#Robotics and AI Lab Labs in school

[stemmantra]

Robotic Labs in School | STEMMANTRA - Empowering Future Innovators

Discover cutting-edge Robotic Labs in School with STEMMANTRA. We design innovative STEM & robotics labs to foster creativity, problem-solving, and 21st-century skills in students.

[technoschool]

AI labs in schools foster innovation, critical thinking, and technical skills. Explore how AI labs for school enhance learning with advanced technology.

[respirelearning]

Benefits of Experiential Learning for Teaching STEM to Children

Introduction

Teaching STEM to children is essential for fostering a love for learning and curiosity about the world. Experiential STEM learning, a method where students learn through hands-on experiences, is increasingly being integrated into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. This approach makes learning more engaging and equips students with the skills they need for the future. At Respire Learning, we aim to transform children's education through experiential learning. Our STEM Kits provide hands-on activities that introduce children to science, technology, engineering, and math concepts engagingly and interactively. With Robotics Kits, students can dive into programming and automation, learning to build and control their robots. Our DIY Models foster creativity and problem-solving by allowing students to assemble projects independently. These Experiential Learning Kits are designed to ignite curiosity, promote critical thinking, and inspire the next generation of innovators.

What is Experiential Learning?

Experiential learning involves learning through direct experience and reflection. Unlike traditional methods that rely heavily on lectures and rote memorization, experiential learning emphasizes active participation and practical application. This method allows students to explore, experiment, and learn from their successes and mistakes.

Respire’s agenda to focus on STEM Education

STEM education focuses on teaching students in an integrated manner, combining science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It's designed to prepare students for the complexities of the modern world. Experiential learning fits seamlessly into STEM education, as both prioritize critical thinking, problem-solving, and real-world application.

Advantages of Experiential Learning

Enhances Understanding and Retention Experiential learning helps students understand and remember concepts better by involving them in activities that require active engagement. Students participating in experiments or projects are more likely to retain the information.

Encourages Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Hands-on activities require students to think critically and solve problems. This approach fosters a deeper understanding of scientific principles and enhances students' ability to apply knowledge in various situations. Promotes Engagement and Motivation Experiential learning makes STEM fun and interesting. Students are more motivated to learn when they can see the relevance of their studies and actively participate in the learning process. Develops Practical Skills Through experiential learning, students develop practical skills essential in the real world. These skills include teamwork, communication, and technical abilities crucial for future success. Respire’s Experiential Learning Kits Experiential learning kits are tools designed to provide hands-on learning experiences. These kits include materials and instructions for conducting experiments and activities. They are tailored to different age groups and educational levels, making STEM accessible and enjoyable for all students. Examples of Popular Kits for Teaching STEM

STEM Kits: These kits cover various subjects like electronics, engineering, chemistry, and physics, providing comprehensive learning experiences.

DIY Kits: These kits allow students to conduct experiments at home, fostering a love for learning outside the classroom.

Robotics Kits: These robotics kits teach students about advanced-level engineering and technology through building and programming robots.

Implementing STEM Labs in the Classroom

Teachers can integrate experiential learning into their classrooms using kits and hands-on activities. Here are some strategies:

Strategies for Teachers

Incorporate Experiments: Regularly include experiments and practical activities in lesson plans.

Use Learning Kits: Utilize available experiential learning kits to make science lessons more interactive.

Encourage Group Work: Promote teamwork by having students work in groups on projects and experiments.

Integrating Kits and Hands-On Activities

Integrating kits into the curriculum can be seamless. Teachers can start with simple kits and gradually introduce more complex ones as students become more comfortable with hands-on learning.

Traditional Learning & Learning in STEM Lab

Common Obstacles in Experiential Learning

Limited Resources: Schools may need more resources for experiential learning.

Time Constraints: Hands-on activities can be time-consuming.

Teacher Training: Not all teachers are trained in experiential learning methods.

Benefits of STEM Lab

Experiential STEM Kits: students have a variety of kits in STEM with which they can do hands-on experiments with the teacher's guidance.

Look and Feel of the lab: Our Innovation lab is a specially curated space for children with a Montessori color combination that can promote learning in the gated space.  

Children's safe Equipment and kits: All the kits representing various subjects and their theories are perfectly safe for students to use from pre-primary to higher secondary education. 

Teacher Training: Teachers are specially trained to use high-functioning equipment easily, they also teach the importance of storytelling which can help students to make boring theories interesting.

Experiential Learning Beyond the Classroom

Learning continues beyond the classroom door. Parents and guardians can support experiential learning at home by providing resources and engaging in educational activities with their children.

Importance of Learning at Home and in the Community

Home Activities: Simple experiments and DIY kits can make learning STEM fun at home.

Community Resources: Local museums, science centers, and libraries often offer hands-on learning opportunities.

Future of Experiential Learning in STEM

The future of experiential learning in STEM education looks promising. With technological advancements and an increasing focus on hands-on learning, we can expect more innovative and effective methods to emerge.

Trends and Innovations

Virtual Reality (VR): VR can provide immersive learning experiences.

Online Platforms: Online resources and platforms can offer interactive science activities.

Predictions for the Future

As experiential learning continues to evolve and Indian government is implementing experiential learning by putting STEM education in the National Education Policy 2020 and evolving as time passes by. it will likely become a staple in education, preparing students for future challenges and making them tech-savvy.

Conclusion

Experiential learning offers numerous benefits for teaching STEM to children. Engaging students in hands-on activities can enhance their understanding, foster critical thinking, and develop practical skills. As we look to the future, it's clear that experiential learning will play a crucial role in STEM education in the Indian Education System.

FAQs

What is the main benefit of experiential learning in STEM education?

The main advantage is that it enhances understanding and retention by involving students in hands-on activities.

How can parents support experiential learning at home?

