Here some recent news of McDevitt Robotics team’s summer activities.
On Monday July 23rd. the McDevitt Robotics team joined our sponsor Lockheed Martin at the Norristown Area School District Engineering summer camp.
Our task was to support Paul Schlosser from Lockheed Martin as he gave the campers an idea of what it is to be a real engineer. Paul explained about engineering using a multimedia presentation with a emphasis on space and robotics. He gave special attention to the Mars Rover. The students were fascinated by the time and distance the rover traveled and how communication can be done over such large distances.
We then brought out the McDevitt Robot, Shark Byte, and compared its functions to the Mars Rover. This included simple concepts like 6 wheel drive for maneuverability and more advanced topics like autonomous activity and communication with a home base. We compared the Rovers extendable arms to Shark Byte’s extendable bridge tool. (a.k.a it’s sharks teeth.) When the campers wanted to know how fast Shark Byte could go and we were not sure, we demonstrated some on the spot practical engineering by making multiple timed test runs.
Here is Paul and Shark Byte.
After the formal presentation,
the student has a close up look at Shark Byte. The event was held in a
gym so the campers especially enjoyed watch Shark Byte take a few foul
shots. Here is team member Jess showing how the communication between the base and robot work.
We are very thankful to our sponsor Lockheed Martin for inviting us to this event. What’s next? Later this month Shark Byte and E=mCD will be joining team 433, the Firebirds for a presentation to the Boys and Girls club of Philadelphia. |
2012: Outreach >
