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FIRST Global’s mission is to ignite a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) among the more than two billion youths across the world by hosting an annual Olympics-style robotics event.

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Guyana leads at Robotics contest

 
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Guyana ended day one of the Global Robot Championship as the number one team after three rounds of competition in which 165 teams representing 157 countries are participating. In photo are jubilant members of Team Guyana after the first day activities

THE Robotics team of young people, STEM Guyana, emerged on top of 165 countries at the end of the first day of the first Global Robotics Competition held on Monday, in Washington D.C.
The Guyanese team which comprised of teenagers aged 15-19, participated in three rounds of the robotics competition, each time in an alliance with two other teams from other countries. During each of the three rounds, STEM Guyana and its alliance members emerged victorious, thus allowing Guyana to cop the first position overall at the end of the first day.
At the end of the first round, Guyana had ranked eighth out of 165 countries after scoring 106 points, alongside teams from Cambodia and Europe, but this position dwindled to ninth after a setback in the second round. At the end of their third and final round for the first day of the competition, Guyana managed to climb to the top position.
The Team Captain, Ryan Benschop related that during the second round the team was unable to execute its original strategy, since they were faced with a late start due to a connection problem. Nevertheless, the team trooped through and then with a few seconds left for this round, the team managed to hold onto its winning streak.

A model of the playing field where the teams have to battle. The Blue arrow indicates the β€˜reserve’ where the balls have to be deposited while the red arrows indicate where the robots have to be elevated at the end to escape the oncoming β€˜flood’

For the First Global robotics competition, an alliance is created between three teams as they team up to battle in β€˜H2O Flow’ against another alliance. The layout of the game is based on the model of two villages which exist on either side of a contaminated river. The villagers compete to create and store the purified water in their respective reserves. In a laboratory,the villagers try to purify clean water before it reaches the village and finally, each village prepares for the coming flood by searching for higher ground.
The β€˜contaminated river’ is replicated by orange and blue balls; securing one blue ball earns one point while four points are allocated for securing the orange ball. The β€˜villagers’ are the robots and three robots of three teams combine to form an β€˜alliance’. In the end, the robots must try to elevate itself onto a bar which will earn 20 points for the team for each robot elevated to escape the oncoming flood.

The game was designed to devise solutions to the issue of depleting clean water reserves. Additionally, the competition seeks to build relationships among young leaders globally.
During the live stream of the competition, the commentators remarked on the distinctive design of the robot. While building the robot before their departure, Team Guyana visited kokers and other places to design the robot distinctively but effectively. The robot, named β€˜Megathurium’, integrated the design of the koker doors, combine machines used in the rice fields and other indigenous systems.

The STEM Guyana team making some final checks to their robot before proceeding into the next round of the competition held.

The current emphasis being placed on Robotics in Guyana originated only about one year ago when the STEM/ Robotics camps were launched due to the interest shown by the First Lady, Sandra Granger and overseas-based Guyanese, Karen Abram.
While the Team has only been together for a few months, they have worked together diligently to ensure and perfect their robot and their skills. Today, the competition concludes and STEM Guyana will have to compete in another three rounds. The team representing Guyana will be seeking to secure the win and keep the Golden Arrowhead flying high.

http://guyanachronicle.com/201...-at-robotics-contest

Mars
Drugb posted:

Good to see our kids involved in robotics, the wave of the future. Also notable are the Afros in the group. Currently in the IT world there is a dearth of Blacks due to people like caribj et al not entering the field. Hopefully all of these kids will go forward to pursue careers in IT. 

man you is a real ass why you have to mention blacks maybe you should check blacks achievement 

FM
warrior posted:
Drugb posted:

Good to see our kids involved in robotics, the wave of the future. Also notable are the Afros in the group. Currently in the IT world there is a dearth of Blacks due to people like caribj et al not entering the field. Hopefully all of these kids will go forward to pursue careers in IT. 

man you is a real ass why you have to mention blacks maybe you should check blacks achievement 

I am aware of the lack of Blacks in IT, even Caribj will attest to this. It is a big deal when we see up and coming Afros entering the field as this is a lucrative field and will give the brothers a chance of uplifting themselves. This is a viable alternative to robbing and killing, we must applaud them. 

FM
Drugb posted:

Good to see our kids involved in robotics, the wave of the future. Also notable are the Afros in the group. Currently in the IT world there is a dearth of Blacks due to people like caribj et al not entering the field. Hopefully all of these kids will go forward to pursue careers in IT. 