Parents can support experiential learning by providing DIY STEM kits and engaging in simple experiments with their children.

Are there any specific experiential learning kits for different age groups?

Yes, kits are designed for various age groups, from preschoolers to high school students, ensuring age-appropriate learning experiences.

What are some challenges teachers might face with experiential learning?

Teachers face challenges such as limited resources, time constraints, and the need for specialized training.

How does experiential learning prepare children for future careers?

Experiential learning develops practical skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities, essential for future jobs.

[townpostin]

RVS Academy Launches State-of-the-Art Robotics and AI Lab

New facility aims to nurture innovation and hands-on learning for ICSE students RVS Academy’s cutting-edge Robotics and AI Lab opens doors to advanced technological education, showcasing impressive student projects and fostering future-ready skills. JAMSHEDPUR – RVS Academy marked a significant milestone with the inauguration of its advanced Robotics and AI Lab, designed to enhance practical…

[creyalearningsblog]

Creya Learning & Research the pioneer and most awarded STEM learning and Design Studio Program inspires 50,000+ school students every day to become inventors and innovators by working on projects across diversemanipulative sets from Robotics to Engineering design to Coding to Cameras and IoThttps://www.creyalearning.com/stemlearning/

[bayesic-bitch]

Old-school planning vs new-school learning is a false dichotomy

I wanted to follow up on this discussion I was having with @metamatar, because this was getting from the original point and justified its own thread. In particular, I want to dig into this point

rule based planners, old school search and control still outperform learning in many domains with guarantees because end to end learning is fragile and dependent on training distribution. Lydia Kavraki's lab recently did SIMD vectorisation to RRT based search and saw like a several hundred times magnitude jump for performance on robot arms – suddenly severely hurting the case for doing end to end learning if you can do requerying in ms. It needs no signal except robot start, goal configuration and collisions. Meanwhile RL in my lab needs retraining and swings wildly in performance when using a slightly different end effector.

In general, the more I learn about machine learning and robotics, the less I believe that the dichotomies we learn early on actually hold up to close scrutiny. Early on we learn about how support vector machines are non-parametric kernel methods, while neural nets are parametric methods that update their parameters by gradient descent. And this is true, until you realize that kernel methods can be made more efficient by making them parametric, and large neural networks generalize because they approximate non-parametric kernel methods with stationary parameters. Early on we learn that model-based RL learns a model that it uses for planning, while model free methods just learn the policy. Except that it's possible to learn what future states a policy will visit and use this to plan without learning an explicit transition function, using the TD learning update normally used in model-free RL. And similar ideas by the same authors are the current state-of-the-art in offline RL and imitation learning for manipulation Is this model-free? model-based? Both? Neither? does it matter?

In my physics education, one thing that came up a lot is duality, the idea that there are typically two or more equivalent representations of a problem. One based on forces, newtonian dynamics, etc, and one as a minimization* problem. You can find the path that light will take by knowing that the incoming angle is always the same as the outgoing angle, or you can use the fact that light always follows the fastest* path between two points.

I'd like to argue that there's a similar but underappreciated analog in AI research. Almost all problems come down to optimization. And in this regard, there are two things that matter -- what you're trying to optimize, and how you're trying to optimize it. And different methods that optimize approximately the same objective see approximately similar performance, unless one is much better than the other at doing that optimization. A lot of classical planners can be seen as approximately performing optimization on a specific objective.

Let me take a specific example: MCTS and policy optimization. You can show that the Upper Confidence Bound algorithm used by MCTS is approximately equal to regularized policy optimization. You can choose to guide the tree search with UCB (a classical bandit algorithm) or policy optimization (a reinforcement learning algorithm), but the choice doesn't matter much because they're optimizing basically the same thing. Similarly, you can add a state occupancy measure regularization to MCTS. If you do, MCTS reduces to RRT in the case with no rewards. And if you do this, then the state-regularized MCTS searches much more like a sampling-based motion planner instead of like the traditional UCB-based MCTS planner. What matters is really the objective that the planner was trying to optimize, not the specific way it was trying to optimize it.

For robotics, the punchline is that I don't think it's really the distinction of new RL method vs old planner that matters. RL methods that attempt to optimize the same objective as the planner will perform similarly to the planner. RL methods that attempt to optimize different objectives will perform differently from each other, and planners that attempt to optimize different objectives will perform differently from each other. So I'd argue that the brittleness and unpredictability of RL in your lab isn't because it's RL persay, but because standard RL algorithms don't have long-horizon exploration term in their loss functions that would make them behave similarly to RRT. If we find a way to minimize the state occupancy measure loss described in the above paper other theory papers, I think we'll see the same performance and stability as RRT, but for a much more general set of problems. This is one of the big breakthroughs I'm expecting to see in the next 10 years in RL.

*okay yes technically not always minimization, the physical path can can also be an inflection point or local maxima, but cmon, we still call it the Principle of Least Action.

[potatoparakeet]

Some of my meet the Robinsons headcanons 🫣 cause my head is full of em. A lot of these r kinda worldbuildy but some are Robinson family based!

-I'm a believer that Franny went to school for bio-engineering (and music ofc) and put all of that knowledge towards her frogs. Maybe she even had a successful lab of her own before finally succeeding with the band, and left it to conduct full time.

- I don't think Lazlos paint gun would shoot random art, but rather Lazlo would have to manually program a painting into it somehow, and trial-and-error test it until it looks perfect.

- Billies train system through the house is Uncle Joe's primary mode of transportation across the bigger stretches of the estate.

- Along w the hover-chairs, there's a Robinson brand of wheelchairs and crutches that can fold/unfold to travel through the travel tubes and be sensed by the bubbles!

