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Middle Schoolers Show Creativity With LEGO Robotic Animals
A meat-eating tiger, tail-flapping shark and banana-seeking monkey were all on view at the Delaware Museum of Natural History recently thanks to the technological creativity of Tower Hill’s fifth-graders.
Students built robotic animals out of LEGOs over the course of several weeks in Mary Hobbs’ and Timothy Weymouth’s science classes. Using starter kits with hundreds of LEGO bricks and mechanical parts, teams decided on an animal, fabricated the bodies and developed a behavior to demonstrate. Each project included at least two behaviors, a sensor, decision-making and an animal-like sound.
A giraffe, for example, could recognize the color green and move toward the plant “food” in response. A horse could munch an apple, a crab lumbered forward and a tiger “ate” a piece of red meat. The behaviors were coded into the projects, building on students’ computer programming skills while allowing for creativity.
“They were very excited,” Hobbs said.
Students shared their projects with family and friends at the Delaware Museum of Natural History on April 15. Click here to watch the projects in action.
The teachers took a class to learn the basics of LEGO robotics themselves over summer, and then started offering a LEGO robotics club open to Middle School students this year. The problem solving that goes into robotics will prove valuable in science classes down the road.
“The students improved how they approach and solve problems generally,” Weymouth said.
