Rivers’ Robots Score with Soccer

  

For students with an interest in applied science beyond a basic science curriculum, Rivers’ Engineering and Robotics courses provide an opportunity for a hands-on, project-based exploration of topics using a “top-down” approach to problem solving. For many of them, the Robotics Club is the icing on the cake.

 

“We are essentially teaching a way of thinking, of identifying a challenge or goal, then breaking it down into simpler pieces, solving each piece, then reassembling the problem,” explains science teacher Yoshi Fujita in describing the courses. “It’s a universal skill to develop that will serve students no matter what they do.

 

“Through a series of design challenges, students in the Engineering class are exposed to the different disciplines of mechanical, electrical, chemical, civil, and systems engineering, as well as the skills required by those disciplines,” says Fujita, who has a BS in electrical engineering from Brown. “The Engineering syllabus was developed a few years ago by the University of Texas’ Engineering and Education departments in association with the National Science Foundation and NASA. Rivers was invited to test the prototype for the curriculum and we continue to fine tune it.”

 

Students range from those who are interested in taking an additional science course to those with a serious interest in engineering as a career. They collaborate in teams on a long-range project each trimester, brainstorming, building prototypes and circuitry, analyzing data and programming as they work through each design project.

 

This year’s Robotics class, which Fujita also teaches, is structured around a series of design challenges: students start with pre-built robots equipped with sensors that they program to accomplish increasingly sophisticated tasks, from drawing a letter, to sensing obstacles, to navigating a maze. Students with more advanced backgrounds in robotics can tackle more complex projects. Two students—Charlie Watkins ’16 and Roger Wirkala’16— are currently building and programming a quadcoptor robot, with components they’re creating on Rivers’ 3D-printer. The students’ enthusiasm for these projects is palpable, as is their understanding of the concepts being explored.

 

“The students learn how robots take in data and process it, how to break down a complex problem into what a robot can do, how to program the smaller steps and build from the simple back to the complex,” says Fujita. “We give them the analytical skills to do that, to work efficiently and productively.”

 

This year the Robotics class switched from using a LEGO-based system to the Arduino system which is popular with hobbyists and prototype builders. The new system allows the students much more flexibility and independence, including the option of buying compatible components online. They’re able to tackle a wider variety of challenges and gain very real-world skills. Students can research the technologies available and then learn how to program the parts they’ve bought.

 

“Robots will always do what you tell them to do,” Fujita says, “But not necessarily what you want them to do.”

 

The Upper School Robotics Club, led by Fujita and science colleague Sarah Freeman, has also adopted the new system. They started staging their 3-on-3 robotic soccer matches after winter break and keep fine tuning the two “goalies” and four “players” that make up the two teams.

 

The popular Middle School Robotics Club, led by math teacher Sam Vandergrift and humanities teacher Ari Kaplan, still relies on the LEGO system to introduce the students to the basics of constructing and programming robotics.

 

“Engineering is a way of thinking, an approach to problem solving that can translate to many other disciplines,” concludes Fujita. “Even beyond the fields of engineering and robotics, it’s a very useful way to look at the world.”