There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Lovely Grand Seiko.
For Lego League, we use the Lego EV3 programmable robot using any combination of motors (up to 4) and sensors (up to 4) to achieve tasks that were outlined at the beginning of the season. This year's theme has to do with hydrodynamics, basically all aspects of water. There are tons of videos out there on youtube. It's a great way to let the kids learn robot design to achieve tasks and to basic programming.
Though the robot takes front stage, it's all about the other parts of the program. The kids need to come up with an innovative solution to a problem (this year related to water). They need to do the research and present it to the judges . The program is set up to make sure that the adults don't take over. The kids do the work and the adults are not allowed to touch the robot or the programming computer at the tournaments.
As for today's tournament, my kids took the grand champion trophy today and will be moving on to the next tournament. So proud of them. Not too bad for a team that was formed only three years ago and traveling to the "big city" to compete against the big boys of Lego League. ;-)
Here's the link to First for more info and teams near you: firstinspires.org