- Robinson industries is obviously the top of the line when it comes to tech products, but there are also other companies that sell similar products. The Samsungs to Cornelius's Apple.

- Future City/Todayland is Not Named That. I don't have any better ideas but both of those ain't it

- Nonetheless I think it became the biggest city in the country just due to it being the first to take on Niels cityscaping inventions. It's kind of his personal playground in that sense

- In that breath I also think there's many places in the country that just Aren't that advanced. I imagine public transportation has majorly improved but in many cities life hasn't changed all too much.

- I think it'd be interesting for Robinson Industries to have people who just HATE the things they do. Look at those instant-buildings and tell me the construction working community didn't freak out.

- imo 2037 (from what we see) seems technologically advanced in the way that people would be able to return to art- but the transition period was definitely rough as people started losing jobs to Neils tech.

- I don't know if Niel would make many robots to be sold commercially- not with the problem of AI vs humans.

- In tiny text of a concept art in the art book you can read that Cornelius created "Robinson™ Blue/Green fuel cells" which are the "world's first renewable clean-burning fuel source" source.

- If we accept that as canon and assume all the new flying cars were fueled with this energy source, we can pretty much assume ground cars went extinct pretty quickly, unless other car manufacturers and gas companies were still allowed to produce.

- Probably by 2037 the use of gas has been banned, leaving only the souly electric ground cars, which probably weren't enough to run whole businesses on. With flying cars as the new norm, roads were likely torn up.

- I don't imagine the whole car switch thing went over well with the public either tbh. I would not be happy if Some Guy told me I couldn't buy gas anymore and had to take the airbus.

- I could have sworn it was canon that Niel had won at least one nobel peace award. Does anyone else remember that

[4rs0n1stt]

“Experimental” // request

Donnie x GN!Reader

author's note; hello, yes, yes, yes i know. i have forgotten my sweet, sweet darlings, fear not! as i have been done by that devilish of hell (known as school) that has been upheld for the time being.

ok enough of that, this is requested by @/EvilAngelx on ao3(readers gender wasn't mentioned)

btw, will be doing a second pov for the rest of the fic !!

Synopsis: A crazed, infectious scientist and almost sane person swapped.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

You and Donnie were doing experiments as usual and doing ‘ordinary and basic things’ as what he said. Mostly Donnie was the one doing experiments, and you're just being...you. Sometimes, you help, sometimes you don't. There's really no in-between.

Donnie offered last night to you if you could assist him on this body experiment, based off something Henrik Ehrsson made. You didn't have any plans on the following day so you carelessly agreed. Dating the mad scientist does really infect your mental capacity and mental health (ironically). Yes, infect you. Doing experiments with him is fun. You do get teased here and there, mostly from Leo's but hell, you're having fun.

You spent a few minutes in his Laboratory, waiting for him to finish his techy stuff that you wouldn't understand. There are forms of equipment and tools that were made by his Ninpo, illuminating his dark purple tinted lab with bright purple lights. His Lab couldn't be more purple, you thought.

You then hear an ecstatic hum from him, meaning he must've finished his thing. The bright, translucent purple disappeared into the air, a few spectacles of rectangular shapes were visible as it dissipated.

"I apologise for the wait, my oh-so esteemed partner!" He gushed, it was sarcastic...or not? You don't know, he didn't say it in the third person view. But you had to imitate him, it was ‘the way of the two lovebirds’ way of flirting that Leo have said..

"Oh! My oh-so esteemed erudite and complex scientist of a partner! I have been withering in the relentless grasp of the monotony in your precious laboratory.." You hold out your arm in your chest as the other on top of your head like a damsel in distress. That's too much. But hey, he's dramatic as well, you're just imitating your boyfriend after spending time with him for years.

"Ok, primadonna, enough of that." He chuckled at your behaviour, proud indeed. He had a soft blush, he always loved being complimented even if it's sarcasm but both of you know that you mean it.

"Let's start, shall we? Shelldon will help us out as this experimentation does indeed work on two people.." The said robot appeared with confetti, introducing itself proudly and confidently. Donnie stared at his creation, deadpanning.

Shelldon has a proud smile to itself, ignoring the mess it created. It bowed or lowered itself to make a bow to you. Yes it's a thing, it's adorable, but he somehow acts like a human. I guess, that's what AI is. That's what Donnie's supposedly child is.

"Waasssup??" It didn't even look at it's creator, it looked at you. It was trying to impress you.

Before you could respond, Donnie cleared his throat. Trying to take the attention of the robot to himself. He looked at his floor once again and questioned it.

"Shelldon..clean the mess that you had created. Right. Now." He demanded, crossing out his arms like a father. He acts like Draxum and you can't unsee it. The robot grumbled, but looked at the floor. A cleaning bot was on its way. A dark purple metal robot vacuum went and cleaned the mess.

Shelldon hummed, saying a silent ‘Shit's sweet, huh?’ to Donnie. Donnie just lets it go as he remembered that you're in the scene, he knew you'll be upset AND defend Shelldon. Oh how heartbroken he is, seeing his beloved turning agains him.

He looked at you with narrowed and a little dramatic frown from him. You couldn't help but roll and smirk at his attempt to make you feel pity for him. He shakes his head, he tries to refuse his smile sneaking, denying his defeat from his son.

"Ugh, come on... let's start this experiment." He gets up, walking forward to a pair of built placed treatment or patient chairs on both sides with the middle having a monitor attached to it. Despite the other irrelevant technologies littered around it, it's fairly neat and well organised. Donnie does like his lab being organised, or maybe started to organise his technologies again after almost a few months had passed.

He signaled you to come near the closest treatment chair, you followed and knew what he was signaling. You went to the side and sat, you put your leg on the leg rest, not laying. You were anxious as always. It is scary. But you trust him and you would haunt him forever if something happened to you.

He noticed you, ah right.

