If you were to pop into McDonnell Gymnasium about one week ago, you would have seen it buzzing with humming, flashing robots and excited students. Last Friday, the Rampunzel Robotics Team held a robotics outreach event specifically designed for MICDS fourth graders. Lead Event Organizer and Rampunzel Community Outreach Coordinator Varsha Devisetty ’23 explained the inspiration behind the event: “Rampunzel Robotics recently had a re-brand in terms of the mission statement, transitioning from supporting women in STEM to supporting minorities in STEM. In honor of our change in mission statement, we decided that we should have a community outreach event that reflects our new values. We really want to show the different opportunities that are available through the STEM fields and let the fourth graders play into any interests that they might have in robotics. We also want to spark interest within the fourth graders in robotics and encourage them to follow any passions they have that are STEM-related, especially if it includes joining robotics in Middle and Upper School.”
At the event, there were three activities. First, the robotics team read the book they created, appropriately titled Rampunzel. The story is a take on the Disney princess Rapunzel but, instead of having a prince save Rapunzel from the tower, Rampunzel builds her own robot and saves herself from the tower. The second activity was the demonstration of a robot created by the team. Over the past couple of months, the team has been working on building a robot to complete an annual challenge for FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge). “We showed the demo robot to give the fourth graders an idea of what robotics does and the endless possibilities associated with STEM,” said Devisetty. For the final activity, the three fourth-grade classes got to have some hands-on action with Spheros which are small, spherical robots that can be paired with a tablet or smartphone. Students could change the Sphero’s color and control its movements. Along with the Spheros, the robotics team brought in several types of blocks to be used as obstacles for the young Beasley friends to drive around. Varsha added, “We wanted to incorporate the Spheros because we thought that the kids would see how fun and adventurous STEM can be.”
A favorite part of the event was seeing all of the kids play with the Spheros. “Even when we were giving instructions for operating the Spheros,” explains Devisetty, “the kids’ faces were lighting up at the idea of being able to drive the robots. Once they actually started driving them, they had so much fun playing with the robots and being super creative with all the blocks we gave them, like making castles and mazes and towers. I also loved that everyone was having a great time. All of the teachers had so much fun driving the robots and thought the Spheros were very cool.”
The event was a huge success, all thanks to the very hard work of Devisetty, the Rampunzel Robotics Team, and the faculty members who helped. It took some time to plan with the ever-evolving pandemic changes, but it all came together perfectly. With the initial idea of sharing the book and showing off their robot, Tanay Goel ’24 suggested the use of the Spheros. Upon reaching out to Amy Scheer, Head of Lower School, to confirm that fourth grade would be interested in the event, the team organized the date, time, and location details. “The day of, I felt the event went amazingly well,” Devisetty reflected. “All of the fourth graders were very engaged with the reading of the book, our robot demonstration, and the Spheros.”
“The event was really fun, and it was great to interact with all of the kids and see their interest in STEM and robotics and how much fun they were having with the Spheros!” echoed Penny Chen ’23. “I think it’s important to reach out to younger kids about STEM to encourage a more diverse group of future STEM workers and participants.” Rampunzel Captain Shelly Bhagat ’22 adds, “I think it’s important for kids to be exposed to robotics from a young age. It sparks their interest in pursuing STEM or robotics in the future whether it be in high school or in their careers.”
What an amazing, student-led way to light up interest in robotics in fourth-grade MICDS students!