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Racin’ Rovers, a race to the finish!

    This summer, students built LEGO NXT robots to traverse a mountainous obstacle course and a 4-robot scoring challenge. Each challenge had a degree of difficulty, where students would have to work together to design a robot that could navigate the course and score a ball in a goal.

    Students worked in teams of 3-5 to design their robots after a brief overview of terrain navigation and design guidance. Some rovers were four-wheeled giants, while others were more nimble three-wheelers. The rovers were controlled using Xbox-style controllers and interfaced to the robots using a custom growingSTEMS software. Four teams navigated the 4’x4′ obstacle course, complete with a bridge, mountain, ramp, and fallen trees, while another section of the board was dedicated for a ball-scoring game that kept everyone on edge.

    The planning for Racin’ Rovers 2014 has begun. Expect to see more challenging terrain, a larger field, and the addition of specialized tasks.

    The program was part of a series of 12 events held by growingSTEMS at the local libraries that drew more than 374 students over the summer of 2013. These programs help students to continue to learn during the summer months while they are away from school. growingSTEMS is planning on hold a similar series next summer.

    You can see more photos from these events in our Media section.