Robotics Skit at Elementary School
On May 23rd, several students from Cupertino Robotics visited Murdock Portal Elementary school to perform “Finding Rio”, a skit intended to introduce STEM and robotics to elementary school students. All the students had the opportunity to contribute to the skit while also learning new terminology and ideas.
“Finding Rio” was a play that started with a bird unfortunately getting lost in a lake in a forest. The forest is told to be too dangerous for humans so the performers desperately needed a robot to help them. Here, the students were given the opportunity to share parts that they thought would fit on a robot. After compiling a list of various parts the students shared, the performers explained the benefits and downsides of different building parts (polyethylene, wood, aluminum, tank wheels, mecanum wheels, etc.) The story went on as different mechanisms were discussed and brainstormed. In the end, a robot was built in the Build-o-matic 2000 and used code to save the bird while also placing it back in its nest. The performers wrapped up the skit with some safety guidelines and conclusions.
The skit was performed in front of over 380 elementary school students and equipped them with some basic knowledge about STEM and robotics. The performers were able to present numerous new ideas to the students while also displaying one of our FTC team’s robots from this past year’s competition. One of the performers, Navyaa, shared how she noticed that, “all the kids were excited and [how] it was great to see them asking questions and participating.” Another performer, Ishani, explained how the skit introduced many opportunities for the growing students. She mentioned, “I participated in the Cupertino Robotics FLL program in middle school after watching a presentation like this.” She further elaborated, “I’m really glad I was able to return the favor by introducing the younger generation [to robotics] in the same way.”
To view the full skit, please visit the Cupertino Robotics youtube or use the following link.