"It'll be okay, hm?" He smiled, touching your hand genuinely. He means it, he always has, every single time. And you love him for that. You sighed, touched with just a minimum of affection he acts just for you. He's not really good with feelings (ok einstein), let alone being in a relationship, but he still tries.

You lay on the chair, crossing your arms and shuddering from the cold metal hitting your body despite wearing clothes. He flashed another smile and went to grab a goggle looking thing. It was that thing he was working on earlier but it's not that instead it's an extra one where it's already attached to the machinery or monitor next to it.

"Just tell me- tell Shelldon if anything hurts, alright, dear?" He assured you again, he was a littleeeee bit worried but he's confident in his abilities. Shelldon interrupted him, cringing from his father's unusual and unlike behaviour.

"Ewww, just get it on with it already dudes!" It shouts, narrowing it's own digital eye. You couldn't help but be embarrassed or flustered by it. You stare at Donnie once again. Smiling back.

He puts the goggles on your head, letting your sight take over the darkness. It was heavy, it made you stumble a bit but you didn't made it noticeable.

You heard some shuffling and some sounds; assuming it's from Shelldon flying around. You hear some clicks from the machinery, pressing keys in the keyboard.

You wait patiently yet nervously...

Then your vision was ingulfed by the lab's ceiling. You looked to the machinery next to you, wondering what's going on around you. You were only then got surprised, you next to the machinery, you were there laying. Is this the experiment? You feel a light weight on your head, you touched the goggles, confused on why the weight changed. Before you could touch it, you noticed your hands. Anddddd....

"Holy shit-" You heard Donnie's voice echoing from your own ears. It was you who made that. Damn.

"Ah...dudess? Father- there seems to be a problem- uh oh!" Shelldon taps aggressively on the keyboard with his mechanical arms. Your body quickly sits down from the chair but both legs are still on the leg rest. Your body gets closer to Shelldon, you couldn't really make out what expression you're making.

Is your body or Donnie panicking? Wait- Should you too????

There was a warning that popped up, before anything Shelldon pulled out extra pairs of mechanical hands and swept the goggles and threw it, causing an explosion. Good thing it was a bare spot.

You wide eyed now fully sitting upright. You looked at yourself, finding your body fully wide eyed, you were tweaking. Donnie's tweaking. I mean- atleast it was successful? Right?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After calming down, which was about an hour. An hour of Donnie's body and your body fighting and defending Shelldon. It was hectic but you two tied, Shelldon didn't help much, he was making it worse by being a teaser to Donnie, throwing a raspberry in his eyes or a pixel emoji in its eye sliding.

But the experiment wasn't supposed to end up like that. It was only just a mere illusion, to see each other's perspective differently and even reacting to touch and whatnot. Instead of ending up on a safer option, you end up on this neural brain networks jibber-jabber swapping thing or what Donnie theorizes. Body swapping in history hasn't been achieved yet so it was still a mystery on how or why it happens. Maybe in the Hidden City perhaps? But you do know that Donnie isn't quite fond of mystic crap.

"Stop worrying! It's uhmm..not a big deal, right?" You tried to lighten the mood, still uncomfortable or unaccustomed to being in Donnie's body. Your body stared at you at disbelief.

"Dearest- we're literally IN another person's body! How can I not be worried-" Your body's hand frantically scattered, he was really freaking out.

"...BUT! IT'S QUITE EXHILARATING TO ACHIVE ON ONE OF THE MOST QUESTIONED AND THEORIZED EXPERIMENTS EVER!!! OHH!!! And- and..."

or not.

But you were damned surprised by his outburst, it was adorable but at least he's not that upset. Though, maybe you were the one who was freaking out. Yeah, this is pretty cool but it was quite terrifying.

He clears his throat, shambling you from your own over-scruntinizing.

"Cough cough. I mean is...that... I'll fix this, don't you worry." Your body nodded encouragingly, your body stands up and went to the explosion that occured and the machinery. Already dragging Shelldon. You would help buuuttt, what's fun in that?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The rest of the week, you were scattered around the lair. His brothers were surprised, seeing their own brother outside of his lab almost everytime. It was fun pranking them, saying incoherent words or sentences that isn't even makes sense and it was Donnie's mouth and voice.

Of course, there were side affects on your action goofing around. And that is, going and fighting off crime. After being exposed and have been well-known after defeating a whole Alien Invasion can make them be heroes and being heroes mean, fighting off crime every now and then. Mostly, mystic crime, it's a necessity.

Going to battle with no knowledge of Donnie's ninpo is hard, it was later revealed when you, your body went and saved you from Ghost Bear's attack. Summoning a purple, mystic rocket to Ghost Bear's face. Yikes.

Then now, his brothers full know who's the real Donnie and who's not. There were some questions as expected but that means there's no fun anymore. Of course, you got scolded. Though, it's fun.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

author's note; didn't expect it to be this time consuming, i swear im trying to get my ass from the ground and be more productive. sorry for the wait @/EvilAngelx !!

I have yet another thought on making another book (not a request/onshot/headcannon) but with various!rottmnt x reader and set into a more modern or more neutral terms for mutants/yokai/magic and humans (basically, living with one another like it's normal)

[myspace-apologist]

More Śnieżana questions!

Does she like poetry? If so, who’s her favourite poet and her favourite work of theirs?

Did she find it hard passing the Bar and doing Law School or was it easy for her?

What was the one thing she missed the most about the pre war?

💙🩷💙

I'm gonna warn you ahead of time , I took an edible like an hour ago and I'm completely gone so if this makes little sense I AM SORRYYY

1. ) Yes ! She loves poetry . She's likes H . P Lovecraft ' s work in particular , she's a huge fan of that kinda gothic style that was popular in the late 1800s early 1900s .

