REGISTRATION OPENS FOR STUDENT ROBOTICS 2024
We're excited to announce that registration for the 2024 season of Student Robotics is now open!
Based in the UK, Student Robotics challenges teams of 16 to 19 year-olds to design, build and program fully autonomous robots to compete in our annual competition. Teams will have just three months to engineer their creations. As well as supplying teams with a kit, which they can use as a framework for their robot, we mentor (指导) the teams over this period. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we provide all of this to our teams at no cost.
The competition cycle will start with a live streamed Kickstart event on our YouTube Channel.
During the event, the game and the structure of the competition will be announced and kit s will be handed out to teams.
The competition will culminate(达到高潮) in an in-person competition from September 30 to October 1, 2024, which will see the robots compete through a league stage and a seeded knockout. As usual the prizes will recognize not only the teams which come top in the knockouts, but also those who are excellent in other ways.
Details of the game and prizes will be revealed at Kickstart. Details of the Kickstart and competition events will be published when they are available. We expect to confirm places towards the end of August, 2024.
If you would like a chance to compete in Student Robotics 2024, please fill in the entry form with the required information. The deadline of the registration is May 30, 2024. Places are limited, so please click here and sign up soon to avoid disappointment.
We look forward to seeing your teams!
The relationship between Jeffrey Pang and his son, Kevin Pang, was like hot-and-sour soup. It boiled over easily. The Pangs, who moved to the United States in 1988, wanted their son and daughter to know Chinese culture. As a video game-playing American teen, Kevin wasn't interested.
But when Kevin became a food writer for the Chicago Tribune, he realized he had a valuable resource: his cook-loving dad. "My father and I shared, for the first time, a common interest. I would call to ask about recipes and cooking techniques. He would school me on the world of Chinese food," Kevin writes in the introduction to the cookbook he has just published.
When it comes to cooking Chinese food, he points out that there is no one definition of Chinese food. "Chinese cooking is not hidebound. For example, consider baked pork chop rice, popularized in Hong Kong. It is a pork chop with egg-fried rice. And then you top it with this thick tomato sauce," explains Kevin. "And then you top that with some cheese. It's a very interesting combined dish that has some Western British influences, and it's altogether very Chinese as well."
By the time Kevin joined America's Test Kitchen( ATK) staff in 2020 as its editorial director for digital content, his dad had become an Internet celebrity demonstrating the family's recipes. Kevin recognized an opportunity not only to share his own family's food stories but also to apply the AT method of breaking down recipes into simple steps for the home cook.
"I think this cookbook can teach fathers and sons how to connect, how to find a common interest and improve their relationship," Kevin says. That feeling has found an enthusiastic fan base, generating nearly 3 million views, for their online cooking series "Hunger Pangs", where viewers speak highly of their father-son bond as much as they do of their attractive dishes. Today the Pangs' relationship is rarely sour or hot.
A robot that can wash windows and do the shopping is something that the futuristic carto on The Jetsons envisioned occurring in 2062, but it is happening now. Unlimited Robotics, an Israeli startup based in Tel Aviv has created a robot that can do the tasks that you don't want to.
Gary, named after the initials of the company's founder and CEO Guy Altagar's children, is not like the robots that are already on the market. The robot has two functioning arms and it is no easy task to build a robot with two arms. In fact, Altagar said that the robot can activate its arms to do a number of tasks at the same time.
Gary is also autonomous, which means that it can do tasks that are programmed without a person turning on a switch like an iRobot. This means that unlike robots that are designed to do just one task like picking fruit or assembling cars, Gary can pick up new skills and perform new tasks just by writing some additional lines of code.
While Gary was designed to do tasks in homes and offices, the robot could easily do work in factories, stores, and hospitals. Gary can hold up to 5 kilos(11 pounds) and has a top speed of 1.2meters per second (3.1 mph) and can adapt to multiple settings——floors, carpets, grass, indoors and outdoors. Gary can adapt to different environments because of the three different infrared (红外线的)and in-depth cameras that are built in.
There are currently nine robots that are being used in medical settings and in hotels where there are presently labor shortages. Gary can do nonmedical work by bringing patients water or extra blankets. But this is just the beginning. The company already has plans to increase the number of robots to 500 by the end of 2024. After that, who knows what other futuristic Jetsonian fantasy will become a reality next?
The ocean covers approximately 70% of Earth's surface. It's the largest livable space on our planet, and there's more life there than anywhere else on Earth. Through exploration, we're learning more about its biological, chemical, physical, and geological (地质的) aspects. Exploration leads to discovery, but before we can truly explore, we must map.
Seafloor mapping provides a sense of what may lie beneath and guides decisions about where to explore. While the entire seafloor has been mapped using data collected from satellites, these data provide only a general picture of what's there. Detail is limited on these maps, so some important geographical features like seamounts and objects like shipwrecks (失事船只) remain unseen.
As of 2023,24.9% of the global seafloor had been mapped with modern high-resolution (高分辨率的) technology, usually fixed on ships, which can reveal the seafloor in greater detail. While almost 50% of the seafloor beneath U. S. waters had been mapped to these modern standards, the nation's seafloor is larger than the land area of all 50 states. Thus, there's still a significant amount of seafloor left to be mapped at high resolution.
More is known about the seafloor than the species that call the ocean home. Seafloor maps can provide information about potential habitats, but they can't identify species on the seafloor or provide information about how they interact with each other and their environments. Scientists estimate there may be between 700,000 and 1 million species in the ocean. Roughly two-thirds of these species have yet to be discovered or officially described, with almost 2,000 new species accepted by the scientific community each year.
