For many students, their participation in VEX Robotics sparks an interest in engineering that continues even after the VEX Robotics season is over.
One such group is Richie Beile, Kyle Goldman and Jake Wojack. These Julian VEX Robotics team members recently became fascinated with a HEXBUG, a micro robotic toy creature that “walks.” Kyle explains how they took the toy apart to see how it worked and said to themselves, “We can build this.”
So they went to their Robotics team coach, Tim Walsh, at the last meeting of VEX Robotics and asked if they could use the Robotics equipment to build a walking robot. Mr. Walsh agreed to let them come to his classroom at lunchtime. Within a few weeks, the students succeeded in constructing a robot that walks much like a HEXBUG. They demonstrated their robot at the Museum of Science and Industry’s Robotics Block Party on April 7.
Now they’ve decided on their next challenge: to construct a simple robot and learn to write their own computer robot program for it. When asked why they want to give up their lunchtime to do these sorts of projects, Richie simply smiles and says, “For fun!”
Check out this video of the walking robot that Richie Beile, Kyle Goldman and Jake Wojack constructed.