Mindstorms Academy needs a name

[Clinton Blackmore]

I'd like to see this project go live soon.  One of the first things we need is a name that doesn't use trademarked words.  I'd like us to choose a name before Saturday (ie. in the next 52 hours or so), so that we can start working on a logo.

Please tell me which ones of the already suggested names (below) you like, or suggest some more.  You can choose a few.  If there is a clear leader, we'll go for it; if not, we'll vote.


I'll start by throwing out some names that I like, in no particular order:

Piecing Robotics Together
Make Your Own Minions
Robotics, Bit By Bit
Robotics In A Snap
Step-By-Step Robotics
Robotics, One Piece At A Time


Even if you've never posted before, if you reading this, go ahead and state your favourites.

Cheers,
Clinton

On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 8:20 AM, Clinton Blackmore <clinton....@gmail.com> wrote:

In case we can not or choose not to use a trademarked term in the title (or catch phrase) of the project, I've been brainstorming things we might call Mindstorms Academy.  Please, add some of your own ideas.

Piece-By-Piece Robotics

"           "      "         "             Tutorials

"           "      "         "             Instruction

"           "      "         "             Academy

"           "      "         "             Lessons

Robotics, block by block

Instead of Piece by piece or block by block, we might use:

- brick by brick

- bit by bit

- step by step

- brick upon brick, piece upon piece, etc

Brain Spark Robotics Lessons

Idea Force Robotics

Step-By-Step Robot Magic

Piecewise Automata

Robotics In A Snap

Robotics Building Blocks

Robotics, One Piece At A Time

storming young minds, one robot at a time.

Storm Break

(providing robotics clarity)

[is there a good term for "clarity after a storm"?]

Scaffolding: Building Roboticists

Next Level Learning

(NXT appears to be trademarked, too)

Throw out an idea or two!

Clinton

 

[James Floyd Kelly]

I like Step-by-Step Robotics... clear, accurate, and exactly what we're trying to do here IMO.

2nd pick would be Robotics Academy... a play on Khan Academy and something that teachers would likely remember and/or search for.

Jim

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[Dave Parker]

"Robotics Academy" is used by Carnegie Mellon, which is a major vendor
of NXT video training, so that won't work. Other similar names are
used as well, although I also like the idea of getting "Academy" in
there. Even closer to Khan Academy, maybe some unusual acronym/name
followed by "Academy" or "Video Academy" would work, like "LMR
Academy" (LMR for Lego Mindstorms Robotics). The "lmracademy" domain
name seems unused as well, although this domain name doesn't read
easily when spelled all lower case. Other similar ideas could work.
"Robo Video Academy" and robovideoacademy.com seems unused as well
(after only a quick look), I like that one.

"Step-by-Step Robotics" is pretty good, but that and most of Clinton's
other suggestions sound like a place to find building instructions, or
whole project instructions. Is anyone thinking of posting videos on
the building aspect as well? I understand the desire to leave an
opening for that, but if nobody is planning on it in the near future,
such a name could be a bit misleading.

I guess my first choice is "Robo Video Academy" at this point.

-- Dave

[James Floyd Kelly]

I like Robo Video Academy, too... Dave's points are valid as well, so I'll throw in with Robo Video Academy... or maybe RoboVideo Academy?

[Clinton Blackmore]

"Step-by-Step Robotics" is pretty good, but that and most of Clinton's
other suggestions sound like a place to find building instructions, or
whole project instructions.  Is anyone thinking of posting videos on
the building aspect as well?  I understand the desire to leave an
opening for that, but if nobody is planning on it in the near future,
such a name could be a bit misleading.

I like "Step-by-Step" as we are giving step-by-step instructions on how to program a robot.  I do, in fact, hope to put up some building instructions in the near future.  I take your point as to how that could well sound like building instructions.

 

I guess my first choice is "Robo Video Academy" at this point.

-- Dave

That's not bad.  I'll see if I can think up more "academy"-style names.

