Once "Hot Jobs" Now Extinct

Here are a few examples of jobs which were once "Hot Jobs" with high demand but are now declining or totally extinct, at least in North America and Europe:

* Typesetting - Has been replaced by the first Apple computers and the advent of desktop publishing. Typesetting began in the 1400's with the first printing presses. The trend away from typesetting to desktop publishing started in the early 1980's and was completed by the mid 1990's. Thousands of people had their careers upset by this trend.
* Secretarial Dictation - Has been replaced by individuals doing their own word processing, starting in the late 1980's as the cost of personal computers came down.
* IBM punch card operator - Was obsoleted along with IBM punch cards by ~1985. Prior to that, punch card data entry employed tens of thousands.
* Telex (TWX) Operator - Was obsoleted by the advent of the FAX machine, ~ 1980
* FAX Machine Operator - Once the cost of FAX machines came down, most people handled their own faxes rather than having an assistant do it. Finally, most but not all faxes gave way to Email. 1980 to 1995.
* Telephone Operators - Once a premier job, demand was reduced significantly by touch tone systems and then later by voice recognition technology.
* Drafting Technician- Manual drafting using pencil and ruler was replaced by Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) in the 1980's.

from: Hot Jobs for the Future

Phoenix Mars Lander Touches Down May 25th

A new NASA mission will study water history and habitability at the north pole of Mars.

The Phoenix Mission will land in the northern polar region of Mars in May 25, 2008 and stretch out an instrumented arm to dig into the soil and ice. By studying the structure, composition, and chemistry of soil and ice samples within Phoenix's trench, scientists hope to learn about the history of water on Mars and the potential for biologic activity to take place there.

How to Play NXT Sumo

How to Play MINDSTORMS NXT Sumo

Competition rules and guidelines vary slightly from competition to competition, but here are some general guidelines on how to play:

MINDSTORMS NXT Sumo robots are placed on the SUMO ring about 12 inches apart and an equal distance from the center of the ring (6 inches from the center). The robots are set down parallel to each other and facing opposite directions so that the robots must actively search for the opponent and not "steamroller" straightforward.

The competition takes place in several rounds. Each round is limited to three minutes (or three bouts, whichever comes first). If there is no winner at the end of the three minutes, the round will be declared a draw. The winner of a round is simply the robot that has won the best of three bouts, with each bout lasting no more than one minute. The winner of a round receives two points, and the loser zero. A draw results in one point for each robot. If during a bout the robots are entangled and wear and tear is occurring, both contestants can agree to a restart of that bout. The robots may be restarted but the three minute overall time limit still applies (in other words, once three minutes are up the result of the round is determined by the results of the completed bouts, even if three bouts were not achieved during that time).

At the start of a bout players bow to each other... three, two, one, GO! Players activate their robots and clear out of the ring. The robots must wait three seconds before any motion is made (with the exception of shape changing; i.e. lowering or extending an arm or other feature), and the first motion should be directly away from the center. If there is no clear front of back to a robot, the direction of this first motion will define the “front” for purposes of the initial facing of the robots. A robot must start moving forward within ten seconds of the start of a bout.

The robots will proceed in combat until one unit is disabled or removed from the ring. A robot is considered to be “removed” from the ring when any part of it falls off the edge and touches the floor. A robot whose body hangs over the edge is not considered 'off' until it physically tips off the edge and touches the floor. Judgment of the ring officials is final. A robot that disables or removes the enemy gets a “Win” credited to it, and if a robot “suicides”, the other robot gets a “Win” credited to it.

NXT Sumo Rules

All MINDSTORMS NXT Sumo robots must be constructed of 100% unmodified LEGO parts (no gluing, cutting, melting, or other modification or modified pieces are allowed). This rule applies to sensors and motors as well. There is no limit on the amount of LEGO, MINDSTORMS NXT sensors, motors, NXT programmable bricks, HiTechnic sensors, or Bluetooth communication. No home brewed sensors allowed.

All robots must fit within a 1’ by 1’ square frame (although they can have any flat orientation within that frame; in other words, the front of the robot could be diagonal within the frame if the rest of it fits in a 1’ by 1’ square frame).

A LEGO MINDSTORMS brick (NXT) must be onboard the robot.

There is no height limit.

Robot weight is not to exceed two (2) pounds.

Swimming Robot Takes Its First Icy Plunge

All Things Considered, February 20, 2008 · Down in Antarctica, there are some big, mysterious lakes. One of them is Lake Bonney. All year long, it's covered by 12 to 15 feet of ice. Scientists would love to know more about the world hidden beneath all that ice, so later this year, they want to send in a swimming robot to explore it. But first, they have to make sure the robot can take the cold.

LISTEN (4.22 minutes)

Tora no Maki

Thanks to the talent and time of ISOGAWA Yoshihito, LEGO users everywhere can access a new 200+ page building resource! Tora no Maki is the first of hopefully many books developed by Yoshihito illustrating how to build various mechanisms with LEGO Technic bricks. Over 300 building challenges are presented using more than 1700 images.

Topics covered in the down-loadable publication include: gears, bracing, pulleys, walking mechanisms, springs, differentials, and much more! The author is only asking for a $10 donation if you find his work useful.

Link

Ping Pong Shot Put Ideas

Ping Pong Shot Put Ideas

Gear Ratios Review

1. Review Important Information--
-In a gear train, the gear connected to the motor is called the driver.
-The driver turns the other gear(s) which are called the follower(s).
-Small gears are fast, but weak.
-Large gears are strong, but slow.
-When a small gear drives a large gear, you have a mechanical advantage of power.
-When a large gear drives a small gear, you have a mechanical advantage of speed.

2. Calculate Mechanical Advantages

To calculate the mechanical advantage of a gear train, you must create a fraction.


-The number of teeth on the follower is the numerator (top number)
-The number of teeth on the driver is the denominator (bottom number)
-Divide your numerator by your denominator to determine your mechanical advantage

Example--If you have a 32-tooth gear as the follower and an 8-tooth gear as the driver, your fraction is 32/8.

32 / 8 = 4, so you have a mechanical advantage of 4. Any mechanical advantage greater than one, produces a larger force than it starts with. So, this gear train would produce a mechanical advantage of power!

BUT, if the 8-tooth gear is the follower and the 32-tooth gear is the driver, the fraction would be 8/32.

8 /32 = .25 Here the gear train is moving with much less force, but the output gear (follower) is moving with greater speed—it is spinning around four times each time the 32 tooth gear goes around once.