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Robotics merit badge gets official within Boy Scouts of America, Wall-E approves emphatically

Yours truly knows exactly how determined one has to be to achieve the honor of Eagle Scout, but it's getting a heck of a lot easier for the more modern offspring of this world. This month last year, we saw the Video Games belt loop sashay into the Cub Scout ranks and make all of the others seem inadequate, and now, there's yet another award that'll likely have your nerd-of-a-child clamoring to suit up in blue or brown. The Robotics merit badge was just made official within the Boy Scouts of America, falling nicely into a sect that promotes science, technology, engineering and math. Officials are purportedly expecting some 10,000 or so of the nation's 2.7 million Scouts to earn this badge within the next dozen months, with those who choose to do so required to "design and build a robot while learning about robot movement, sensors and programming." Thankfully for aspiring Ben Heckendorns, we're told that "even some video game controllers can be considered robots," proving that we're just one leap of faith away from a bona fide Hacking badge. Hey, they want us to Be Prepared, right?
NASA
sourceBoy Scouts of America [PDF]
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