We are featured in SnoValley Star
http://snovalleystar.com/2014/10/09/brothers-robotics-classes-nets-1595-for-indian-school
Most of you know that my bother and I are very interested in Robotics since 2008. We shared our learning with the community through a summer boot camp this July. We want to summarize our experience and the service effort. Please check out this short video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOPOHfFeDL0 for a highlight of our experience.
We have been to several Robotics competitions including FIRST Lego League (for 4-8 graders) and FIRST Tech Challenge (for 7-12 graders) representing Snoqualmie valley and the school district. In the process, we learnt a lot about robotics, programming and most importantly working together as a team. We wanted to share this passion for Robotics with other students in our community. We set up a Robotics boot camp that would introduce robotics to elementary and middle school students. We decided to run the camp for a cause by contributing the fees raised from the camp to an orphanage in India as a donation.
We had a goal of raising $700 for the charity. We had an overwhelming response resulting in $1595 from our boot camps. We planned to host two sessions but due demand we had three distinct sessions each with 5-10 students in them. We taught the students an introduction to robotics and programming. At the end of the camp, the students exhibited their learning through Sumo robotics wrestling competition http://goo.gl/foVtTU. Delivering the boot camp gave us a higher level of appreciation for our teachers and class preparation activities by the teachers.
We donated all the money we raised ($1595 == 100,000 Rupees) to a trust called M.S. Chellamuthu Trust located in Madurai, India. M.S.Chellamuth Trust mission is to help persons with mental disabilities and facilitate their reintegration with the society. We visited the facility for mentally ill run by the trust in Madurai, India in August. We talked with the supporting staff as well the some of the patients. It was very moving. Our donation will be used by Aakaash School (school for young children with special needs) with the sensory room project as well as the facility for the Mentally Ill at Madurai in the form of sleeping cots and water filtration system for them. Both of the facilities are run by the Trust.
We had a great experience in hosting the Robotics boot camp as well as donating the money to the charity. We can't wait to share more of our interests with Robotics within the community and around the world next year. Visit our website http://snoqualmierobotics.weebly.com/ for more information and feedback from the students/parents.
Sincerely
Vishnu Rathnam (10th gramder @ MSHS) &
Hari Rathnam (7th grader @ CKMS)
We have been to several Robotics competitions including FIRST Lego League (for 4-8 graders) and FIRST Tech Challenge (for 7-12 graders) representing Snoqualmie valley and the school district. In the process, we learnt a lot about robotics, programming and most importantly working together as a team. We wanted to share this passion for Robotics with other students in our community. We set up a Robotics boot camp that would introduce robotics to elementary and middle school students. We decided to run the camp for a cause by contributing the fees raised from the camp to an orphanage in India as a donation.
We had a goal of raising $700 for the charity. We had an overwhelming response resulting in $1595 from our boot camps. We planned to host two sessions but due demand we had three distinct sessions each with 5-10 students in them. We taught the students an introduction to robotics and programming. At the end of the camp, the students exhibited their learning through Sumo robotics wrestling competition http://goo.gl/foVtTU. Delivering the boot camp gave us a higher level of appreciation for our teachers and class preparation activities by the teachers.
We donated all the money we raised ($1595 == 100,000 Rupees) to a trust called M.S. Chellamuthu Trust located in Madurai, India. M.S.Chellamuth Trust mission is to help persons with mental disabilities and facilitate their reintegration with the society. We visited the facility for mentally ill run by the trust in Madurai, India in August. We talked with the supporting staff as well the some of the patients. It was very moving. Our donation will be used by Aakaash School (school for young children with special needs) with the sensory room project as well as the facility for the Mentally Ill at Madurai in the form of sleeping cots and water filtration system for them. Both of the facilities are run by the Trust.
We had a great experience in hosting the Robotics boot camp as well as donating the money to the charity. We can't wait to share more of our interests with Robotics within the community and around the world next year. Visit our website http://snoqualmierobotics.weebly.com/ for more information and feedback from the students/parents.
Sincerely
Vishnu Rathnam (10th gramder @ MSHS) &
Hari Rathnam (7th grader @ CKMS)
July 21-25 Session at Sammamish
Day 1: Hello Parents,
Thank you for joining this camp, I hope all of the students felt as excited as we were about Robotics. Today the students learned about the NXT Lego Robot - motors and sensors. We did an activity showing the importance of programming through the “peanut butter” exercise.
