Episode description

Kelly Russell and Jim Lee (two leaders of The Aiken Robotics Club) are today's featured guests.

Topics: How the Aiken Robotics Club became world champions; how robotics proved therapeutic for one 14 year-old student in a wheel chair; and an eyewitness account of what it was like for the teens to compete In front of an audience of tens of thousands in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in April of 2010 when dozens of robot building clubs from high schools all across The United States and Canada brought their robots to the World Championship First Tech Challenge.

Kelly Russell is the head coach of the Aiken Robotics Club, and teaches mathematics at Aiken High. Jim Lee is a mechanical engineer, and for the last six years has been one of The Aiken Robotic Club's several mentors. The Aiken Robotics Club serves all of Aiken County South Carolina's High Schools.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 8, 2010 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 42 minutes]

This interview was recorded on July 17, 2010 at the University of South Carolina at the B.I.T. (Business, Innovation and Technology) Expo. The Aiken Robotics Club was prominently featured at the Expo, were they provided demonstrations of many of the robots they had built, including the one that won them the world championship title.