Holiday Robotics with ORT SA CAPE

Holiday Robotics with ORT SA CAPE

More than 50 students from diverse backgrounds joined ORT SA CAPE at the Iziko Museum for a Robotics holiday workshop from 23 — 26 June.

United by a love of science; students convened for the second annual Robotics holiday workshop, sponsored by ORT SA CAPE and the Iziko Museum. The workshop offered museum activities augmented by LEGO Wedo and Mindstorm Robotics.

Kicking off the activities, students learned about aviation as they raced their newlycrafted paper aeroplanes through the museum halls. The students toured the museum (a first experience for some), wowed by dinosaur skeletons and South African nature. Concluding the workshop was a celestial experience from the planetarium.

As a highlight, students worked in pairs, engaged in problem-solving and creating complex, functioning LEGO robots. Piecing the LEGO together, they were challenged to programme the robots themselves. Birds twirled, cars raced, and some students even innovated their own operational machines.

With funds raised, ORT SA CAPE was able to sponsor a group of students from Delft for the afternoon sessions, none of whom had ever visited the museum or touched a computer before!

Smiles were infectious as learners’ confidence and skills grew throughout the workshop. Proud of their hard work, students left energised and passionate about science and determined to return for another chance to ‘Robotise’.

Written by Chelsea Bollman, a visiting intern from Michigan State University, studying International Relations, Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy.