JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP – After a week of learning about robotics and visiting local manufacturers, the 23 students in the ACMI Robotics Week camp July 20-24 at A-Tech didn’t need a reboot.
They were still all excited about the experience, and showed off their Crunch Lab robotic creations during a wrap-up luncheon at A-Tech July 24.
“They were fun,” one student, Wyatt Stewart, said of the devices he made.
His favorite was a Tripwire project.
The Tripwire worked by placing a cord low to the ground so it’s hard for someone to see it, but easy to trigger when they walk by, according to a Crunch Labs manual for the project.
When people triggered the cord, the Tripwire device sent foam balls into the air.
“You can hit somebody with it,” Wyatt said, with a laugh.
Creating the Tripwire demonstrated a scientific principle – momentum transfer, or the motion passing between objects, according to the Crunch Labs manual.
“When the tripwire is triggered, the kicker lever swings into the foam ball,” the manual reads. “The energy transfers from the kicker to the ball, just like kicking a soccer ball. Energy is never lost. Instead, it has to go somewhere else. Even though the kicker levers stops, the ball keeps going!”
Jaxon Steem-Butte, another student, liked making another one of the Crunch Lab creations, Battle Bugs, which were little robots that moved.
“I liked the Battle Bugs the best because they’re so cute,” he said. He thought it was easy to build them.
Kids could set the bugs pointing in opposite directions on top of their Build Box and watch them duel, the Crunch Lab manual noted. The first bug that was pushed off the box lost.
The activity to build the Battle Bugs taught the kids about a physical concept – an object’s center of mass. According to the Crunch Labs manual, this is the point where the object’s weight is evenly distributed in all directions.
“Basically, it’s the spot on an object where the object would perfectly balance if you could hold it there,” the manual noted.
Nicole Torres, a counselor at the camp, said the students also made a Rock-Paper-Spinner device.
“They did really good,” she said.
During a presentation, R. Scott Wludyga, superintendent of A-Tech, listed the manufacturing places that students visited: Short Run Machine Products, Inc.; Worthington Industries; Molded Fiber Glass Companies; and Premix Hadlock.
He noted that Ohio manufacturing provides about 700,000 jobs and the Buckeye State ranks no. 3 in the state for manufacturing.
The July 27-31 week will focus on food and agriculture production and future tech.
