After my whirlwind day of presentations in New Zealand, I had a few days to explore this beautiful country.
On top of a hill overlooking the outskirts of Christchurch
I got the chance to hike along steep cliffs and see some very interesting, little holiday shacks, called baches, right by the pounding surf.
Do you think these little baches are legal or safe?
I also got to see some of the sights of Christchurch, New Zealand which included a visit to a most interesting Antarctic Museum where I got to see some of the old clothes that Shakleton, Scott, and Amundsen wore and a trip to a Gallery which featured real photographs from both Scott's and Shackleton's expeditions.
My brother and I braved the cold, spring ocean though I must admit I soaked up more time in the sauna, steam room, and hot tub at the local pool.
Which do you think prepared me more for my upcoming time on the Ice?
Jaeger felt boots from Scott’s Terra Nova expedition. Snow goggles and a Jaeger wollen Balaclava from Scott’s Discovery expedition.
I also got the chance to talk to my brother, Hanno Sander, about his work with teaching kids basic math, science, communication, writing, and computer skills with the use of a robot and a special programming language, called 12Blocks.
This all started when my brother first invented a robot called dancebot as a personal challenge to see if he could build a robot that could balance on two wheels, like a Segeway, and use a camera to follow the dance moves of a human partner. His robot was in a public demonstration where for four weeks it balanced a flute of champagne.
My nephew, brother and niece with their dancebots
Dancebot lead to Hanno's invention of ViewPort, a tool to help him fix dancebot if there was a problem. He has since expanded his software program and now engineers all over use it to efficiently build and fix their products.
As Hanno works from home, programming and working with computers, his children would come down and visit him in his home office. Because his kids were still quite young, 3 and 5, he decided to create a computer language so his kids could program, just like their dad. This lead Hanno to the creation of 12Blocks. With it, kids can build games and robots by stacking virtual blocks to do things like "go forward", "say the word monster" or "flash a light".
My niece programming using 12Blocks
12Blocks also led Hanno to the creation of one more robot www.onerobot.org, and to collaborating with other robot experts. One of their projects led to TBot, which features the 12Blocks programming language and a versatile robot. Using the simple block language, kids and students can make this robot dance to their own choreographed steps, solve mazes, or participate in other competitions. Some schools in New Zealand and in the United States are now starting to use TBot to help students develop their math, science, and computer skills. Hanno mentored a dozen children at his daughter's school, and two of his teams qualified for the New Zealand National RoboCup competition. If they win that, then they'll be heading to Turkey next spring for the world's robot competition.
I wish Hanno, his family, and his team all the best. I'll be thinking of his robots as we use ours to explore what's under the ice. On that note, we'll hopefully be down there when you get this! See you from Antarctica!
My nephew helping me fly his submarine. Am I ready to pilot SCINI now?