Learning with Legos

NEW BREMEN - It's not every day kids can build and program a Lego robot. The Lego Robotics Club wants to change that.

Fred Miller, IT manager for Auglaize County Libraries, heads the club, which holds three 90-minute classes twice a year. The club rotates among six libraries in Auglaize County, for a total of 18 classes.

The club's purpose is to introduce children to the field of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The club, open to third- through seventh-grade students, is currently at the New Bremen Library. Area kids are building two different Lego robots within the Mindstorms EV3 robot and programming system.

The storm robot's left arm spins a blade and its right arm shoots red balls from a launcher, Miller said. The robot also has tracks for wheels that allow it to move back and forth. If the kids want to get fancy, they can program the robot to breakdance, he said. The other robot uses a bulldozer track to move forward and backward and travel in circles, Miller said.   

"I'm trying to get kids interested in STEM projects," Miller said Thursday, the second week of the three week class. "With a lot of the future jobs out there being (centered around) engineering, robotic engineering, robotics, science (and) math, we're trying to get them involved as much as possible in some sort of coding program to see if it piques their interest."

It's working, too, as told by the seven kids at Thursday's session. In fact, the room was buzzing with excitement. Periodically, Miller had to calm down the kids because they were so eager to build.

Carter Thobe, 8, New Bremen, loves the club.

"I like it because it lets you use your imagination making new things and it teaches you to become a Lego artist," he said while dissecting an instruction page for the snap robot.

Sean Larger, 10, New Bremen, agreed.

"It's got programming, which I love, and I get to build robots, which I also love," he said, studying a Lego piece for the storm robot.

The kids develop and strengthen critical thinking skills during the Lego classes, Miller pointed out. The goal is that the kids develop engineering, communication, team-building and programming and coding skills, he said, adding he's just there to supervise and help them when they get stuck.

"The first two weeks, they're building off of a set of instructions," Miller said. "The third week, they're doing programming on computers, which is just block-based coding. There's a preset program that's already out there for them to look at. That is through the Lego robotic software, and I show them how to get that code inside our Lego bricks. It hands out the instructions, and then they get to see what the actual robot does."

After the classes, Miller takes a week off, tears down the kits and counts all the pieces. After the break, he takes the kits to the next library and starts the process over again.

The club, which is seven years old, relies on the kits it already has, most of which are discontinued

"There (aren't) a lot of ideas out there for builds because you have to have a set of instructions to be able to print off for the kids unless you're coming up with something new," Miller said. "Now, we're kind of cycling ideas back from when we first started for newer kids, hopefully, (who) are coming up through the program."

Although discontinued, that doesn't mean the kits aren't innovative and involved. Past robots include a stair climber and an elephant. The elephant, which is on display at the New Bremen library, can move back and forth, make elephant noises and has a trunk that moves and can pick up a weight.

"Last year, we did a Rubik's Cube solver where it actually solved a Rubik's Cube," Miller said. "The kids got to mix (the cube) up and then put it on the robot, and then (the robot) would solve (the cube), hopefully, with some glitches and some mistakes.

The kits before they were discontinued ran for $400-450 but now cost between $100-150, Miller said. The program is funded by Scott Moell, who owns the Arby's restaurants in St. Marys and Wapakoneta, he said.