The students spent a considerable amount of time building Lego Robots that we will use for future missions. Toward the end of the class, we showed them the programming software they will use as well as how to control their robot with a remote control.
If you have any feedback to tell us, please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 2:
Hello again,
We started the day with a recap of activities from yesterday. We taught them the basics of robotics programming. Our first programming exercise was to make the robot move in a figure 8 pattern as well as a race track pattern. We then had a robot race but unfortunately one of the robots ran out of battery.
We explained the concept of attachments to the robots (such as arms and cargo containers) and what you can do to modify the robot without changing the base design (chassis of the robot). Our final challenge for the day was called the Cat and Dog mission where they had to grab a Lego cat and dog and bring it back to base using attachments and the programming knowledge they learnt. This was one of the robotics mission from last year’s competition.
Tomorrow we will finish the Cat and Dog mission from today and we will do more robotics missions from last year’s robotics competition to gain hands on experience on build and programming.
If you or your child has any feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 3:
Hello again,
As usual, we started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We are really impressed with the students ability to recollect the work from the last two days. After the recap, we put the finishing touches on the hitting the Cat and Dog mission we did yesterday. We taught them how pseudo code is written and the importance of it. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise wherein they had to push a Lego truck and bring it back to base. During this exercise, we walked the students through the Engineering process that involves brainstorming, drawing out the ideas, writing the pseudo code, programming, testing and resolving errors.
Tomorrow we will teach programming with sensors and start on the final project mission.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 4:
Hi,
We started the day by teaching the students how to program with sensors. We first taught them how to use the touch sensor by driving the robot forward until it hits a wall. After that challenge we moved to programming with the light sensor. The challenge was to follow a black line. This is a popular task in FLL missions. This task was more challenging because the light sensor has to be positioned properly to work. The students created complex attachments to carry the light sensor in the right position. Then we moved on to the ultrasonic and color sensors where we combined the use of sensors to complete the mission of identifying a ball.
Tomorrow, we will have the final challenge wherein they utilize the skills they learnt this week. If you would like to see the student’s work, plan on coming at 6:30.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Thank you for joining this camp, I hope all of the students felt as excited as we were about Robotics. Today the students learned about the NXT Lego Robot - motors and sensors. We did an activity showing the importance of programming through the “peanut butter” exercise.
The students spent a considerable amount of time building Lego Robots that we will use for future missions. Toward the end of the class, we showed them the programming software they will use as well as how to control their robot with a remote control.
If you have any feedback to tell us, please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 2:
Hello again,
We started the day with a recap of activities from yesterday. We taught them the basics of robotics programming. Our first programming exercise was to make the robot move in a figure 8 pattern as well as a race track pattern. We then had a robot race but unfortunately one of the robots ran out of battery.
We explained the concept of attachments to the robots (such as arms and cargo containers) and what you can do to modify the robot without changing the base design (chassis of the robot). Our final challenge for the day was called the Cat and Dog mission where they had to grab a Lego cat and dog and bring it back to base using attachments and the programming knowledge they learnt. This was one of the robotics mission from last year’s competition.
Tomorrow we will finish the Cat and Dog mission from today and we will do more robotics missions from last year’s robotics competition to gain hands on experience on build and programming.
If you or your child has any feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 3:
Hello again,
As usual, we started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We are really impressed with the students ability to recollect the work from the last two days. After the recap, we put the finishing touches on the hitting the Cat and Dog mission we did yesterday. We taught them how pseudo code is written and the importance of it. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise wherein they had to push a Lego truck and bring it back to base. During this exercise, we walked the students through the Engineering process that involves brainstorming, drawing out the ideas, writing the pseudo code, programming, testing and resolving errors.
Tomorrow we will teach programming with sensors and start on the final project mission.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 4:
Hi,
We started the day by teaching the students how to program with sensors. We first taught them how to use the touch sensor by driving the robot forward until it hits a wall. After that challenge we moved to programming with the light sensor. The challenge was to follow a black line. This is a popular task in FLL missions. This task was more challenging because the light sensor has to be positioned properly to work. The students created complex attachments to carry the light sensor in the right position. Then we moved on to the ultrasonic and color sensors where we combined the use of sensors to complete the mission of identifying a ball.
Tomorrow, we will have the final challenge wherein they utilize the skills they learnt this week. If you would like to see the student’s work, plan on coming at 6:30.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
July 21-25 Session at Snoqualmie
Day 1:
Hello Parents,
Thank you for joining this camp, I hope all of the students felt as excited as we were about Robotics. Today the students learned about the NXT Lego Robot - motors and sensors. We did an activity showing the importance of programming through the “peanut butter” exercise.
