Tag: competitions

Guest post from Manchester University – prizes, birdbrains and more.

Liz: Here’s a guest post from our friend Dr Andrew Robinson at the University of Manchester, who has been leading a team of undergraduates this summer (most of whom seem to be called Tom – hi, Toms, it was a pleasure to meet you) in developing school projects and materials around the Raspberry Pi. They’ve got big plans for the coming months, including a contest, more schools outreach, festival appearances, work with kids and some fun with a Raspberry Pi-enabled birdbox (which had its very own table in the pub here in Cambridge when they last came to visit). Over to Andrew, who will explain a bit more about what they’ve been up to.

At the School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester we want to get more people interested in computer science and using Raspberry Pi. As such we’re launching the Great British Raspberry Pi Bake Off, a competition to get people making projects with a Raspberry Pi. We’ve also produced some example projects and sample worksheets to help people get started.

The competition has categories for under 18s and over 18s so everyone can enter, and they’ll be loads of hot tech prizes to win! We’ll make an official announcement soon on our competition page with the full rules.

We’re very lucky to have some of our talented students working for us; they’ve been paid to play – sorry, to develop – with Raspberry Pi over the summer. How cool is that? They’ve produced activities that teachers will be able to use in the classroom, but more importantly, that are really fun. You’ll be able to try the activities yourself at the  Manchester Science Festival – we’ll be publishing more details soon.

Our Raspberry Pi bird box is the result of one of these projects. It’s got light beams that detect when a bird enters or leaves which then sends a message so you know to look out your window or it will take a photo. We’ll be adding other sensors for temperature, weight, etc. and combining these with image recognition from the camera to get some data mining going.

We want lots of people building their own nest boxes all feeding data back to bird mission control, a central webserver where you’ll be able to monitor bird activity across the world in real time! Using our Python and Scratch libraries with our hardware interfaces, even an absolute beginner can get something going in a matter of minutes.

With the help of MOSI and STEMNET we’re supporting teachers and STEM ambassadors to take Raspberry Pi activities into schools. The first sessions booked up in 3 hours, so we’ll be scheduling more soon. We’re developing activities that bridge the gap between what kids are interested in, e.g. nature, music or crafts; and computer science.

So, how can you join in the fun? Get your thinking caps on for a project to enter in to the bake off. Full details will be published later in September. [Liz: we'll be publicising them here when the guys in Manchester are ready.] If you’re a teacher or group leader (e.g. Scouts) then get in touch if you’re interested in knowing more about our worksheets, or want to come to one our sessions. Just leave your details on our website. We look forward to hearing from you!

Summer Programming Contest opens for entries

Six weeks ago, we announced the launch of our Summer Programming Contest for Raspberry Pi users around the world who are 18 and under and in education. There are two age categories; the first prize in both categories is $1000, with five runners-up prizes of $200 in each category. We’re happy to announce that you can now submit your entries. To do so, you should:

  1. Download and print out a copy of the one-page entry form.
  2. Fill in your details and those of your school or college.
  3. E-mail a scanned copy of the form to contests@raspberrypi.org.

Your entry itself should consist of a single .zip or .tgz archive which we can unpack into and run from the home directory of the pi user on a fresh Raspbian “wheezy” install. If your archive is less than 1MB in size, you may attach it to your entry email, otherwise please provide a URL from which we can download it.

Entries close on 1 September 2012, so you still have time to whip something up, even if you’ve not started yet.

Summer programming contest!

Update 18 August: The contest is now open for entries. As we were a little late getting the form up, we’ve tweaked the rules to allow anyone who is 18 or under on 4 August (rather than on the date of submission) to enter.

At Games Britannia in Sheffield today we announced the launch of our first programming contest for children and young people. Eventually, we plan to run contests of this sort on a weekly basis, but this one will run for eight weeks, to coincide with the school summer holidays in the northern hemisphere.

Quick summary:

  • Two age categories, 13 and under, and 14 to 18.
  • A $1,000 first prize and five $200 runner-up prizes in each category.
  • The aim is simple: we want you to impress the judges with a piece of software you’ve written for the Raspberry Pi.
If you don’t already have a Raspberry Pi, you can still enter – just use one of the publicly available emulator platforms. (More details on all of this in a later post!)

Detailed rules:

SPONSOR

The Sponsor is The Raspberry Pi Foundation, Mitchell Wood House, Caldecote, CB23 7NU, UK.

TERM

The 2012 Raspberry Pi Foundation Summer Programming Contest begins 7 July 2012 at 9:00:00 a.m. British Summer Time and ends 1 September 2012, 9:00:00 a.m. British Summer Time. By submitting an Entry, each Entrant (or, where appropriate, the Entrant’s parent or legal guardian) agrees to the Official Rules presented here, and warrants that his or her Entry complies with all requirements set out in the Official Rules. This is a skill-based contest and chance plays no part in the determination of winners.

WHO MAY ENTER

The Contest is open only to individuals who are 18 years of age or under on 4 August 2012, and who are in full-time education on that date. Employees of the Sponsor and its distributors, and their immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or persons living in the same households of such employees, whether or not related, are not eligible. CONTEST IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

HOW TO ENTER

The aim of the contest is simply to produce a software Application, which runs on the Raspberry Pi computer and which impresses the Judges. Each Entry consists of an Entry Form and an archive file containing all source code, binaries and data for the Application. To enter, visit www.raspberrypi.org on or after 4 August 2012; complete an Entry Form with the required information and submit along with your archive file.

The Categories for Entrants are: (1) age 13 and under, and (2) age 14 to 18. Entrants must specify a Category, and meet the age requirements for that Category on the date of entry. There is no limit on the number of Entries per Entrant.

The Entry, in its entirety, must be a work of original material produced by the Entrant, and must not infringe on the copyrights, trademarks, moral rights, or intellectual property rights of any person or entity.

CONTEST PRIZES AND JUDGING

The Winner in each Category will each receive US$1,000. Up to five Runners Up in each Category will each receive US$200. The Judges will select Winners and Runners Up from the Entrants at their own discretion; the decisions of the Judges are final and binding with respect to all matters relating to the Contest

The Sponsor reserves the right to take such steps as it deems necessary to verify the validity and originality of any Entry and/or Entrant (including an Entrant’s age, identity, address and authorship of the Entry), and to disqualify any Entrant who submits an Entry that is not in accordance with these Official Rules.

LICENCE

By entering the Contest, all Entrants grant an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide non-exclusive licence to the Sponsor, to reproduce, distribute, and display their Entry.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

By entering this Contest, the Entrant (or, where appropriate, the Entrant’s parent or legal guardian) agrees to release, discharge, and hold harmless the Sponsor and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors, and representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in this Contest.

CONDITIONS

This Contest shall be subject to and governed by the laws of England and Wales.

If for any reason the Contest is not capable of running as planned for any cause beyond the control of Sponsor, Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, or suspend the Contest. The Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to amend the Official Rules at any time during the Contest.

How cheaply could you build a robot?

Our friends at the African Robotics Network (AFRON)  are currently running a competition to design a low-cost robot platform. The idea is to create affordable robots to help ignite people’s interest in computing, science, maths and engineering.

While the ultimate target is to build a $10 machine, all prototypes that cost less than $100 qualify for entry. The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society are kindly sponsoring the cash prizes, and we’re also supplying some Raspberry Pis as prizes for the winning teams. The deadline for your entries is the middle of September.

Full details can be found on AFRON’s website. You don’t have to use a Raspberry Pi in your design – as long as your robot is cheap, it’ll qualify. Time to put your thinking caps on and get creative!