61–70 of 113 posts
My American girlfriend's immediate response: seems militaristic and violent. My daughter was turned off from robotics at a young age. She joined firstego league and there was a ton of domineering "boy energy" in her school. She enjoyed creating and personalizing the robots in unique ways, the boys wanted "to win". This is what happens when you have a bunch of dudes designing educational robot toys.
Damn, a younger version of me would have loved this thing. The remote-controlled cars we had in the 90's were downright primitive in comparison.
Those primitive RC cars weren't $499 though.
imo giving way to kids impulses like fighting might be commercially the most viable thing - educationally it is not. It is always much easier to be destructive than constructive. However, we should try to teach our kids the latter. Achieving win-win does not usually come from impulse but from empathy. Although it is hard, I try to avoid fighting games and media for my kids as much as I can and try to teach them compe…
The kids would presumably spend a lot more time constructing than destructing. I also doubt the robots get actually destroyed in the competition. Do you also forbid water blasters in the hot summer? As you say, those playful fights are a natural impulse. It is also not true that you can solve every problem without violence. I'm expecting people to chime up with "what about the girls?", though. Presumably those battle…
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This speaks to society’s role in conditioning men to be aggressive and women to be passive, which was exactly what I said I was concerned with. Unless you’re making the case that absent cultural conditioning, women are biologically less interested in “winning” than men?
Ew, I can't for the life of me understand this "everything is a social construct" mindset. The average man is biologically different than the average female. Testosterone alone can explain why men are generally more violent and sexually aggressive than women. And there are many many many other factors in effect. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693622/ Why do people get angry about facts, there is no val…
I replied to the claim that wanting “to win” is a masculine trait, and compared it to the feminine trait of personalization/creativity. It seems pretty far fetched to claim that biology causes boys to be more interested in winning Lego programming competitions.
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The kids would presumably spend a lot more time constructing than destructing. I also doubt the robots get actually destroyed in the competition. Do you also forbid water blasters in the hot summer? As you say, those playful fights are a natural impulse. It is also not true that you can solve every problem without violence. I'm expecting people to chime up with "what about the girls?", though. Presumably those battle…
as I said, it's hard, but I offer them alternatives: building things, ball games, surfing,... I guess they are better of with that than water blasters.
Btw Rudolf Steiner (of Waldorf School fame) would also outlaw ball games, at least soccer. After all, the ball could be mistaken for a head and it could train kids to kick heads.
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Ew, I can't for the life of me understand this "everything is a social construct" mindset. The average man is biologically different than the average female. Testosterone alone can explain why men are generally more violent and sexually aggressive than women. And there are many many many other factors in effect. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693622/ Why do people get angry about facts, there is no val…
I’m not claiming that “everything” is a social construct. I replied to the claim that wanting “to win” is a masculine trait, and compared it to the feminine trait of personalization/creativity. It seems pretty far fetched to claim that biology causes boys to be more interested in winning Lego programming competitions.
Why ? The "Lego programming competitions" is a detail there, the important part is "does winning at X triggers the same biological pathways as winning at Y ?" and "are men more inclined to be competitive ?".
For example men are more inclined to do dangerous activities for fun, like racing cars or rock climbing. Does it means that biology ""wants"" men to race cars, no, just that racing cars trigger biological pathways somehow perceived as more beneficial for men than female.
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> The fact that DJI releases a [toy] for kids that has a working cannon feels super icky from my western perspective. I don't think that's a western perspective, I think that's your perspective. The actual western perspective likes robots, toys, toy weapons, robotic toys, and robotic toy weapons, and all the various combinations thereof. Nerf and Transformers have been cultural staples for decades. This isn't even th…
yes, there are many commercial toy robots with guns. And there are many gun toys and violent videogames etc etc. But they are not educational. Educational + has a cannon. There is some cognitive dissonance right there. My opinion.
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IMHO this comment qualifies as one of those "bizarre anti-Chinese sentiment" ones. The #2 consumer drone maker in the world after DJI, Parrot from France, also sells an educational drone for kids with a cannon (it's an add-on but gets sold together in a popular set), and has done so for years: The Parrot Mambo. There's countless other toys for children that include weaponry and/or glamorize it for that matter, like j…
Zero anti-chinese sentiment from my part. I was wondering if the culture there makes it more acceptable. I understand it is a poor question to ask, as it immediately sets the tone that China is doing something wrong. Perhaps I should have worded it better. Bare with me for a second though. I grew up watching western spaghetti films, playing with bb guns and thinking of cowboys as heroes. I was born and raised in Euro…
As I see it, the world is a violent place, always has been and always will be, by not teaching your kids about it all you're doing is making them irrationally afraid of it. Then they want to be extra safe from it so they support politicians who says they'll keep them safe. Of course, safety involves constant control and oversight by the government but to those raised without violence it is a good tradeoff.
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yes, there are many commercial toy robots with guns. And there are many gun toys and violent videogames etc etc. But they are not educational. Educational + has a cannon. There is some cognitive dissonance right there. My opinion.
Toy guns itself is an educational toy. It teaches you on how to use it. As kid growing up with guns the only way I can have my own and learn it is by having a toy version.
> To comply with local laws and regulations, the RoboMaster S1 will not be sold in Washington, D.C. or North Dakota.