Author | Neal Bascomb |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Publisher | Crown |
Publication date | 2011 |
Pages | 352 |
ISBN | 978-0-307-58889-0 |
OCLC | 641997964 |
The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts is a 2011 non-fiction narrative book by American writer Neal Bascomb. It follows four FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams through the course of the 2009 season. Its main subject, however, is Team 1717 and the exploits of its students and its head mentor Amir Abo-Shaeer; the other teams followed were teams 217, 395, and 67, from Sterling Heights, Michigan, New York City, and Milford, Michigan respectively.
The book begins with a prologue set at the 2009 FIRST Championship in Atlanta and describes the exciting environment there. It then switches back to the kickoff event in January 2009 and describes Dean Kamen and how he founded FIRST. Afterwards, it details the history of team 1717 and the program that it is a part of, the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. Then the book describes how the 2009 team winds its way through a 6-week build season, enduring many struggles from mechanical failures to a bout of sickness. A chapter is dedicated to team 217, the Thunderchickens, who attempt to construct a robot with military style precision, and to team 395, 2TrainRobotics, whose students must deal with issues related to being in the poor inner city, as well as to team 67, Heroes of Tomorrow. After the build season, team 1717 competes in two regional competitions, Los Angeles and Sacramento. The team loses in the finals at Los Angeles, and wins in Sacramento after going undefeated. 1717 then competes in the FIRST Championship, where it loses to a heavily favored team, 111 WildStang, in the division finals.
Science historian Robert P. Crease wrote in the Wall Street Journal that The New Cool "is effective in capturing the students' loyalty, dedication and ingenuity." Popular book blog Bookin' with Bingo called The New Cool "an important book for everyone but especially those who are interested in our educational goals for today and the future." FIRST has promoted the book at the FRC kickoff and its regional competitions. [1] [2] James Floyd Kelly of Wired stated that "any students or adults considering jumping into FRC for the first time should read this book." [3]
Kate Vander Wiede of the Christian Science Monitor panned the book, stating that "the book fails to resonate" and "doesn't do...justice" to FIRST or Team 1717. [4]
According to Dean Kamen at the FIRST Championship, a screenplay based on the book is being written. The rights to the book have been optioned to Scott Rudin through the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. [5] The film is being directed by Michael Bacall. [6]
Dean Lawrence Kamen is an American engineer, inventor, and businessman. He is known for his invention of the Segway and iBOT, as well as founding the non-profit organization FIRST with Woodie Flowers. Kamen holds over 1,000 patents.
Benjamin N. Cardozo High School is a public high school in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens, New York City. The school was named for Benjamin N. Cardozo, who served as justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education.
Woodie Claude Flowers was a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His specialty areas were engineering design and product development; he held the Pappalardo Professorship and was a MacVicar Faculty Fellow.
Sir Winston Churchill High School is a senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It derives its name from Sir Winston Churchill, two-term prime minister of the United Kingdom. The high school is built in the Northwest community of Brentwood. The school offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme, various second languages, and numerous clubs and teams.
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weigh up to 125 pounds (57 kg). Robots complete tasks such as scoring balls into goals, placing inner tubes onto racks, hanging on bars, and balancing robots on balance beams. The game, along with the required set of tasks, changes annually. While teams are given a kit of standard set of parts during the annual Kickoff, they are also allowed and encouraged to buy or fabricate specialized parts. FIRST Robotics Competition is one of four robotics competition programs organized by FIRST, the other three being FIRST LEGO League Explore, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, and FIRST Tech Challenge.
River Ridge is a public middle/high school complex founded in 1991 in New Port Richey, Florida. It was Florida's first joint middle/high school complex and is a part of the Pasco County School System. Both schools have their own classrooms, media center, and administrators. They share the cafeteria, theater, administrative offices, gymnasium, and athletic facilities. The complex is the largest school in Pasco County. The school mascot is the "Royal Knight" and their school colors are purple and silver.
