| 05/04/2007 |
| Fair to showcase students' robots |
| Amanda K. Lowe , Daily Times |
|
LEGOs are not just toys anymore. Local students have been using
LEGOs as a science project in which they build autonomous robots
and machines. This weekend, their work will be on display for
the public. Robotics Park includes student demonstrations of interactive creations such as robotic animals, LEGO jewelry, and robotics competitions. More than 250 robots, the work of over 1,000 students, are expected to be on display at the event, which will be held Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Middle School, located at 111 Brown St. in East Providence. Several students from the Kent County area will be participating in the event. The Knotty Oak Robotics Club, from Knotty Oak Middle School in Coventry, has been meeting after school three days a week to prepare projects for upcoming competitions, said the team's coach, Rebecca Horton. This is the team's third time participating in Robotics Park, she said. "In preparation for this event, we were given a general theme to work with - 'Around the World,'" Horton said. "Our team has chosen to make a chain reaction machine. We established a general idea that each machine in our chain reaction machine would represent a food. We are excited to display our machine at Robotics Park." A second team out of Coventry, the Coventry Robotics Club, will also have LEGO creations to display at the event. The West Warwick Community School Robotics Club consists of 12 children who meet after school at John Deering Middle School two days a week. The team decided to make LEGO floats for Robotics Park this year, according to the coach, Roland Hebert. "We made two floats for a float parade event that will occur at the event," Hebert said. "The floats are made of LEGO pieces and several other materials. The float has to autonomously follow a line for 80 feet while one of the students reads a story about the float. It is really a fun event." The team made a float called "Round Up" which is about a cattle round up and "Around the Maze" which is about an athletic course, Herbert said. "The kids work very hard to prepare for this event" Herbert said. "We attended last year and they really had a good time. The public really enjoys seeing what these kids are capable of building. It is a fun time." The Engineers of Tomorrow, a Warwick-based home-schooled group of children who participated in the FIRST LEGO League World Fest in Atlanta, Ga., last month, will also be participating in the event. According to the team's coach, Mary Johnson, the team will be doing demonstrations of the robots it used in the FIRST LEGO competition. "Since we have returned from the trip, the students are settling into their school work," Johnson said. "That is why we are doing the FLL demo at Robotics Park, rather than trying to create new robots from scratch this week." Alex Stein, an Engineers of Tomorrow member from Barrington, will also display an interactive hand-clapping robot in the Barrington Middle School booth. Robotics Park is hosted by the Rhode Island School of the Future and is a time for students, educators, parents, and the community to celebrate student inventiveness, Johnson said. Robotics Park will take place on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Middle School, located at 111 Brown St. in East Providence. More information and directions to the event can be found at www.risf.net/RoboPark.htm.
|