We have a great deal more to learn about our ocean and what lives in it, but progress is being made. We learn more and more each year. But the ocean will never be fully explored. Earth is constantly changing, and it's important to understand these changes given the importance of the ocean in our everyday lives.
How to overcome travel anxiety
If you want to travel, there shouldn't be anything getting in your way. One of these issues might be travel anxiety. Read on to find out some tips on how to overcome travel anxiety and enjoy your holiday or trip.
To cope with travel anxiety, you need to figure out specifically what is making you feel anxious about your trip. Is it that you'll be on the road for hours, that there would be things out of your control, or that you would have to be surrounded by a lot of people at an airport? Once you understand what causes your anxiety, you can ensure to plan ahead for the best ways to handle it.
Plan out your trip in as much detail as possible.
One reason for anxiety when travelling is that you're out of your comfort zone and won't have full control over everything. To help ease that anxious feeling, try to make detailed travel arrangements. That will give you a sense of control. But it's equally as important to think of alternative plans.
Have with you things that bring you joy.
Things that generally bring you joy can be extremely useful in distracting you from your negative feelings. Alternatively, you can create a playlist of songs you love or make sure you have your favourite TV show or film with you, as these will keep your mind occupied, decreasing your feelings of anxiety.
Don't forget your physical health.
Even if it's just a long walk, make sure to include physical activity in your days, especially the days leading up to your trip and if possible, during the trip as well. Spending some time outside and connecting with nature can have a positive effect on your physical and mental wellbeing, which in turn will help reduce your anxious thoughts.
A. Predict what challenges you might face. B. Understand where your anxiety originates. C. Sometimes, however, there can be problems. D. Thus for anything that could not go as planned, you're prepared. E. Being physically active is a great way to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress. F. The more you know about your upcoming trip, the more you'll know what to expect. G. These can include physical items like a book to read, or a game to occupy your attention. |
During the 2006 World Cup in Germany I worked as a volunteer in an information booth (问讯处). It was great fun, and all the visiting fans were really 1 , including the English. We were very 2 about the result since before that we had been 3 to be careful of English football hooligans (足球流氓).
Some of the England fans had come by car and 4 in the city instead of out by the stadium. A few of them 5 at our booth because they couldn't find their cars after the 6 . They were quite 7 , though, that they had written down the name of the 8 they had parked on. They showed us a piece of paper that had "Einbahnstraße" written on it. We then had to 9 that this wasn't a street name, but a(n) 10 , saying "One-Way Street". We did 11 to find their cars, though.
Two days after the England game, a young man ran into our booth. He was 12 because he had gotten so drunk after the game that he had fallen asleep in a bush and 13 his plane back home. Since he didn't have any money, we called his mum and then booked him a flight. His mum sent us a thank-you letter for 14 her son.
All of them were absolutely lovely. It just goes to show that one bad apple doesn't 15 the whole bunch.
A Chinese ink painting exhibition, (feature) paintings of Professor Vermander of Fudan University, opened on Wednesday at the university in Shanghai, aiming to promote cultural exchanges China and France.
This year (mark) the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic (外交的) ties between China and France. The exhibition is part of the university's (celebrate) of this special occasion and will run through till April 25.
The exhibition exhibits more than 60 ink paintings (create) over the past decade by the French professor. Through the artworks exhibited in the exhibition, which focus on (diversity)themes such as animals, natural (landscape) and people, visitors are able to feel the artist's close relationship with nature and daily life.
" I like most in Chinese ink painting is the freedom it allows you. I am not skillful in Western painting as I have bad eyes, and it is not my character to be careful and plan everything as (usual) needed in Western painting. With Chinese calligraphy and ink painting, I could free my inner feelings," said Vermander.
Making his first visit to China in 1987, Vermander was attracted by Chinese calligraphy. After1994, he changed to Chinese painting and has continued ever since. Over the three decades he has been in China, he has also been organizing and translating Chinese classics (promote)cultural exchanges.
Beyond the Horizon
Oshima was sitting at the sea side but the beautiful site did not make her feel good. Her face was dull and gloomy. She was staring at the setting sun without an expression on her face.
But she was not an unhappy child like this always. Six months before, Oshima was a happy child who loved playing at the beach with her brother and sister. Her brother Mittsu used to make sandcastle and Oshima and her sister Osheen collected the sea shells. Her father always shouted, "Come home, it's late", but they would not listen. The seaside was like their second home. At house also, they were a happy family who always laughed and played and had no problems to bother for.
One day all of a sudden something terrible happened. A violent tsunami came and took the entire country in its grip. It was a huge natural disaster. Most of the houses were washed away. The cities and towns were flooded with water. Oshima's town was near the sea and so the tsunami flooded her town as well. Her house was washed and they lost all their belongings.
Her grandmother Midori cried and cried and was totally shocked. She has not seen such destruction in her whole life. They were homeless. Oshima wept and wept and complained that why a violent tsunami hit her city. She was very angry.
The government shifted them to a refugee (难民) camp where many families shared the living space. Helicopters dropped food packets and they had to stand in long queues even for drinking water. Their life had turned upside down. Oshima could see the sadness visible in her parents' eyes. Now she did not like the sea at all and always felt that the sea had broken her trust and was very disappointed with the waves. For her the sea was very cruel who had taken her beautiful house away.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day Oshima saw two little children playing in the camp without any trace of sadness on their faces.
A new ray of hope filled her spirits, making her cheer up.
