Eyeing robots
GLENDALE — Seventh-grader Ryan Penarroyo snapped a dozen Lego pieces to finish off the catapult atop his six-wheeled robot.
He placed a thick wheel in the catapult’s launch pad, pressed a button and watched it go. No sooner had the wheel landed in the robotics obstacle course more than a foot away did Ryan’s robot mechanically say, “Have a nice day.”
Ryan will be one of 10 Roosevelt Middle School students to compete in a Lego League robotics tournament Sunday at Magic Mountain. He and his teammates will be cheered and supported by his Roosevelt peers who are scheduled to host their own robotics tournament at the school Dec. 5.
The Roosevelt robotics program is 3 years old, but won a rising star trophy at a competition last year and placed third overall in a Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement tournament against more experienced teams from around California.
“The robot is a great motivator,” said Randy Kamiya a math and science teacher who advises the school’s robotics club. “They don’t realize they’re doing it, but it’s a lot of prototyping and one-off design . . . a lot of out-of-the-box practical problem solving.”
Working with robots turns students into lifelong learners, and is an incentive for some students prone to misbehaving, he said. At-risk students become motivated to continue their robotics work, and teachers see a turnaround in attitude and grades.
“It’s real applications of math, and a lot of it is actual design and engineering aspects,” Kamiya said. “They’ve got to understand that just because you program a robot and tell it what to do, it doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen. That’s a huge lesson — a life lesson.”
While Kamiya’s observation may go largely unnoticed by the students, they still enjoy the challenge.
“It’s fun to be doing it correctly under pressure,” said Randy Qafaiti, an eighth-grader.
The robotics squad will have two-and-a-half minutes to complete 10 tasks in Sunday’s competition, which range from picking up rings, crossing bridges and keeping a Lego passenger onboard.
Students were drawing templates for a creation they named Paco Spaghetti. The robots are Lego creations with a “brick” that looks like an iPod, but can be programmed for various functions. Using Apple MacBooks, students must program distance, rotation and movement, which they sync with each robot’s brick.
The robots are not remote controlled, and anything could go wrong when the robot begins its mission, students said.
Jose Camacho, a seventh-grader, demonstrated one robot he programmed to turn and cross a bridge. After a few button pushes, the robot was off. It stopped, made a perfect 90-degree pivot and began its ascent over the bridge. But it turned too sharply and almost drove off before Jose lunged to save it.
“I might’ve positioned it wrong,” he said.