BELOIT – Aldrich Intermediate School students may be having fun with Legos, but they are on their way to programming robots.
The after-school Robotics Club gives kids the opportunity to do project-based learning and prepares them for more robotics coursework when they enter high school, according to Project Lead the Way teacher Kristopher Hopper.
The club had its second meeting on Wednesday. Thanks to an Ecolab grant, the students were provided with Lego Mindstorms kits, which include Legos as well as a programmable computer devices to act as the robot’s “brain.” On Wednesday, students were working on building the 8-inch robots. Next they will be programming and testing them. It was a new experience for eighth grader Yoan Rangel who said he wanted to try something new.
“I’m taking a shot in the dark,” he said. “I’ve been taking electronic and automation classes, but I haven’t tried robotics.”
For eighth grader Jacob Brown and seventh grader Leighana Herren, it was a smooth transition. Jacob had been working on Mindstorm kits most of his life, although he said it still was a challenge.
“The amount of creativity you need challenges the mind,” Jacob said.
Jacob said he likes how robots are automated and do multiple tasks.
Leighanna, who has fatheads of astronauts on her wall, has been honing her engineering skills by taking apart coffee pots, phones and vacuums since she was 3-years old.
She recently built a radio out of an old vacuum and camera.
“I had to order some extra parts, but it was pretty easy,” Leighanna said.
Jacob said he hopes to improve his skills to one day work at NASA.
If students successfully complete their first project in the after school robotics club, Hopper said they can move on to using Vex robotics kits. The more challenging robots are made out of metal, using nuts and bolts. They will be programmed using the ROBOTC, a C-based programming language, which is used in Beloit Memorial High School classes. “My goal is to create and generate interest in robotics so when students get to the high school they can take it to the next level,” Hopper said.
Hopper said he’s proud of the students at Aldrich, who are trying very hard in his classes. Hopper also teaches automation and robotics, electricity and digital electronics, and wood shop in the after school program. He noted some of his robotics club students have taken part in wood shop where they made birdhouses. In his digital electronics class called Magic of Electrons, students are building electrical circuits with digital components.
Hopper said Aldrich tries to offer as much technical education as possible.
“We learn better when we are hands-on, making mistakes, seeing the mistakes and learning how to fix them,” he said. “When they can see a project, as opposed to talking or reading about it, students take more ownership of it.”