Robots vs. lasers sounds like a good time for any kid who loves sci-fi and technology. For Paul Armstrong, an engineer in the NIF & Photon Science Directorate, it’s his reality. By day, he heads up an experimental team working on advanced laser applications; in his spare time, he guides ambitious high schoolers on a collision course with a worldwide robotics tournament.
In 2019, Armstrong took his middle-school-age kids to the Lab-sponsored Tri-Valley Innovation Fair, where his daughter sparked an interest in robotics—unbeknownst to him. When she arrived at Livermore High School in the fall, she joined the school’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team and was learning how to design, build, and operate a robot with them by the time 2020 began. She didn’t talk much about it and her father hadn’t connected her new interest with the visit to the Innovation Fair. Read More...