FYI one of the people instrumental in this is an Afro Guyanese woman based in the USA. I bet she sees GUYANESE kids and not black and Indian kids as you do.

FM
ba$eman posted:

Congrats to TeamGuyana.  With all due respect, this is a legacy of the PPP!!

Can you explain how?  The energies involved in this involve people like Sandra Granger, Lance Hinds and various other local and overseas based Guyanese.  I don't think that this is a government initiative though the involvement of Mrs. Granger has helped.

Its amazing that you take credit for this and yet run away from the fact that the PPP destroyed Guysuco, which was already on the mend in 1992.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Drugb posted:
.
 

I am aware of the lack of Blacks in IT, even Caribj will attest to this. It is a big deal when we see up and coming Afros entering the field as this is a lucrative field and will give the brothers a chance of uplifting themselves. This is a viable alternative to robbing and killing, we must applaud them. 

In fact there are many Caribbean and African blacks involved in this field.   

FM
caribny posted:
Drugb posted:

Good to see our kids involved in robotics, the wave of the future. Also notable are the Afros in the group. Currently in the IT world there is a dearth of Blacks due to people like caribj et al not entering the field. Hopefully all of these kids will go forward to pursue careers in IT. 

FYI one of the people instrumental in this is an Afro Guyanese woman based in the USA. I bet she sees GUYANESE kids and not black and Indian kids as you do.

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

FM
Drugb posted:
caribny posted:
Drugb posted:

Good to see our kids involved in robotics, the wave of the future. Also notable are the Afros in the group. Currently in the IT world there is a dearth of Blacks due to people like caribj et al not entering the field. Hopefully all of these kids will go forward to pursue careers in IT. 

FYI one of the people instrumental in this is an Afro Guyanese woman based in the USA. I bet she sees GUYANESE kids and not black and Indian kids as you do.

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

What the r@ss the individual profession have to do with helping the kids to compete at this event.

Django
Drugb posted:
.
 

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

Furnish proof that blacks in Guyana are under represented in IT.  These kids are from GUYANA. Those who have helped them are GUYANESE and among these GUYANESE are many of African descent.

As usual druggie has to seize on every opportunity to denigrate blacks, even when some show success.

Druggie cease your misery and be glad that the collective efforts and talents of GUYANESE means that these kids are on the way to make history for Guyana, which isn't a nation known for IT, yes Druggie despite its large Indian population.

FM
Django posted:
Drugb posted:
.
 

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

What the r@ss the individual profession have to do with helping the kids to compete at this event.

Druggie never ceases to amaze. He screams he isn't a racist yet never loses an opportunity to try to portray us as failures.  Now he wants to research the woman because he cannot believe that a black female can be a competent IT professional.

Druggie if your rage is at the fact that a black woman can do something good and that Guyanese kids of ALL RACES benefit and are rewarding the energies of those who helped them by performing well, I cannot help you.

Instead of you being glad that Guyanese are doing well and that Guyanese of ALL RACES are involved you want to turn this into another attempt to bash blacks as losers.

I bet you those kids are having fun with each other and not even thinking about their different ethnicities.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
caribny posted:
Drugb posted:
.
 

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

Furnish proof that blacks in Guyana are under represented in IT.  These kids are from GUYANA. Those who have helped them are GUYANESE and among these GUYANESE are many of African descent.

As usual druggie has to seize on every opportunity to denigrate blacks, even when some show success.

Druggie cease your misery and be glad that the collective efforts and talents of GUYANESE means that these kids are on the way to make history for Guyana, which isn't a nation known for IT, yes Druggie despite its large Indian population.

I have never seen one Guyanese black man who was a computer programmer or did anything related to IT. I saw very few blacks in the IT industry.

FM
skeldon_man posted:
caribny posted:
Drugb posted:
.
 

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

Furnish proof that blacks in Guyana are under represented in IT.  These kids are from GUYANA. Those who have helped them are GUYANESE and among these GUYANESE are many of African descent.

As usual druggie has to seize on every opportunity to denigrate blacks, even when some show success.

Druggie cease your misery and be glad that the collective efforts and talents of GUYANESE means that these kids are on the way to make history for Guyana, which isn't a nation known for IT, yes Druggie despite its large Indian population.

I have never seen one Guyanese black man who was a computer programmer or did anything related to IT. I saw very few blacks in the IT industry.

so you ever see a indian world champion long distance runner or boxer or basket ball player ect ect

FM
skeldon_man posted:
caribny posted:
Drugb posted:
.
 