The FIRST Championship is a four-day robotics championship held annually in April at which FIRST student robotics teams compete. For several years, the event was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri in 2011, where it remained through 2017. In 2017, the Championship was split into two events, being additionally held at the George R. Brown Convention Center and Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. In 2018 and 2019, the Championship was held in Houston and Detroit, Michigan at the TCF Center and Ford Field. The event comprises four competitions; the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship, the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship, the FIRST Lego League World Festival, and the FIRST Lego League Junior World Expo.
Kealakehe High School is a public high school located in Kailua CDP, Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It has the largest geographic school attendance boundary in the state and covers a geographic district 40 miles (64 km) wide, encompassing the communities of Kailua-Kona, Hōlualoa, Waikōloa, and Puakō. The school motto is "Harmony and unity through dynamic education and community for everyone, every time."
Lunacy is the game for the 2009 FIRST Robotics Competition. Announced on January 3, 2009, the name and some of the features of the game honor the 40th anniversary of the first human mission to the Moon. It is FRC's 18th game. This is the first FRC competition to use the cRIO Mobile Device Controller control system from National Instruments. The driver station introduced for 2009 was the Kwikbyte DS, which was replaced in 2010 by the Classmate PC.
Breakaway is the game for the 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition, announced on January 9, 2010. Robots direct soccer balls into goals, traverse "bumps" in the field, suspend themselves and each other on towers, and/or go through a tunnel located in the center of the field.
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) is an international youth organization that operates the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, FIRST LEGO League Explore, FIRST LEGO League Discover, and FIRST Tech Challenge competitions. Founded by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers in 1989, its expressed goal is to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields. Its philosophy is expressed by the organization as Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism. FIRST also operates FIRST Place, a research facility at FIRST Headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, where it holds educational programs and day camps for students and teachers.
Amir Muhsin Abo-Shaeer is an American teacher and mechanical engineer. In 2001, during his first year of teaching, he established the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA) on the Dos Pueblos High School campus. In addition to being the Director of the DPEA, he teaches physics, engineering, robotics, machining and manufacturing. His focused outreach efforts have yielded 50% female student enrollment in the DPEA. He also ran FRC Team 1717 as part of the academy program. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2010. He is the first high school teacher to win the award, as well as the first FIRST mentor to win the award for work relating to FIRST robotics.
Team 1717, D’Penguineers, were a FIRST Robotics team associated with the Dos Pueblos High School Engineering Academy (DPEA) in Goleta, California. D’Penguineers have won multiple awards at the regional and international levels of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and participate regularly in outreach programs for junior high and elementary schools. The team was highlighted in the book The New Cool.
Logo Motion is the 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition game. Playing pieces are inner tubes shaped like the components of the FIRST logo. The primary objective of the game is to place them on racks to gain points. In the endgame, robots deploy smaller robots ("minibots") to climb a tower. Minibots must be made from the FIRST Tech Challenge kit of parts. The game celebrates the 20th season of the FRC and is also meant to commemorate the artist Jack Kamen, who designed the original FIRST logo.
The Collegiate Aerial Robotics Demonstration (CARD) is a robotics competition for college and university students inspired by FIRST. The inaugural event was held at the 2011 FIRST Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.
Rebound Rumble is the 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition game. It is styled similarly to basketball.
Ultimate Ascent was the 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition game. It is styled similarly to disc golf.
The Holy Cows, FRC team 1538, is a FIRST Robotics Competition team that was founded in 2005, and is a school-based team from High Tech High in San Diego California.
Destination: Deep Space, stylized as DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE and officially known as Destination: Deep Space Presented By The Boeing Company, is the FIRST Robotics Competition game for the 2019 season. It involves two alliances of three teams each, with each team controlling a robot and performing specific tasks on a field to score points. The game centers around an outer space theme involving two alliances consisting of three teams each competing to place poly-carbonate hatch panels and orange rubber balls or "cargo" on rockets and cargo ships before returning to their HAB platform to climb at the end of the match.
Rapid React, stylized as RAPID REACT and officially known as Rapid React presented by The Boeing Company for sponsorship reasons, is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) game for the 2022 season. The game is themed around transportation as part of the FIRST-wide FIRST Forward theme for 2021-2022.