Robotics During Stem Week

Stem Week, held from September 18th to September 22nd at OIS, was an event that included many activities that promoted innovative and STEM (acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math) thinking. Robotics was a recurring topic during this week as students demonstrated the skills learned in class and were even surprised by an unexpected visitor.

Photo by Uriel Espinosa

Photo by Uriel Espinosa

Robotics Fair

On September 18th, the auditorium was the site used for the robotics fair. Here, you were able to find 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students seated at different tables where they displayed their projects, which included different contraptions using cars, robots, automobiles, and sensors using Lego Mindstorms. Alongside them were their computers, which allowed them to use their coding skills to program different and diverse actions for their robots. When asked about the activity, a 7th grader by the name of Juanse said “I like this activity because it’s for kids to have fun and learn more about robots while participating in inclusive events like these ones”.

Robotics competition

On September 19th, 5th grade held an internal robotics competition in their technology lab. Here, they were presented with a challenge: program a mission and designated action to make the same robot provided for each team move and speak. For this competition, they utilized the Lego Mindstorms kit while using “Scratch” as their main programming method. The team whose robot performed the best action and mission would win the prize.

Photos by Uriel Espinosa

An Unexpected Visitor

That very same day, OIS students were surprised by the contraption of a robotic dog. The machine was gray, with the overall shape of a real dog; however, it did not possess a head. T. Aldo passed by the classrooms, from MK to High School, to show off this feat of programming to inspire a spark within the OIS family, providing just a clue of what robotics could really allow if you put your mind to it.