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As they pull on hats, scarves, and mittens for their daily commutes, employees of Farbman Group in the Southfield City Centre are thinking about more than just keeping warm. They’re thinking about those who struggle every day in our community.

That’s why Farbman Group employees are sponsoring a collection drive for new and slightly used hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves. Between December 10 and December 17, 2018, they will be gathering these items to donate to the Baldwin Center in Pontiac.

The effort is a “pay it forward” initiative that Tammy Felhandler, accounts payable specialist at Farbman Group, says is important for community support.

“I believe that if you have the ability to help, that kindness goes a long way,” Felhandler says.

This is not the first charitable effort that Farbman Group, a commercial real estate firm based on Northwestern Hwy., has spearheaded. In fact, social responsibility is woven into its way of doing business. With “Farbman Cares,” a committee dedicated to seeking out ways of supporting the community, the company does a local fundraising effort each month.

Organizations such as Almost Home Animal Shelter in Southfield, Gleaners Community Food Bank, and Game on Cancer at Henry Ford Hospital and others have benefitted from Farbman employees’ generosity.

“We always try to brainstorm how we can help others, or collaborate with organizations that are doing this work,” says Felhandler.

No effort is too small. March Madness collections have benefitted the Southfield High School forensics team in the past, she says.

“We try to put out to our employees that they get a day each year to take and volunteer wherever they’d like,” shares Felhandler. “Over the summer we went to the farm at Forgotten Harvest and worked in the field. We were exhausted, but it felt good to do good.”

Individuals can donate to the Baldwin Center warm accessories drive by simply bringing items to Farbman Group’s office by December 17.

Find Farbman Group at 28400 Northwestern Highway, 4th floor, Southfield. (248) 353-0500. For larger donations, please email farbmancarescommittee@farbman.com.

LTU World competition brings students from around the world 

A world gathering of 100 teams of bright, young talent descended upon the Southfield City Centre recently to compete in the 19th annual Robofest at Lawrence Technological University. 

Students participated in a host of challenges and exhibitions to show off their coding skills, and their cultures. In addition to local students from Michigan and across the U.S., kids aged about 10 to 18, plus some college-aged students, traveled from Colombia, Hong Kong, South Africa, China, South Korea, and Canada to build, code, and challenge robots to carry out fully autonomous tasks. 

This year’s Robofest game challenged students to program robots to collect tennis balls, drop them into a box, and knock water bottles off a table. In addition to the “Autonomous Tennis Ball Challenge,” students participated in Sumo events, a RoboParade, a talent show, and much more. 

Autonomous technology programmed into these robots means they operate not by remote control, but through various sensors built into their hardware. This is the same technology being used to develop the autonomous vehicles of the future. 

The event also hosted WISER, the World Conference on Integrated STEaM Education through Robotics, where educators and other stakeholders gathered to talk about educational models, with specific sessions highlighting efforts in India, France, and Hong Kong.

Sponsoring organizations for the world competition included Toyota, DENSO, Mobis, the Michigan Council of Women in Technology Foundation, the National Defense Industrial Association Michigan, and others. 

The entire Robofest concept was created by C.J. Chung, PhD, professor of computer science at Lawrence Technological University. We chatted with Chung about the event, about the value of robotics in Michigan, and what’s next for Robofest.

What was your initial goal when founding Robofest?

I’m a professor of computer science, and, 19 years ago when I saw the first Lego robots, I thought this would be a great tool for computer science education. Robots are mechanical and electrical, but the most important part of future robots and robotics are learning and developing software.

What has changed since the first Robofest? 

At the time, for example, my first robot cost around $3,000. That’s my first robot. Nowadays the cost of kits for children is around $300. Now it’s much more accessible to use robots for education. That’s the big difference.

But computer programs must have also changed since then.

The difficulty of coding remains the same. But now there are many good tools to write code. Scratch coding has become popular. Even children can write code nowadays. In Robofest we encourage the use of scratch coding to make programs for robots.

What ages are included?

There are two main age divisions. The Junior Division is fifth grade to eighth grade, so upper elementary and middle school. The Senior Division is ninth to twelfth grade. There is also a small competition category, the Vision Centric Challenge for college undergrads and graduate students. This year for this division, kids from Hong Kong and Mexico participated, but no US teams. Challenge was too hard; even my students couldn’t solve the problem! We have been doing this challenge for about 12 years. 

It doesn’t even matter who wins because the kids learn a tremendous amount just by participating. Can you talk about the value of being part of this event for participants, even if their team does not win?

The main goal of this competition is for learning, not for winning. We always stress that for students. This year we did some research and learned that the kids’ skills improved after the second level. To come to LTU they have to pass a qualifying competition locally before they can compete in main category teams. Every team learned more when they try a second time. They improved their coding skills and problem-solving skills after the second round. 

What are the hidden benefits to the participants?

The event is mainly for STEM learning. But we focus on soft skills. Communication, leadership, teamwork and problem-solving skills.

What do the sponsoring companies get out of their participation?

Some sponsors are directly sponsoring teams. They have a connection with the team. Also, they benefit because they can create a pipeline that they could hire talented students in the future. What Robofest is doing is quite similar to the development of self-driving and connected vehicles. Sponsors provide the ability for their company names to be recognized by the young students to remember as sponsors so in the future they can be employees. 

