Princeton Public Library hosts workshops.
By: Andrew Cangiano
The students worked hard, trying to find the right number to plug into the computer program to get the robot to move exactly how they wanted.
One of the students said they should try the number 130, while his teammate argued that 125 would work better.
These weren’t Princeton University engineering students puzzling over the right formula, however, but area elementary school students.
On Saturday, the Princeton Public Library hosted two robotics workshops for children, which gave youngsters the chance to learn about simple programming languages.
Brian Patton and David Peins of Robodyssey Systems led the sessions, which taught the children computer science and physics through a software program called Robodyssey, which Mr. Patton developed for the computer.
Mr. Patton said he created a code generator that created nearly the entire code needed to direct the robot. The children then used the program to test a variable that adjusted what was missing from the software, the robot’s distance and direction of travel.
By plugging different numbers into the computer program, the children were able to direct the robot through a maze in a game called "Blind Bot’s Bluff."
In the first session, which was for children in third and fourth grade, parents were encouraged to help their children navigate their robot through the maze.
The parents and children teamed up and shared laptops, using the Robodyssey software to learn, step by step, how to program their robots.
Mr. Patton said watching the parents help their children was an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.
"It’s really fun to work with the community, and especially the parents," Mr. Patton said. "I really enjoyed watching the parents and kids work together to solve a problem they had never done before."
In the afternoon session, which was for children in fifth grade and above, the students were paired into groups and worked together to figure out how to navigate the robot through a more difficult maze.
The course proved to be challenging for the group, as the students had to test and retest their numbers before their robots finally achieved the goal of reaching the end of the maze.
"The kids might mess up 30 times before they get it right," Mr. Patton said, pointing out that one of the goals of the exercise was to get the children to realize that the robots "never do what you want them to; they only do what you tell them to."
When Frances Zappone and Henry Liu, both sixth-graders, were able to direct their robot to finish the course, they programmed the robot to spin in a circle to celebrate their triumph.
Frances, a student at St. Paul’s School in Princeton, described her robot’s path through the maze as "two turns diagonal, another diagonal. And then it does its victory dance."
She said that using the computer program to guide the robot was a challenging task.
"It’s fun knowing that you made something go somewhere," she added.
Henry, a student at the John Witherspoon Middle School, also said programming the robot was a rewarding task.
"It was entertaining. It was cool to see what would happen," he said. "It’s an interesting experience."
Mr. Patton said the purpose of the event was to teach young people how to work with computers.
"It’s not really about robots, it’s about computer science and learning skills in computer science," he said.
Funding for the workshops was provided by Synnestvedt Lechner & Woodbridge LLP.