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

Furnish proof that blacks in Guyana are under represented in IT.  These kids are from GUYANA. Those who have helped them are GUYANESE and among these GUYANESE are many of African descent.

As usual druggie has to seize on every opportunity to denigrate blacks, even when some show success.

Druggie cease your misery and be glad that the collective efforts and talents of GUYANESE means that these kids are on the way to make history for Guyana, which isn't a nation known for IT, yes Druggie despite its large Indian population.

I have never seen one Guyanese black man who was a computer programmer or did anything related to IT. I saw very few blacks in the IT industry.

You got be kidding.

Django
Django posted:
 

You got be kidding.

And then people call me a racist when I point out the racist attitudes of the KKK. Now look at this thread, which should have been about how Guyanese at home and abroad, got together to help a group of Guyanese kids do themselves and the nation proud.

So often the news from Guyana is bad and now we see something to be proud of. Not only as Guyanese but also as Caribbean people.

Its a pity that Druggie and the rest of the Indo KKK are so enraged because of the involvement of Afro Guyanese in this venture.  They so need to portray blacks as criminal losers and things like this undermine their ability to do so.

FM
Django posted:
skeldon_man posted:
caribny posted:
Drugb posted:
.
 

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

Furnish proof that blacks in Guyana are under represented in IT.  These kids are from GUYANA. Those who have helped them are GUYANESE and among these GUYANESE are many of African descent.

As usual druggie has to seize on every opportunity to denigrate blacks, even when some show success.

Druggie cease your misery and be glad that the collective efforts and talents of GUYANESE means that these kids are on the way to make history for Guyana, which isn't a nation known for IT, yes Druggie despite its large Indian population.

I have never seen one Guyanese black man who was a computer programmer or did anything related to IT. I saw very few blacks in the IT industry.

You got be kidding.

I have never seen one Guyanese black man

I worked for GE Capital Consulting, Morgan Stanley, Compuware, a local hospital, and the US Virgin Island Dept of Human Services. I did not see one black IT person in the US Virgin Islands. Morgan Stanley and GE Capital Consulting had boatloads of Indians. Maybe a couple of blacks in NY. Compuware in MN had no blacks. The hospital had no blacks. I did not see or know any Guyanese blackman who was an IT person in my 28 years of IT. This is no tall story.

FM
skeldon_man posted:
 I did not see or know any Guyanese blackman who was an IT person in my 28 years of IT. This is no tall story.

You didn't notice any blacks in IT but you definitely notice the black criminals, the racist that you are.  No blacks in IT in the USVI when the VI government is establishing a technology park on St Croix.  So who will be working in there?

FM
Django posted:
Drugb posted:
caribny posted:
Drugb posted:

Good to see our kids involved in robotics, the wave of the future. Also notable are the Afros in the group. Currently in the IT world there is a dearth of Blacks due to people like caribj et al not entering the field. Hopefully all of these kids will go forward to pursue careers in IT. 

FYI one of the people instrumental in this is an Afro Guyanese woman based in the USA. I bet she sees GUYANESE kids and not black and Indian kids as you do.

The fact remains that Afros are underrepresented in the IT arena. Is the woman an IT professional, if so post her name so I can research her background.

What the r@ss the individual profession have to do with helping the kids to compete at this event.

Bana the racism and outright stupidity is astounding. There are some here who measure everything by PPP or PNC and Black or Indian.

GTAngler

edited version

Technology companies employ strikingly few black and Hispanic workers. They blame the recruitment pipeline, saying there aren’t enough of them graduating with relevant degrees and applying for tech jobs.

Yet the data show that there are many more black and Hispanic students majoring in computer science and engineering than work in tech jobs. So why aren’t they being hired?

Those who enter the candidate pipeline fall out somewhere along the way β€” and the culture and recruiting methods of tech companies seem to have a lot to do with it.

The pipeline problem is not a myth. Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented in computer science and engineering programs, relative to their share of the population, while Asian students are overrepresented.

Yet the pipeline is more fruitful than tech companies make it out to be. Among young computer science and engineering graduates with bachelor’s or advanced degrees, 57 percent are white, 26 percent are Asian, 8 percent are Hispanic and 6 percent are black, according to American Community Survey data. At the top 25 undergraduate programs, nearly 9 percent of graduates are underrepresented minorities, according to Education Department data analyzed by Maya A. Beasley, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut.