What is your favorite part?

The learning part. I learned a lot while I created the competition. There’s the technical learning, but also the learning about many other aspects of society. Twelves countries participated. I learned a lot about their cultures, their views about education and about families. Officially, we have a program called RoboParade.  Theme was world culture. Interesting floats to represent their culture. It’s a great thing to watch the parade represent different cultures around the world. 

From a future talent perspective, how does having this event in the Detroit region, in Southfield,  in Oakland County, foster a sense of connection to this part of the world?

Metro Detroit is the automotive sector. Automotive technology is moving toward self-driving and connected vehicles. All the technologies learned in Robofest are connected to the development of future self-driving and connected vehicles. This started in metro Detroit and has strong impact to the world. Our area is leading the tech for the future by training young people first.

How does the Robofest event help showcase LTU?

LTU is offering scholarships for any Robofest students coming to LTU to study. We value their experience, so automatically they can get scholarships of $3,000 per year, up to $12,000. That’s in addition to any other scholarship they would get. 

Robofest will celebrate 20 years next year. What can you share about the future of Robofest?

We will have a big gathering with all Robofest alumni. We will invite all the Robofest students who participated in previous years. We will be asking them to come and share their experiences at Robofest and the impact they got. Many are in STEM area. They will talk about what they are currently doing. It will be a “Robofest Reunion.” 

Because the field is growing so much, you can never know everything, and that’s why it’s so important to participate in this type of event. Am I correct? 

The most important technology to develop more is artificial intelligence, or AI. And that is software not hardware. That’s why coding is important. And Robofest is one of the best programs to learn more about coding and computer science. 

What else can you share about Robofest? 

To make autonomous robots, each is thinking about how to make them think, which is hard, and while we are doing that, we learn more. We learn more about why we make robots think. Same for me too. Whenever I develop a program for a robot, I learn more and a lot of new things. Remote control robots are popular, but they are not the future. We learn more through autonomous robotics. 

Also, we invited and hosted more than 500 people from outside of the country, which contributed to the local economy for that whole weekend. So that’s something, too.

Tracing your family roots is something you have always wanted to do, but somehow, you can never find the time. Work, kids, phone, house, dog…something always keeps you from doing what it takes to even get started.

Librarians at the Southfield Public Library know just how hard this can be. That’s why they offer an after-hours Genealogy Lock-In.

“We are literally locked in after hours, after the library is closed,” explains Kitty Allen, of the Adult Services Department of the Southfield Public Library. “It’s a peaceful, distraction-free time. At home, good luck! The phone rings, and you are distracted.”

The event, now in its ninth year, encourages participants to put their heads down and get to work building their family tree, or filling branches that take concentrated time and energy to leaf out. Library staff, experts at guiding people through research of all kinds, are on hand during the event to answer questions.

“Sometimes, it’s nice to have a chance to bounce ideas off of someone,” says Allen.

The library also has big tables where participants can spread out with paperwork, to capture their family tree from a big-picture view, which is sometimes enormously helpful when drawing connections from one family member to another. Popular ancestry software programs are also available on the computers, but are special limited-resource library versions.

“You can’t form your own tree on it, but you can search,” says Allen. Participants may be able to print some information to take with them

One of the most important resources for building a family tree is the United States Census, according to Allen. “It’s really fun to see your parent as a 3-year old in the Census. You can track your grandparents, and everywhere they lived in their lifetime. You can stake down who was in the household, and where they were. You may think you know, but sometimes through research, you get a surprise,” she says.

Building a family tree is an exercise in proving information correct or incorrect. Every birth, marriage, and death, and all the information in between, can be clues. “A marriage record or license would tell you who were witnesses at the wedding, and they may be people who are important to the family,” Allen says.

The entire process is like a puzzle, and you are driven by the desire to know more about your family, and to know accurate details. Those who want to get started can use a couple of common ancestry tools.
“You can start with a pedigree chart, and move on to a family group sheet,” Allen says. “You are staking down the facts of the family, and the more you know going in or can estimate, the more accurately you can limit your research.”

What Allen really enjoys about the Genealogy Lock-In is witnessing people learn some really incredible stories about their families. For some, she says, the information is identity-forming.

“You can humanize people who are, up to that point, just a name,” she says. And those who learn about their own families are destined to learn more about history, as well. Sudden deaths from diseases like influenza or cholera can erase entire families, or families experience financial ruin during The Great Depression or other catastrophic loss. Still others lose family members during wartime. These are historical events that can come to life through our own families, and can become poignant and real for the researcher.

Those who put in time and effort, and who really want to know more about their ancestors, can be surprised by the unexpected rewards. But getting results is also a fair amount of work, a reality some just aren’t prepared for.

“The process is not for everybody. It’s tedious. But it is a puzzle and this is your identity. People find out things that are surprising to them, like an ethnicity they weren’t aware of,” Allen says. “But the library offers a beautiful space to do this work. You can rest your eyes, go into a dreamy state, and benefit from the peace and quiet and space.”

The Genealogy Lock-In is on Thursday, June 21, from 7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m., on the second floor of the Southfield Public Library. The event always draws a crowd, so register early.

Registration begins June 1, and is limited by space and resources. Visit the library’s website, or call (248) 796-4200.