Totally crazy, but looks like it would be fun

[R. Pare]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3qr88dM8TE

[billtebbutt]

The FIRST Robotics competition is a global high-schoolers version of this. Both of my daughters are on their school team (SWAT 771), one of the very few all-girls teams in North America. It is fascinating to watch a group of kids design, build, and compete with their own robot against hundreds of other schools.

I am guesstimating that it adds 12-15 hours of week to my kids' workload, so its a lot. Neither one of them is an engineer-in-the-making, yet the team is structured to develop roles for girls of all skillsets. For example, my youngest, the artist, learned how to CAD all of the custom manufactured parts for this year's robot and is up to her elbows in manufacturing and assembly. My eldest is now a Team Lead, mentoring younger team members, and running part of the business-end of the competition/team. The team is supported by some pretty fab teachers and parents/volunteers

Its not as glitzy as the previous video, but it is amazing to see what kids can do.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHA...3VPDvl4ehss-zw

[R. Pare]

My hat is off to the schools that do this sort of thing - there is nothing better than hands-on to really teach kids.