 

But technical workers at Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter, according to the companies’ diversity reports, are on average 56 percent white, 37 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic and 1 percent black.

One issue is that black and Hispanic computer science and engineering graduates are less likely than white and Asian ones to go into tech jobs. Forty percent of young Asian graduates do so, compared with 16 percent of black graduates and 12 percent of Hispanics, according to American Community Survey data.

Meanwhile, 10 percent of black computer science and engineering graduates have office support jobs, which include administrative support and accounting jobs, compared with 5 percent of white graduates and 3 percent of Asians.

Ms. Beasley studied why talented black students ended up in lower-paying, lower-status careers for her book β€œOpting Out: Losing the Potential of America’s Young Black Elite.” Those who studied science and technology were less likely than white students to stick with their majors when they felt they were underperforming, she found. Those who did stick with their majors were less likely to apply for technical jobs. They often pursued nonprofit or business work instead, she said, sometimes because they had heard negative things about the culture at tech companies, and seen how few black people worked there.

One example: At Facebook, where some employees had written β€œblack lives matter” on the walls, others in recent days have crossed it out to write β€œall lives matter.” Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, called the actions β€œmalicious” and β€œdeeply hurtful.”

β€œAny student of color looking at the numbers from the tech giants is going to be turned off and wary about taking a job there because it tells you something about what the climate is,” Ms. Beasley said. β€œThey don’t want to be the token.”

 

Recruiting is another issue. Part of it is looking not just at Stanford and M.I.T. but also at places like historically black colleges. Even at the colleges that tech companies typically recruit from, students who are not white or Asian might not be in the networks to know about opportunities at tech companies.

Tristan Walker, a tech start-up founder and chief executive of Walker & Company, said he didn’t know about Silicon Valley until he was 24 and arrived at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

β€œThere definitely isn’t a pipeline problem, even going to the same schools companies go to,” Mr. Walker said. He puts the onus on the companies. β€œThese folks aren’t working hard enough, they’re just not.”

Tech companies need to look into more places to find students outside the mainstream network, said Mr. Walker and Laura Weidman Powers, who together started Code 2040, a nonprofit that connects black and Hispanic engineering students with tech companies. (By the year 2040, some people predict, minorities will become the majority in the United States, and the group says its goal is that they are proportionally represented in the tech sector by then.)

When companies come to campus to recruit, for example, black and Hispanic students often simply don’t show up for information sessions, Ms. Powers said. But they’re more likely to come to workshops, like for writing rΓ©sumΓ©s or preparing for interviews.

β€œThat gets a higher yield in terms of students showing up, and they leave with an impression that we value them and their growth, as opposed to it just being a sales pitch,” she said.

Tech companies often give coders whiteboard interviews β€” asking them to solve a problem by writing code on a whiteboard, so the interviewers can see their thought process. At Code 2040, however, they discovered that many black and Hispanic students, unlike white and Asian ones, had never heard of this type of interview and were unprepared for it.

β€œThere’s still a dominant cultural narrative in black and Hispanic communities that you have to be twice as good and keep your head down and work hard,” Ms. Powers said. β€œThat does not translate to Valley culture, starting with the whiteboard interview,” because it requires people to work through errors in front of the interviewer, as opposed to presenting only the right answer.

Research has found that during hiring, managers are biased against black-sounding names on rΓ©sumΓ©s, for instance, and interviewers weigh too heavily whether they’d want to hang out with someone. Software can help remove human bias, such as with new tools for stripping rΓ©sumΓ©s of biographical information, offering blind auditions to job applicants or analyzing job postings for language that excludes certain groups.

Many tech companies have started doing things like requiring training on unconscious bias and hiring corporate diversity chiefs. But it is unclear how much of a difference these efforts make. Holding hiring managers responsible for diversity works far better than either staff diversity training sessions, which don’t work well, or networking and mentoring programs, which help a bit, according to a study analyzing three decades of work force data from 708 companies.

Some researchers offer other strategies: Use standardized interview questions, not subjective ones; evaluate hiring managers based on whether they bring in diverse candidates; build a Rolodex of potential hires by working with networking groups for minorities; hire more than one minority member in each batch of new hires, so they have a support network.

Techniques like these could expand the pipeline for tech companies β€” and for any other industry, too.

FM
GTAngler posted:

Bana the racism and outright stupidity is astounding. There are some here who measure everything by PPP or PNC and Black or Indian.

Don't get carried away, CaribJ made a statement without source and I requested he provide the woman's name to confirm his rantings. If you ask IT professional they will tell you that a Black IT person is few and far in between. These are the facts, live with it. 