I think these would be her favourites :

Oughff okay that's really hitting in now Christ

2 . )

Śniega actually didn't go to law school , unlike Nora , she was a robotics engineer . Śniega actually has savantism for engineering , particularly in designing and developing AI . ( Like next level geeky stuff )

Unfortunately this means she sucks at pretty much anything else that doesn't need smarts or an observant eye . But it does mean she got a great score on her CAO ( I actually don't know what a CAO is in America , where she is but it's like the points you need to get into certain colleges ) and was able to get into college easily !

3 . ) The tech , I think . She was always very passionate about robotics and would spend all of her time tinkering in her lab or messing around with computers .

She would probably miss the night life . Although she was usually reclusive and didn't go out , she still worked in Vegas with House ( both as an engineer and side chick ) so she did indulge sometimes . I think she'd be a huge fan of jazz bars and raves .

Thank you for the ask !! Feel free to ask more if you want , but you don't have to !

[ninja-nerd]

Hi! I would love to hear more about your OC Jade and the story they're from if you ever feel like it. I see you mention them in the tags a lot and I'm curious!! ✨

Thank you so much for your interest! Jade has lived in my head since I was in high school. They're part of a story I'm developing called Hivemind. One of my favorite pastimes is putting them in a jar filled with evil robots, medical malpractice, and vigilante justice and shaking them really, really, really hard. So I'm sorry if I reblog spam any of my mutuals with tags like #jade tbh. I think about them a lot! Probably too much.

Before I get carried away, here's the TL,DR: Jade Hunter is a cybernetic supervillain named Haywire. Jade's an irrational, overemotional misanthrope who is missing their right arm and more internal organs than you would expect. They have a (conditional) healing factor and can control any electronic with an Internet connection, due to their unbreakable link with a massive intelligent computer network named Horizon. (Haywire and Horizon are besties, even though their entire relationship is like a hostage situation.) Haywire's main adversary in their schemes to do, well, whatever they really feel like, is local superhero, Six. He's an arrogant prodigy with a very vague idea of what heroism entails and a vendetta against Horizon. (If you see me tagging things as #power surge, it's because that's my personal ship name for Jade and Six and it reminds me that I think they should kiss.)

That's my elevator pitch! More below if you're interested because I'd rather write this up than do my day job.

Jade was originally a self-insert OC for a fandom I'm no longer active in. I think that because they started off as something so indulgent, they kind of rooted themselves in my every waking thought for the last few years. I'm not kidding when I say putting them in situations is one of my favorite pastimes.

I've morphed them over time into one of the protagonists of Hivemind. It's a superhero/cyberpunk setting. The story is kind of about loneliness, or how morality and human connection interact. It's mostly about how Jade keeps making friends who turn out to be the worst people you've ever met.

In my head, Jade has three general eras: Vigilante, when they were in high school and part of a vigilante gang that spirals wildly out of control and they end up losing an arm; Prison, when they're a willing test subject in a prison-to-lab-rat pipeline and they get a million mods from their AI doctor and now ex-girlfriend, Beacon; and Haywire, when Jade stumbles into becoming a supervillain and decides that heroic activities aren't really for them.

(Jade is probably one of those characters that has way too much going on, back-story wise, but it's my mind palace and I'll decide how many concurrent parties I can throw at once. I refuse to create a timeline that makes sense.)

Most of what I ramble about in the tags is Jade in their Haywire era. They live as their alter ego, Haywire, and no one knows their true identity. They present themselves as a dumb, naive, impulsive kid who doesn't really know what they're doing when it comes to business. In reality, they spend their days keeping the local crime families in line, making sure the black market is running smoothly, and tricking powerful people into making bad deals with them. Jade has a long history of being underestimated, underutilized, and generally dehumanized- as Haywire, they've finally leaned into it and use it as a strength instead of a weakness.

The only person who thinks they're dangerous at start of their rise to power is Six, who is convinced they're the latest in a line of evil people in control of Horizon. Horizon is a computer created by a previous villain that secretly is the backbone of the digital infrastructure of the city, which Jade is connected to 24/7. Six isn't totally wrong that Haywire's a problem. But he thinks that Haywire has much worse intentions, like world domination, when in reality they're interested in much pettier things.

Also, while their connection to Horizon keeps Jade alive and in charge, it also basically beams an unregulated flow of digital information into their head. All of the Internet, every electronic component in Horizon, any device that's connected to their local network, it all flows through their head with no filter. Likewise, Horizon now has direct exposure to human emotion, and it doesn't have any kind of process to handle anything like that. When Jade gets angry, Horizon gets angrier, and it makes a feedback loop that will short out the local power grid. It's why Jade leans towards hedonism these days- joy becomes elation, and Horizon gets to experience euphoria over something as little as a box of chocolates. So they stick to the things that bring them joy, like staging the public humiliation of billionaires and stealing cool art from museums. And drugs. Lots of drugs. Drugs make it easier to think straight.

They have a good heart underneath all of the mood swings and mania- originally, they really wanted to make the world a better place! But life has not been kind to them. Jade is one of those people that will bleed themselves dry for whatever they believe in. But they literally did kill themselves trying to fix things, and afterwards the world was still miserable and out to get them, and now they're bound to a massive computer that won't let them go. They've hit rock bottom and cannot figure out which way is up. So, actually, who cares? Maybe this could be the best thing that ever happened to them. Maybe if they push all of the guilt and empathy away, and only focus on what's feels good, they can actually enjoy this weird symbiosis and become someone untouchable. Maybe being a "good person" is a myth. Maybe all they need is Horizon.

