Central New England Chapter
		 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society

			Tuesday, June 13, 2006

		    UML Robotics Lab Tour: 5:00 PM
			Presentation: 6:00 PM


			    BOTBALL 2006:
	       WINNERS FROM THE NEW ENGLAND TOURNAMENT


			     Presented by

			    Holly A. Yanco

			 Assistant Professor
		     Computer Science Department
		  University of Massachusetts Lowell
	       One University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854
		       E-mail: holly@cs.uml.edu

ABSTRACT

Botball is a robotics education program for middle and high school 
students where students build and program autonomous robots using a 
robot kit that includes two of Charmed Lab's XBC controllers, 
cameras, sensors, motors, and Lego.  At the end of the seven week 
building period, the teams came to University of Massachusetts Lowell 
for the New England Regional Tournament.

We will start the talk with a presentation of this year's game, in 
which teams designed robots to save Botguy from his perch above a 
flood zone and to bring supplies to shelters.  Tribbles also required 
rescuing in the game.

After the game presentation, some of the winners of the 2006 
tournament will present their strategies, designs, results and 
lessons learned. Teams presenting their designs will be the Neary 
School (Southboro), Arlington High School, Waltham High School and 
Greater Lowell Technical High School. Finally, we will discuss ways 
that you can become involved in the Botball program, including the 
"Beyond Botball" competition for all ages.


SPEAKER'S BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Holly Yanco is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science 
Department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.  Her research 
interests include human-robot interaction, adjustable autonomy and 
assistive technology.  She received a Career Award from NSF in 2006. 
She was the PI of the NSF funded Pyro project, which was awarded the 
NEEDS Premiere Award for Courseware in 2005.  She has a PhD and MS 
from MIT and a BA from Wellesley College, all in Computer Science. 
Dr. Yanco has chaired the New England Regionals for Botball since it 
started here in 2001.


MEETING INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS

The Central New England Chapters of IEEE Robotics and Automation 
Society will meet in Room 311 of Olsen Hall on the North Campus of 
University of Massachusetts Lowell, One University Avenue, Lowell, MA 
01854, on Tuesday, June 13, 2006, for a tour of the UML Robotics Lab 
at 5:00 and a presentation at 6:00 PM. For directions to Olsen Hall 
please refer to
http://www.cs.uml.edu/~fredm/directions/olsen.shtml.

Afterwards, at approx. 7:30 PM, the group will have a no-host dinner 
at the Brewery Exchange, 201 Cabot Street, Lowell (for details please 
see http://www.thebreweryexchange.com/), where more conversations 
with the speaker and tournament winners can take place. The meetings 
are open to the general public, and all are welcome at the dinner 
afterwards.

For more information on IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, contact 
Peter Meyer at 781-334-0052 or chair@robotics-boston.org or visit 
http://www.robotics-boston.org/