FM
caribny posted:
skeldon_man posted:
 I did not see or know any Guyanese blackman who was an IT person in my 28 years of IT. This is no tall story.

You didn't notice any blacks in IT but you definitely notice the black criminals, the racist that you are.  No blacks in IT in the USVI when the VI government is establishing a technology park on St Croix.  So who will be working in there?

CaribJ,  I have been in IT for decades and I can tell you that Blacks are sparse in the field. In fact the few I knew didn't have a college degree, they were brought up from the mail room and sent to Chubbs for a 6 month course. After which they were given easy tasks. I believe this was to meet the organizations minority hiring goals. 

FM
Drugb posted:
GTAngler posted:

Bana the racism and outright stupidity is astounding. There are some here who measure everything by PPP or PNC and Black or Indian.

Don't get carried away, CaribJ made a statement without source and I requested he provide the woman's name to confirm his rantings. If you ask IT professional they will tell you that a Black IT person is few and far in between. These are the facts, live with it. 

First off, you're generalizing. On my floor there are 5 It people. ONE is white. There are 3 blacks and 1 Indian. The Indian is Trinidadian and two of the blacks are from the Caribbean. One from St. Thomas and the other from Haiti. And that's just the IT Support on this floor. Secondly, the question remains, what does the woman's profession have to do with helping those GUYANESE kids?  

GTAngler
GTAngler posted:
Drugb posted:
GTAngler posted:

Bana the racism and outright stupidity is astounding. There are some here who measure everything by PPP or PNC and Black or Indian.

Don't get carried away, CaribJ made a statement without source and I requested he provide the woman's name to confirm his rantings. If you ask IT professional they will tell you that a Black IT person is few and far in between. These are the facts, live with it. 

First off, you're generalizing. On my floor there are 5 It people. ONE is white. There are 3 blacks and 1 Indian. The Indian is Trinidadian and two of the blacks are from the Caribbean. One from St. Thomas and the other from Haiti. And that's just the IT Support on this floor. Secondly, the question remains, what does the woman's profession have to do with helping those GUYANESE kids?  

No, you are generalizing, support staff are not considered IT professionals, ie programmers, software developers, software designers, system analysts, software engineers.  A network technician is not required to have a degree, he can be trained in 6 months. 

FM
Drugb posted:

edited version

Technology companies employ strikingly few black and Hispanic workers. They blame the recruitment pipeline, saying there aren’t enough of them graduating with relevant degrees and applying for tech jobs.

Yet the data show that there are many more black and Hispanic students majoring in computer science and engineering than work in tech jobs. So why aren’t they being hired?

Those who enter the candidate pipeline fall out somewhere along the way β€” and the culture and recruiting methods of tech companies seem to have a lot to do with it.

The pipeline problem is not a myth. Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented in computer science and engineering programs, relative to their 

Techniques like these could expand the pipeline for tech companies β€” and for any other industry, too.

Poor druggie. So angry he is that  a group of Guyanese, including those of African descent, helped another group of Guyanese, including those of African descent, excel in an IT event.

So he then posts an article about blacks in the USA and their under representation in IT.

Druggie go find an article about the under representation of blacks in IT in Guyana and then you will stop looking that a pathetic racist upset that blacks in Guyana and black Guyanese living in the USA can actually get things done.

I don't know if you know this but the Chairman of Microsoft is a black American who owns his own IT firm.

Now go and have a mental breakdown and scream and wail about this.  

Its really sad that every time blacks do something you get frantic and upset and run around trying to twist this into a diatribe by you that blacks are losers.

FM
Drugb posted:
caribny posted:
 

CaribJ,  I have been in IT for decades 

And here we are talking about a bunch of Guyanese kids who are defying the odds and beating kids from nations where their access to IT is greater.  These kids having this kind of exposure for less than 2 years, yet beating some who grew up in an IT environment.

Druggie, so upset and angry that he rants and raves and screams about the under representation of blacks in the USA as if this has anything to do with those kids.

They are here on a non immigrant visa to attend an event. Upon completion, win or lose, they will return to Guyana.  So whether blacks in the USA are involved in IT has NOTHING to do with them.

Druggie think and look deep within yourself and ask why you cannot be happy that this is an effort that Guyanese of diverse backgrounds are involved with.  That this is an example about how Guyanese can succeed if they focus on success.

But no you wail and scream because this indicates to you that many blacks aren't criminals.

 

FM

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