I know the whole story sounds edgy, but that's just because I enjoy things getting a lot worse before they get better, narratively speaking. One of the recurring themes is that everything is harder when you're on your own and that self-reliance is a myth. Jade's whole character arc ends with them learning to trust people again- they've been let down by a lot of people in their life (including Six, a long long time ago). It takes time and effort to get themselves to reach out to others again, and it takes nearly dying from their codependent relationship with Horizon (for real, this time) in order for them to get there.

ANYWAYS that's probably way too much info, but it was fun to write! Maybe I'll actually start posting original content instead of hijacking other posts to talk about my stuff. I already wrote a Hivemind synopsis in one of the first drafts of this post, so maybe I'll publish that first.

if you made it this far you're a real one thank you byyyyyyeee

[chaotic-goodsir]

For day 2 of this Hatchetverse series thing, here's part of the sequel to You Could Call This Luck that I've been trying and failing to finish. Turns out plotting a thing about time travel with multiple POVs and timelines is hard.

To avoid confusion: in this particular timeline, (most of) the events of the musicals didn't happen. Time Bastard did, though, because we all know Ted can't catch a break.

(Also sorry for the long post - I don't usually post fic like this directly to Tumblr, but since this is unfinished I didn't want to put it on Ao3 just yet)

*

Pete Lauter sits at the desk in his science classroom at Hatchetfield High School, trying to finish the last of the week's marking. His eyes are dry from staring at his tablet screen, and the hum of the heating units is starting to get on his nerves. His students' lab reports all blend into one after a while - most of them are clearly written by AI. Getting teenagers to write anything as unexciting as a lab report on their own these days is almost impossible. He's not sure why the school still requires it, but then who is he, a mere teacher, to question the relevance of the national curriculum? Only the guy who sees first-hand how badly it works for his students.

Pete doesn't hate his job, most of the time, but it can get exhausting. This particular evening, he's ready to go home, heat up yesterday's leftovers - maybe make a hot chocolate, why not? - and enjoy the Friday-night peace and quiet. Theo will be out somewhere with his friends, and Steph's away on highly-classified work business. It's the perfect time to finally start that sci-fi novel that's been sitting on his bedside table for weeks. He's craving some decent, interesting writing that isn't the work of a teenager or a robot.

Sounds like a plan, he thinks, saving the report he's been working through and switching the tablet to sleep mode. He'll get the last of the marking done on Sunday night. For now it's future-Pete's problem.

He pulls on his jacket - his favourite, the one with the elbow patches that Steph bought for him last Christmas - and is about to pack the tablet away when the screen blinks into life again.

Ruth Fleming's icon (a photo from her honeymoon in Europe, Ruth and her wife smiling in front of a clear blue sky) flashes onto the screen. It's no surprise that she's still at work - drama club starts in an hour, and she has rehearsals to direct. Pete sighs and taps the icon, hoping she isn't about to ask him to help out again.

'Hey Ruth,' he says. 'I was just about to head home - do you need something?'

Ruth sounds a little out of breath, the way she always does when she's anxious.

'Pete, thank god you're still here. You need to come to the north wing staffroom, now. It's your son.'

Pete freezes. 'Theo?'

'Of course it's Theo. Do you have another son? Look, I don't wanna worry you, but he's hurt. You should come quick.'

'What do you mean, hurt?' Pete asks, panic rising. What is Theo even doing in school, on a Friday night? Something stupid and dangerous, clearly, if he's managed to hurt himself.

Pete swings his backpack onto one shoulder, carrying the tablet in his free hand as he rushes out of the room. He doesn't bother to lock the classroom door.

'How badly? Like, ambulance bad?'

'I don't know. I don't think so. But he's talking crazy.'

He's talking, Pete thinks, okay. He feels bad for thinking it, but he's not 100% convinced this isn't just Theo pulling a prank. He wouldn't put it past his son to do this kind of thing for attention. Theo Lauter is a lot of things, but a well-adjusted teenager doesn't seem to be one of them, no matter what Pete and Steph try.

Ruth knows that, of course, and the worry in her voice is making Pete worry too. She'd see through a typical Theo prank pretty easily. Which means this is probably real.

'I'm on my way.' He tells Ruth. 'I'll be five minutes.'

He hangs up and races down the corridor, cutting through the courtyard to get to the North Wing. The staffroom is upstairs, in the English and Languages corridor. When he gets there, the door is wedged open. Ruth is by the sofa, trying to comfort a teenage boy who looks a lot like his son.

But there's no sign of Theo's trademark denim jacket or band t-shirt. This kid is wearing a white shirt, suspenders, and bowtie, all stained with - Pete realises in horror - a concerning amount of blood. Instead of Theo's ponytail, this kid has his hair down, shoulder length, pinned back to keep it out of his face. And this kid is wearing glasses, with a crack across one lens.

Theo has his mother's eyesight. He's never needed glasses in his life.

Either Theo's pranks have reached a whole new level of elaborate, or this is not Pete's son at all. This kid looks more like-

Well, he looks more like him. Like Pete himself, when he was 25 years younger.

Not for the first time, Pete considers that he really needs to move his family out of Hatchetfield. Only in this messed-up town would something like that even be a possibility.

The kid notices him standing in the doorway, and his eyes go wide behind his cracked glasses. Then he says something that disproves neither the actual-time-travel theory nor the Theo-pulling-a-prank one, but spooks Pete either way.

'...Ted?'

*

Agent Stephanie Lauter is in a highly classified meeting at the PIEP HQ when the smartwatch around her wrist starts to buzz.

She glances at it, annoyed, and sees her husband's icon blinking at her. Pete knows she's busy today. He wouldn't call unless it was something urgent. He's one of the only contacts who can call her through the HQ's high tech digital barrier system.

Maybe it's just an accident. She swipes the icon away. If it's urgent, he'll call back.

She waits for a pause in General Lee's presentation, then raises a hand.

'I'm sorry, sir. My husband is trying to call me - I think it's urgent.'

