4 ms·

Awesome. I've been thinking about doing something like this too. Albeit not in the concrete way you've put forward, but something analogous to it. If my start

Awesome. I've been thinking about doing something like this too. Albeit not in the concrete way you've put forward, but something analogous to it. If my startup takes off and I am at a stable plateau then I think that I can run a program like this on the premises. I could ask the people who are working with me to tutor/mentor kids by building stuff with them. Further, by having a hiring bias I can choose people with a personality that makes them more suited for such a thing. In the longer run wouldn't it be awesome to fund a Xerox PARC that doubles up as a school? It's an amazing way to create long lasting partnerships with a community. You are giving back and receiving precious talent in return. P.S. - Is there anyway I can help you out with your project?

thaumaturgy 16y ago
> P.S. - Is there anyway I can help you out with your project? I had to think about this for a day. The short, immediate answer was "Yes! absolutely!", but I wasn't really sure in what ways. I think I need three things right now: 1. Links to people with experience in mechatronics and/or teaching such things to small groups of kids age 12 to 16 (or thereabouts). I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron, reasonably proficient at programming, and have taught rock climbing to groups of kids that age. So, I think I've got all the pieces, but any hints would be appreciated. I intend to use Arduino and the course syllabus will involve making a small, automated, maze-navigating robot over the course of a couple of months in the Summer. They will get to keep their robot. I will build one of my own starting early next year to make sure I have a good idea of what to expect in assembling it. 2. I really need "help finding help". I've got that affliction where I'm used to being self-sufficient and providing help to other people. As a result, I'm not very good at finding or getting help with things. F'r instance, I have no idea how to motivate someone else to be interested in what I'm up to, and I don't know how to ask for help, or how to respond to offers of help. 3. Finally, the same old yarn about needing resources. I didn't have any savings when I started my business a few years ago. I've grown it literally out of nothing, and it's pretty healthy, but its growth potential is limited mostly by my lack of capital resources at the moment. So, if you know of anyone that might have a passing interest in helping me sort that out, that would be nifty. Thanks for your interest! I'll post an update to HN once this thing gets rolling, hopefully in a few months. The main focus right now is to get my hands on a small building, which is requiring me to step up my revenue a bit.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- todayiamme 16y ago
  Thanks for replying! I live in India so I can't help you out in 2 & 3, but I can help you to develop the content. The thing is that I went through pretty much a program like this in my high-school. So, I do have a few observations and experiences that you might like to hear. for e.g. I think that you're making a mistake by starting them off with Arduino. Kid's unless they're really fascinated by it will get bored and won't pay attention if they don't see immediate results. It takes too long to make stuff out of raw materials and Arduino isn't a gentle introduction at all unless you use a kit, which doesn't make financial sense. A better choice would be to start with Lego and let them outgrow it. Allow the older kids to hack it a bit (Lego NXT is opensource) and make their sensors etc. for it and write code for it in the language of their choice. Whereas allow the 12-14 y/os to play around with lego and make mistakes until they get a hang of stuff and then move on the quick learner to the second rung. After they've exhausted this paradigm then move them on to Arduino. Now, they should be more receptive to the concepts you're about to propose and they'll love the challenge instead of fearing it. Can you email me at yesthisisananonymousid on gmail? I would love to thrash this out with you.

thaumaturgy 16y ago

> P.S. - Is there anyway I can help you out with your project? I had to think about this for a day. The short, immediate answer was "Yes! absolutely!", but I wasn't really sure in what ways. I think I need three things right now: 1. Links to people with experience in mechatronics and/or teaching such things to small groups of kids age 12 to 16 (or thereabouts). I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron, reasonably proficient at programming, and have taught rock climbing to groups of kids that age. So, I think I've got all the pieces, but any hints would be appreciated. I intend to use Arduino and the course syllabus will involve making a small, automated, maze-navigating robot over the course of a couple of months in the Summer. They will get to keep their robot. I will build one of my own starting early next year to make sure I have a good idea of what to expect in assembling it. 2. I really need "help finding help". I've got that affliction where I'm used to being self-sufficient and providing help to other people. As a result, I'm not very good at finding or getting help with things. F'r instance, I have no idea how to motivate someone else to be interested in what I'm up to, and I don't know how to ask for help, or how to respond to offers of help. 3. Finally, the same old yarn about needing resources. I didn't have any savings when I started my business a few years ago. I've grown it literally out of nothing, and it's pretty healthy, but its growth potential is limited mostly by my lack of capital resources at the moment. So, if you know of anyone that might have a passing interest in helping me sort that out, that would be nifty. Thanks for your interest! I'll post an update to HN once this thing gets rolling, hopefully in a few months. The main focus right now is to get my hands on a small building, which is requiring me to step up my revenue a bit.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
todayiamme 16y ago
Thanks for replying! I live in India so I can't help you out in 2 & 3, but I can help you to develop the content. The thing is that I went through pretty much a program like this in my high-school. So, I do have a few observations and experiences that you might like to hear. for e.g. I think that you're making a mistake by starting them off with Arduino. Kid's unless they're really fascinated by it will get bored and won't pay attention if they don't see immediate results. It takes too long to make stuff out of raw materials and Arduino isn't a gentle introduction at all unless you use a kit, which doesn't make financial sense. A better choice would be to start with Lego and let them outgrow it. Allow the older kids to hack it a bit (Lego NXT is opensource) and make their sensors etc. for it and write code for it in the language of their choice. Whereas allow the 12-14 y/os to play around with lego and make mistakes until they get a hang of stuff and then move on the quick learner to the second rung. After they've exhausted this paradigm then move them on to Arduino. Now, they should be more receptive to the concepts you're about to propose and they'll love the challenge instead of fearing it. Can you email me at yesthisisananonymousid on gmail? I would love to thrash this out with you.