On July 7th, 14th, and July 21st, members of the East Cobb Branch of AYLUS went to the Charles D. Switzer Central Library to help teach a Robotics Program. The program used LEGO MINDSTORMS to teach kids how to build and program a robot. LEGO MINDSTORMS kit is a programmable robotics construction series set that gives kids the power to build and program their own LEGO robots. None of the kids had much experience with robotics before, and none of them had seen the sets before. Each participant learned something new at the end of the program. The program lasted two hours long and was for three Saturdays.
The first day of the program, we helped teach kids how to build the LEGOs sets and connect the motors and bricks. Most of the kids finished building the first, simpler robot with an hour left, so they moved on to a more advanced one.
On the second day, the kids first finished the more complicated robot that they started building the day before and then started to program on the laptops provided by the library. Unfortunately, we were an hour behind after we ran into some issues with the programming app and the provided computers. In the end, though, we did manage to teach kids some basic ideas about programming.
On the third day, we started off with programming and then went on to more advanced programming. But we ran into some issues again. The instructor said that the projector was too bright and unviewable, so he just went around to the groups teaching them how to do it. In the end, all of the kids there learned the basics of programming.
At the end of the program, every group had made their own unique, functional robot. One made a singing robot, one made a tank, and one made a tall robot. Everyone had a fun, educational, and memorable experience.
Members who participated: Michael Fu (6 hours), Kevin Shen (6 hours), Jonathan Wang (2 hours), Jeffrey Kuang (4 hours)
Reported by: Kevin Shen