The students spent a considerable amount of time building Lego Robots that we will use for future missions. Toward the end of the class, we showed them the programming software they will use.
If you have any feedback to tell us, please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 2:
Hello again,
We started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We taught them the basics of programming. Our first programming exercise was to make the robot move in a square pattern as well as a figure 8 pattern.
We explained the concept of attachments to robots (like arms, cargo container) and what you can do to modify the robot without changing the base design (chassis of the robot). Our final challenge for the day was to knock a Lego Tree Branch from the Lego Tree using attachments and the programming knowledge they learnt. This was one of the robotics mission from last year’s competition.
Tomorrow we will do more robotics missions from last year’s robotics competition to gain hands on experience on build and programming.
If you or your child has any feedback about the sessions please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 3:
Hello again,
As usual, we started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We are really impressed with the students ability to recollect the work from the last two days. After the recap, we put the finishing touches on the hitting the square mission we did yesterday. We taught them how pseudo code is written and the importance of it. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise where they had to grab a Lego cat and dog and bring it back to base. During this exercise, we walked the students through the Engineering process that involves brainstorming, drawing out the ideas, writing the pseudo code, programming, testing and resolving.
Tomorrow we will teach programming with sensors and start on the final project mission work.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 4:
Hi,
We started the day by teaching the students how to program with sensors. We first taught them how to use the touch sensor by driving the robot forward until it hits a wall. After that challenge we moved to programming with the light sensor. The challenge was to follow a black line. This is a popular task in FLL missions. This task was more challenging because the light sensor has to be positioned properly to work. The students created complex attachments to carry the light sensor in the right position. Then we moved on to the ultrasonic and color sensors where we combined the use of sensors to complete the mission of identifying a ball.
Tomorrow, we will have the final challenge wherein they utilize the skills they learnt this week. If you would like to see the student’s work, plan on coming at 11:30.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Hello Parents,
Thank you for joining this camp, I hope all of the students felt as excited as we were about Robotics. Today the students learned about the NXT Lego Robot - motors and sensors. We did an activity showing the importance of programming through the “peanut butter” exercise.
The students spent a considerable amount of time building Lego Robots that we will use for future missions. Toward the end of the class, we showed them the programming software they will use.
If you have any feedback to tell us, please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 2:
Hello again,
We started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We taught them the basics of programming. Our first programming exercise was to make the robot move in a square pattern as well as a figure 8 pattern.
We explained the concept of attachments to robots (like arms, cargo container) and what you can do to modify the robot without changing the base design (chassis of the robot). Our final challenge for the day was to knock a Lego Tree Branch from the Lego Tree using attachments and the programming knowledge they learnt. This was one of the robotics mission from last year’s competition.
Tomorrow we will do more robotics missions from last year’s robotics competition to gain hands on experience on build and programming.
If you or your child has any feedback about the sessions please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 3:
Hello again,
As usual, we started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We are really impressed with the students ability to recollect the work from the last two days. After the recap, we put the finishing touches on the hitting the square mission we did yesterday. We taught them how pseudo code is written and the importance of it. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise where they had to grab a Lego cat and dog and bring it back to base. During this exercise, we walked the students through the Engineering process that involves brainstorming, drawing out the ideas, writing the pseudo code, programming, testing and resolving.
Tomorrow we will teach programming with sensors and start on the final project mission work.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 4:
Hi,
We started the day by teaching the students how to program with sensors. We first taught them how to use the touch sensor by driving the robot forward until it hits a wall. After that challenge we moved to programming with the light sensor. The challenge was to follow a black line. This is a popular task in FLL missions. This task was more challenging because the light sensor has to be positioned properly to work. The students created complex attachments to carry the light sensor in the right position. Then we moved on to the ultrasonic and color sensors where we combined the use of sensors to complete the mission of identifying a ball.
Tomorrow, we will have the final challenge wherein they utilize the skills they learnt this week. If you would like to see the student’s work, plan on coming at 11:30.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
July 14-18 Session at Snoqualmie
Day 1:
Hello Parents,
Thank you for joining this camp, I hope all of the students felt as excited as we were about Robotics. Today the students learned about the NXT Lego Robot - motors and sensors. We did an activity showing the importance of programming through the “peanut butter” exercise.