Cheers,

Clinton 

[Clinton Blackmore]

Here are a few more ideas:

Papert Academy

Constructionism Academy

Constructivist Academy

Cybernetics Academy

Robo-Academy

Bot-Wise

Principia Robotica

The Robotics Guide

And here are some that I'm standing behind:

Robot Builders' Academy

Academy of Roboticists

Cheers,

Clinton

[James Floyd Kelly]

Robot Builders' Academy... I like that.  +1

Cheers,

Clinton

--

[Damien Kee]

RoboVideo Academy and Robot Builders' Acadamy for me :)

cheers

damo

[retrogamer80s]

Hi,

RoboVideo Acadamy +1 (or some permutations of it with or without a
hyphen)

Robot Builders' Academy is nice but this is not just about building

I think the key is to be very concise. To an extreme Robocademy or
something like that could be branded (though I hate to use the term
branding since it is so overused).

--Steph

On Aug 19, 6:25 am, Damien Kee <dam...@domabotics.com> wrote:
> RoboVideo Academy and Robot Builders' Acadamy for me :)
>
> cheers
> damo
>

[Clinton Blackmore]

Robocademy +1

Hmm... Wish I could think of a good replacement for 'Builders'.  Robot Makers' Academy?  Robot Creators' Academy?

Cheers,
Clinton

[Clinton Blackmore]

Any one else want to chime in on the name?  I'll tally up the results in eight hours or so.

Cheers,
Clinton

[Clinton Blackmore]

The Results:

Four Votes:
Robo Video Academy

Three Votes:
Robot Builder's Academy

Two Votes:
Step-By-Step Robotics
Robocademy


Five people put their voices forward.  Thank you!


I'm trying to decide if winning by one vote is a clear winner -- but winning by 20% of the vote surely is.  There was some discussion on hyphenating "Robo Video Academy".  Is there a way we can make it clear that it is an audiovisual library that teaches about robotics, and not something about using robot-controlled video cameras or videos made by robots, and is this something we can put on non-video materials (like printed building instructions)? 

Does anyone have ideas for a logo -- either a description of what might look nice, or a graphical mockup?  I would like our final logo to be in SVG format.

Cheers,
Clinton

[James Floyd Kelly]

Argh... I would have voted for Robocademy in lieu of Robo Video Academy ... too late to change?  ;)

Jim

Cheers,
Clinton

--

[Dave Parker]

I liked RoboAcademy when I was searching for names as well, but it is
already used as a domain in both .com and .org forms. That's why I
stuck video inbetween...

Without a hyphen and with a space "Robo Video Academy" sounds less
like videos taken by robots, so I prefer it without a hyphen. Note
that "Robot Video Academy" and "Robotics Video Academy" are also
unused as robotvideoacademy.com and roboticsvideoacademy.com, so these
are possible too, and maybe these sounds even less like robot-taken
videos.


-- Dave

On Aug 20, 12:41 pm, James Floyd Kelly <jktechwri...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Argh... I would have voted for Robocademy in lieu of Robo Video Academy ...
> too late to change?  ;)
>
> Jim
>
> On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 12:36 PM, Clinton Blackmore <
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> clinton.blackm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > The Results:
>
> > *Four Votes:*
> > Robo Video Academy
>
> > *Three Votes:
> > *Robot Builder's Academy
>
> > *Two Votes:
> > *Step-By-Step Robotics

[Clinton Blackmore]

I can see that there was a flaw in my asking for new suggestions right up to the end.  If we say it is not, that gives us two names with three votes, and one with four.

My aim is for us to have a name and logo for next weekend, so we can put finalized videos up, and get things moving.  [If there are other issues blocking this, please start another thread so we can resolve them.]

I therefore propose the following (and would like someone to offer a counter suggestion or second the idea).

1.  We start work thinking about logos

2.  One time only, we extend the deadline for new names.*

3.  We have a 24-hour period to vote**.

The winning entry should beat other entries by at least two votes to be the clear winner.

*  Why don't we extend the deadline for discussion about names for three solid days -- until, say, Wednesday, August 24, at 3 AM UTC (timezone converter).

** we might vote using an online polling program; I can send out a link when it is time.

Do I hear a second, or an alternative thought?

Clinton

PS.  I like "Robot Video Academy" better, Dave.  Having the URL available is a key point, too, as I intend to purchase a suitable URL after we've decided.

[Clinton Blackmore]

This might be a better link for the proposed deadline finish time.  (Note that UTC == Universal Coordinated Time, and was previously known as GMT).

Clinton

[James Floyd Kelly]

If the Robot Video Academy domain is available, I think we should strike fast...

