tied to an umbilical cord. It was pre-built so the children had no idea of
how it worked or what was going on inside. And, of course, it is frightfully
expensive.
The Butia project has developed a control board which is designed to be
reproduced by any one. I am hoping that someone in SF will undertake to
build the Butia kit. Could the MSP430 provide a cheaper and easier to build
control board for Butia?
Yours,
Tony
_______________________________________________
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
[email protected]
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
_______________________________________________
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
[email protected]
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
_______________________________________________
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
[email protected]
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