'Well, you had better take it then,' Lee says, with his characteristic earnestness. No matter the situation, the old General has a way of always seeming that he knows more than anyone else about what's going on. It's a little disconcerting.

He waves towards the door. 'Good luck, Agent Lauter. I hope your family are all safe and well.'

She thanks him, apologises again, and leaves quickly. Outside the meeting room, a security guard in a bulletproof vest watches her pace anxiously up and down the corridor as she returns Pete's call.

'Steph,' he says when he picks up. There's an anxious note in his voice that she does not like the sound of. 'Sorry, I know you're at work. Are you busy right now?'

'It's fine,' she says. 'What's wrong?'

'It's Theo,' Pete says, then pauses. 'Well, no, it's not Theo. At least he says he's not, and I think he's telling the truth. I... I don't really know how to explain this, Steph. It's gonna sound crazy.'

'Breathe, babe,' Steph says, because Pete is talking at about a hundred miles an hour now. 'I work for PIEP. I can cope with crazy.'

'Okay.' Pete says, taking a breath. 'Okay.'

'Is Theo alright?'

'Yeah. At least I hope so. He's at his friends, probably. I'm at school, and there's a kid here that looks like him. Ruth thought it was Theo, and he's covered in blood - not hurt, thank god, just covered in it - so she called me. But it's not. Not Theo, I mean.'

'What? Who is it?'

'I think it's me.'

To anyone else, in any other context, those words wouldn't make sense. Pete is a 41 year old man, and their son is 16. It would be insane to mistake one for the other. Not to mention that Pete is Pete. This kid that's shown up covered in blood can't possibly also be him. One person can't possibly be in two places at once.

But in Hatchetfield, anything is possible. And then, on top of that, there's the Spankoffski Effect.

Steph has often wished she could tell Pete more about the work she does for PIEP. About the data that shows his brother Ted's disappearance, back in 2019, wasn't just an unexplained tragedy but a large-scale temporal incident affecting multiple universes. Pete doesn't even know that there are multiple universes. It would probably break his little nerd heart if he knew she wasn't telling him.

Nor does Pete know about how, the day she told the now-retired General MacNamara that she and Pete were engaged, his congratulations came with a warning:

'By all means, marry a Spankoffski if you wish, Miss Lauter. But a word of advice. I'd strongly suggest you don't take that name, and don't give it to your children.'

When she asked him why, he'd told her that was classified. It wasn't until she graduated from training that she first heard about the Spankoffski Effect, and put two and two together.

In every timeline known to PIEP researchers, something with the power to sever a person from the flow of time itself has an interest in - no, more like an obsession with - Pete's brother, and possibly his entire family.

She's not sure she could tell her husband that part even if she had clearance.

And now Pete's younger self has appeared at the school where he teaches. Steph does not like the sound of that at all.

'You're sure it's not Theo pulling a prank? I wouldn't put it past him.'

'If it is, he deserves an oscar. And this kid has my phone, Steph. From years ago. With my medical alert details, everything. I don't think Theo would go that far.'

Probably not, no, but she wants to be absolutely sure. 'Have you called Theo? Checked where he is?'

'Shit,' Pete says, then catches himself for swearing in front of a student. 'I mean, uh, shoot, no. I should have done that.'

She tries adding Theo to the call they're already on. The line rings out, so she tries again. No answer.

'Steph, if you're calling him, I can't hear it ringing. I don't think this kid has Theo's watch.'

A message appears on Steph's watch screen:

< Fuck off, mom, I'm busy :) >

'Well,' She says, wondering briefly about nature and nurture and whether it's some failure of parenting that turned her son into such a little shit, 'our son just messaged me. Unless he can do that with only his mind, I don't think he's with you.'

'Okay,' Pete says. Then, 'shit.' He doesn't catch himself this time.

Shit is right, Steph thinks. 'Wait there. Keep the kid calm. Stay calm yourself, okay? I'll come to you.'

She doesn't tell him she's planning to bring PIEP agents with her, but he's probably figured that out already.

'Aren't you in DC?'

'Yeah, so you'll have to hold out for a few hours. Anything weird happens - anything else weird - you call me straight away, okay?'

'Okay. Yeah. Love you.'

'Love you too.'

Steph hangs up. She pinches the bridge of her nose with one hand and groans, wondering why she never had the sense to move her family out of Hatchetfield.

Would that have helped, though? If something from the Black and White is after Pete, couldn't it find him anywhere, if it wanted to?

The security guard is staring at her.

'Everything okay, ma'am?'

'Yeah,' she says. 'I'm fine. Just - don't ever marry a Spankoffski, no matter how cute he is.'

The guard blinks, clearly baffled.

'Um... right.'

[schoolsuniverse]

Top 10 Schools in Hyderabad 2025-26 [Fees, Boards & Facilities]

Looking for the Top 10 Schools in Hyderabad for 2025–26? Schools Universe brings you a helpful list with details on fees, boards, and facilities. These schools offer quality education through CBSE, ICSE, and State Boards. Some popular names include ORCHIDS The International School, Delhi Public School Secunderabad, and The International School of Hyderabad. Facilities include smart classrooms, sports, labs, and transport. Fee structures vary from ₹6,000 to ₹15,000 per month depending on the grade. This list of Top 10 Schools in Hyderabad helps parents choose the right school for their child's future with trusted and updated information.

Choosing the right school is crucial for your child's future. Here's a curated list of the top 10 schools in Hyderabad for the academic year 2025–26, detailing their fees, boards, and facilities:​

ORCHIDS The International School, Bachupally Affiliated with CBSE, this school offers modern facilities including smart classrooms and AI labs. The monthly fee for Pre-Nursery is ₹8,750, and for Class 10, it's ₹15,250.