The students spent a considerable amount of time building Lego Robots that we will use for future missions. Toward the end of the class, we showed them the programming software they will use.
If you have any feedback to tell us, please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 2:
Hello again,
We started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We taught them the basics of programming. Our first programming exercise was to make the robot move forward and say good morning. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise where they had to program the robot to move in a square pattern as well as a figure 8 pattern.
We explained the concept of attachments and what you can do to modify the robot without changing the base design (chassis of the robot). Our final challenge for the day was to knock a Lego Tree Branch from the Lego Tree using attachments and the programming knowledge they learnt. This was one of the robotics mission from last year’s competition.
Tomorrow we will do more robotics missions from last year’s robotics competition to gain hands on experience on build and programming.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 3:
Hello again,
As usual, we started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We are really impressed with the students ability to recollect the work from the last two days. After the recap, we put the finishing touches on the hitting the Tree Branch mission we did yesterday. We taught them the importance of pseudo code and how it is written. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise where they had to grab a Lego cat and dog and bring it back to base. During this exercise, we walked the students through the Engineering process that involves brainstorming, drawing out the ideas, writing the pseudo code, programming, testing and resolving. One group finished early and we gave them the task to push two Lego trucks to the other side of the board. Great job everyone.
Tomorrow we will teach programming with sensors and start on the final project mission work.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know. We will have pictures from the session shortly on the website.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 4:
Hi,
We started the day by finishing the Grabbing the Cat and Dog exercise from yesterday. We taught the students how to program with sensors. We first taught them how to use the touch sensor. We then gave them the task to move forward until they hit a wall and them come back. After that challenge we moved on to programming with the light sensor. The challenge was to follow a black line. This task was more challenging because the light sensor had to be positioned in an odd way to function properly. Because of this, the students had to create more complex attachments to carry the light sensor in the right position. After this challenge, we did a reflection on what we learned.
Tomorrow, we will have the final challenge wherein they utilize what they learnt this week. If you would like to see the student’s work, plan on coming at 11:30.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Hello Parents,
Thank you for joining this camp, I hope all of the students felt as excited as we were about Robotics. Today the students learned about the NXT Lego Robot - motors and sensors. We did an activity showing the importance of programming through the “peanut butter” exercise.
The students spent a considerable amount of time building Lego Robots that we will use for future missions. Toward the end of the class, we showed them the programming software they will use.
If you have any feedback to tell us, please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 2:
Hello again,
We started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We taught them the basics of programming. Our first programming exercise was to make the robot move forward and say good morning. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise where they had to program the robot to move in a square pattern as well as a figure 8 pattern.
We explained the concept of attachments and what you can do to modify the robot without changing the base design (chassis of the robot). Our final challenge for the day was to knock a Lego Tree Branch from the Lego Tree using attachments and the programming knowledge they learnt. This was one of the robotics mission from last year’s competition.
Tomorrow we will do more robotics missions from last year’s robotics competition to gain hands on experience on build and programming.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 3:
Hello again,
As usual, we started the day with a recap of what we did yesterday. We are really impressed with the students ability to recollect the work from the last two days. After the recap, we put the finishing touches on the hitting the Tree Branch mission we did yesterday. We taught them the importance of pseudo code and how it is written. Then we gave them a more challenging exercise where they had to grab a Lego cat and dog and bring it back to base. During this exercise, we walked the students through the Engineering process that involves brainstorming, drawing out the ideas, writing the pseudo code, programming, testing and resolving. One group finished early and we gave them the task to push two Lego trucks to the other side of the board. Great job everyone.
Tomorrow we will teach programming with sensors and start on the final project mission work.
If you have any questions or feedback please let us know. We will have pictures from the session shortly on the website.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam
Day 4:
Hi,
We started the day by finishing the Grabbing the Cat and Dog exercise from yesterday. We taught the students how to program with sensors. We first taught them how to use the touch sensor. We then gave them the task to move forward until they hit a wall and them come back. After that challenge we moved on to programming with the light sensor. The challenge was to follow a black line. This task was more challenging because the light sensor had to be positioned in an odd way to function properly. Because of this, the students had to create more complex attachments to carry the light sensor in the right position. After this challenge, we did a reflection on what we learned.
Tomorrow, we will have the final challenge wherein they utilize what they learnt this week. If you would like to see the student’s work, plan on coming at 11:30.
Regards,
Vishnu and Hari Rathnam