NOAH MACEY PHOTO
Jeremiah maneuvers the robot during its visit to Stetson on Saturday.
Jeremiah, a 12-year-old regular at Dixwell’s Stetson branch library, often comes for the art books. When he walked in on Saturday, he was greeted by a whirring, zippy, four-wheeled robot and the team of high-schoolers who built it — and discovered a new reason to show up.
The occasion was a visit by members of Guilford-based Apple Pi. Their team is a chapter of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a national robotics organization founded by Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway and automatic insulin pump.
Four team members -– David Antonetti, Amira Shatara, Scott Pena, and Connor Ludwin were at Stetson on Saturday afternoon with an adult organizer, Kathy Scott. They were hoping to catch the post chess-club rush and teach the chess players about opportunities in robotics and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
Stetson Branch Librarian Diane Brown organized the visit as part of an ongoing effort to involve local children in STEM. A few students stuck around after chess, and more regulars, like Jeremiah, were caught up during their usual visits to the library. Brown said Stetson is “looking to build [its] own team,” with a focus on the surrounding community.
Asked whether he’ll participate in an ongoing Stetson Branch robotics program, Jeremiah responded with an excited “yeah!” The nearby members of the Apple Pi robotics team smiled.
David and Amira explain a Lego robot to a Stetson visitor.
High-school senior Scott Pena explained how the FIRST competitions work: After the competition details are released in January, the high schoolers have “six weeks to design, program, and build” a robot that will complete a task outlined by the central organization. In past years, the tight deadline has meant mid-blizzard snow-shoeing to the shed they used as a workshop. The theme this year was space, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The task involved transporting cargo — kickballs — into cargo holds, and covering them with a hatch.
Taking turns, kids (and several adults) at Stetson Saturday piloted the robot and examine how it moved.
The kickball-holding part of the Apple Pi-rate featured wheels that spun the ball into a metal receptacle. A couple of Stetson youths quickly figured out it made a fun and challenging partner for a game of catch, giving them something to do while others drove the robot.
Apple Pi team members explained to them parts of the code and the construction process, and some showed younger students a Lego robot that middle schoolers use for FIRST competitions, before they build their own bots in high school.
“Space Pi-rate.”
Kathy Scott said that the program is a way of teaching students “‘cooper-tition’ and professionalism.” She compared it to a sports team. One of the seniors echoed the idea — explaining the program to a middle schooler, he said it “provides a sportslike atmosphere for nerd kids — basically us.”
“I’m a nerd!” one elementary-schooler piped up.
A Stetson patron plays catch with the Apple Pi-rate in between learning about robotics.
The Apple Pi team takes its name from one of its primary sponsors, Bishop’s Orchards of Guilford. Though the team has a partnership with Guilford High School, it comprises students from different towns in Connecticut, including Madison and New Haven. Amira, a freshman from New Haven, emphasized the communication skills she’s learning. David, a high school sophomore, said that “more than all the robotics, mechanics, and coding,” the FIRST program is about “learning organizational skills” and becoming comfortable building something with a team.
“I came into the team knowing absolutely nothing,” reflected Scott. “Now, I’m the co-captain.”
The robot control panel.
The biggest prize at a FIRST competition is the Chairman’s Award, which is given to the team with the most robust community outreach program. Kathy Scott oversees this area of Apple Pi’s activities. “It’s about teaching kids how to contribute to a community,” she explained. It also furthers the organization’s original goal, to encourage young people to pursue studies in STEM.
“Children today are technology driven,” librarian Brown noted, as some toddlers, rapt, watched the Apple Pi-rate zoom across the library carpet. A chapter of FIRST would help channel young people’s intuitive skills with technology into scientific careers. An expanded Stetson branch in the new Q House, under construction across the street, will include a maker space that would be a perfect home for the new chapter of FIRST. The library already partners with Girls Who Code, which helps young kids, especially girls, develop computer fluency with an eye towards closing the gender gap in tech.
The Apple Pi team and Stetson visitors and employees with the Apple Pi-rate at the end of the event.
Amira, the Apple Pi team member from New Haven, recalled how she and her brother had to commute to Bristol to attend her first robotics club. A chapter in Dixwell would make it easier for local New Haven students to get comfortable with engineering. The Apple Pi team has ten mentors, many of whom are engineers, and Diane is looking for mentors from the New Haven and Dixwell communities to help organize a new Stetson chapter of FIRST.
The kids of Stetson Library ipilot the robot.
If you’re interested in helping develop a robotics program at Stetson Library, contact Diane Brown .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