Clinton, I defer to your decision -- it'll be a good one no matter what we choose...

Jim

[Clinton Blackmore]

On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 2:27 PM, James Floyd Kelly <jktech...@gmail.com> wrote:

If the Robot Video Academy domain is available, I think we should strike fast...

Clinton, I defer to your decision -- it'll be a good one no matter what we choose...

Jim

I've secured the 'robotvideoacademy.com' domain.  The name is growing on me, although it isn't quite the name people voted on.  We don't have to use it, but no typo-squatter is going to take it from us.

There is still time to suggest more names.  I want to give it at least until Monday morning, and it would be nice to have a name come more clearly in the lead.  Any other thoughts?

Clinton 

[Dave Parker]

Robot Video Academy is my vote, especially now that you have snagged
the domain.

-- Dave

[James Floyd Kelly]

I like it, too.

RoViAc
RoViA
RoVA

All sorts of nicknames, potential for acronyms, etc...

I have ZERO drawing skills, so I'm more than happy to let someone else attempt a logo.

OR... we could hire a graphic artist to come up with something if we want to go crazy... split the cost somehow.

Clinton, for domain and hosting costs, please do let us know if you want to have some help in that area...

Jim

[Clinton Blackmore]

On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 5:30 PM, James Floyd Kelly <jktech...@gmail.com> wrote:

I like it, too.

I do like it.  +1 for Robot Video Academy.

 

RoViAc
RoViA
RoVA
 

All sorts of nicknames, potential for acronyms, etc...

It's too bad that RV Academy won't work.  RVA might work, too.  Roviac does sound cool.

 

I have ZERO drawing skills, so I'm more than happy to let someone else attempt a logo.

OR... we could hire a graphic artist to come up with something if we want to go crazy... split the cost somehow.

Clinton, for domain and hosting costs, please do let us know if you want to have some help in that area...

Thank you, Jim.  I don't expect it to cost much to host it or renew the domain, but I'll let you all know if I would like some help.  I can't say I'm prepared to hire a graphics designer ...  Now that you mention it, I wonder what it would cost.  Maybe chipping in for it would be feasible.  99 designs is a possibility, too.  

Another interesting thought is too offer a competition to the readers of theNXTstep.  I don't know what we'd put up for a prize, and haven't got a clue what we'd get back, but I'm sure there are some talented readers who could well surprise us.  My concern is in managing expectations -- I don't want to tell people, 'we're building this great thing' and have them misunderstand that it'll take quite some time before the reality starts to match the vision.

We need some sort of logo that would fit well on a website (much like the one on the khanacademy site, in the upper-right hand corner), and one that goes on the videos.  It could be as simple as stylized text, or we may want an image, too.

I do have some artistic ability, but don't have any compelling ideas offhand.

 

Jim

Cheers,

Clinton

[Luke Taylor aka. Webstorms]

Online Robot Academy (ORA). Just my 2 cents..

On Aug 21, 5:40 am, Clinton Blackmore <clinton.blackm...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 5:30 PM, James Floyd Kelly

> <jktechwri...@gmail.com>wrote:

>
> > I like it, too.
>
> > I do like it.  +1 for Robot Video Academy.
> > RoViAc
> > RoViA
> > RoVA
>
> All sorts of nicknames, potential for acronyms, etc...
>
> > It's too bad that RV Academy won't work.  RVA might work, too.  Roviac does
>
> sound cool.
>
> > I have ZERO drawing skills, so I'm more than happy to let someone else
> > attempt a logo.
>
> > OR... we could hire a graphic artist to come up with something if we want
> > to go crazy... split the cost somehow.
>
> > Clinton, for domain and hosting costs, please do let us know if you want to
> > have some help in that area...
>
> Thank you, Jim.  I don't expect it to cost much to host it or renew the
> domain, but I'll let you all know if I would like some help.  I can't say
> I'm prepared to hire a graphics designer ...  Now that you mention it, I
> wonder what it would cost.  Maybe chipping in for it would be feasible.  99

> designs <http://99designs.com/> is a possibility, too.

[Clinton Blackmore]

Well, it is time for the decision:

The name of our project is "Robot Video Academy".

Cheers,

Clinton

PS.  "Online Robot Academy" is not bad.