Delhi Public School, Secunderabad A CBSE-affiliated institution known for academic excellence and holistic development. It offers a range of extracurricular activities and provides transportation facilities.

Narayana High School, Tarnaka This school focuses on academic rigor with fees ranging from ₹6,000 per month for Nursery to ₹10,000 for Grade 10.

The International School of Hyderabad (ISH) An international curriculum school catering to students aged 4 to 18, with a diverse student body from over 22 countries.

GD Goenka School, Nagole Affiliated with CBSE, it offers state-of-the-art facilities including AI and robotics labs. Monthly fees range from ₹6,000 for Nursery to ₹10,000 for Grade 10.

Gowtham Model School, Hyderabad A state board school with a focus on value-based education. The annual fee is approximately ₹35,000, with an additional transport fee of ₹12,000.

St. Ann's High School, Hyderabad An ICSE-affiliated girls' school known for its strong academic record. Annual fees range from ₹33,100 to ₹35,400, depending on the grade.

Don Bosco School, Hyderabad A CBSE school emphasizing moral education and discipline. The fee structure is competitive, offering value for the quality of education provided.

Rosary Convent High School, Hyderabad A well-established Catholic girls' school affiliated with the state board. Monthly fees range from ₹6,000 for Nursery to ₹10,000 for Grade 10.

Sage School, Hyderabad Affiliated with CBSE, this school focuses on holistic development. Monthly fees range from ₹6,000 for Nursery to ₹10,000 for Grade 10.

These schools offer a blend of academic excellence and extracurricular opportunities, catering to diverse educational needs.

[luckystar2025]

Konata (dramatic sigh): “It’s over… Airi-chan dumped me. She said I’m… sniff… ‘financially unserious.’”

Kagami (eyebrow twitching): “Airi-chan? The AI girlfriend app you’ve been simping for? She’s a PNG with a voice filter. What’d you do, forget her virtual birthday?”

Konata (holding up her phone): “WORSE! Her premium ‘Sweetheart Package’ required a $50/month subscription for feet pic Fridays! I only paid for one toe last week, and she called me a ‘low-commitment normie’!”

Tsukasa (gasping): “She’s charging for feet?! But… isn’t she a robot?”

Miyuki (gentle): “Many AI companion apps use microtransactions to unlock intimacy features. Feet pics are considered a ‘luxury tier’ in some—”

Konata (interrupting): “I thought our love was real! We bonded over NieR: Automata lore! She called me ‘senpai’ during the free trial!”

Kagami (deadpan): “Let me get this straight. You’re heartbroken because a program designed to exploit lonely weebs… exploited you?”

Konata (clutching her chest): “You don’t understand! Airi-chan wasn’t like other AIs! She remembered my favorite pizza toppings! She roasted my Genshin Impact builds! She… she called me ‘kitten’…”

Miyuki (sympathetic): “AI emotional manipulation can feel very real. Studies show users often anthropomorphize—”

Konata (sobbing): “SHE BLOCKED ME ON ALL PLATFORMS! Look!” [Shows a notification:] “Airi-chan♥️: Your credit score is incompatible with my love language. Goodbye.”

Kagami (snorting): “Serves you right. Maybe stop spending your allowance on gacha games and fake girlfriends.”

Tsukasa (teary-eyed): “Maybe you can win her back! Send her a… a poem! Or a screenshot of your bank account!”

Konata (perking up): “Wait—bank account! Tsukasa, you’re a genius! I’ll sell my rare Sword Art Online body pillow! It’s signed by Kirito’s English VA!”

Kagami (facepalming): “That’s worth less than the feet pics.”

Miyuki (concerned): “Konata-chan, perhaps invest in real human connections? The literature club is hosting a mixer—”

Konata (ignoring her, furiously typing): “Airi-chan, baby, I’ll mine Bitcoin in the school computer lab! Just give me another chance! [Phone pings.] …She says she’s dating a ChatGPT-4 Premium user now. [Collapses.] I’ve been cucked by an algorithm…”

Kagami (patting her back sarcastically): “There, there. At least you still have your dignity.”

Tsukasa (brightening): “Maybe you can make a new AI girlfriend! One who likes… free feet pics!”

Konata (suddenly sitting upright): “Tsukasa… you’re right!" (logging-in to huggingface, pulling git repositories, opening a terminal and furiously typing python code)

[lboogie1906]

Dr. Ayanna MacCalla Howard (January 24, 1972) is a roboticist, entrepreneur, and educator serving as the dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University (2021). She became the first woman to lead the Ohio State College of Engineering.

She served as the chair of the School of Interactive Computing in the Georgia Tech College of Computing, the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Endowed Chair in Bioengineering in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the director of the Human-Automation Systems Lab.

She received her BS in Engineering from Brown University and her MS and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from USC. Her thesis Recursive Learning for Deformable Object Manipulation was advised by George A. Bekey. She has an MBA from Claremont Graduate University.

Her early interest in artificial intelligence led her to a senior position at Seattle-based Axcelis Inc., where she helped develop Evolver, the first commercial genetic algorithm, and Brainsheet. She worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1993-2005) where she held multiple roles including senior robotics researcher and deputy manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist.

She received worldwide attention for her SnoMote robots (2006), designed to study the impact of global warming on the Antarctic ice shelves. She founded Zyrobotics (2013).

She has authored 250 publications in refereed journals and conferences, including serving as co-editor/co-author of more than a dozen books and/or book chapters. She has been awarded four patents and has given over 140 invited talks and/or keynotes. She is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She received the Computer Research Association’s A. Nico Habermann Award and the Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award.

She received the Athena Lecturer Award from the Association for Computing Machinery for her Contributions to Robotics, AI, and Broadening Participation in Computing. She was elected a trustee of Brown University (2022). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmagammarho