Bernard Kirk, director of Galway Education Centre and co-founder of Robotics Ireland
At parties, what do you say you do for a living?I tell people I have a great job working on a team arranging courses and projects for teachers and organising Lego Robotics Competitions.
How did you get your job?I am a primary school teacher and have always been interested in promoting science, technology and engineering. I went to the UK to see a First Lego League (FLL) final with a friend and we knew within five minutes we had to organise the FLL here.
What are you working on now?The First Lego League events for 2011 and 2012 and also a robotics tournament similar to Robot Wars for third-level students. It will be amazing.
What's the most exciting thing about it?It's just so fantastic working with great people on all the teams I work with and learning so much from them. Also seeing the excitement of the students on the day of events is a brilliant feeling. And then there is all that Lego!
Do you prefer Terminator or Wall-E?I'm a big Wall-E person as he is so like the Lego Mindstorm robots.
When will we have robot butlers?Soon. I heard last week of a girl in Trinity who is doing research with teenagers in a Dublin secondary school programming a robot to do their homework! So as we work with SAP, which develops software; Medtronic, which makes pacemakers, stents and parts for bodies; and Lego Robotics – you have just given me a new idea to work on!
- The First Lego League finals are on January 8th in the Radisson Hotel, Galway. See roboticsireland.com
