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Robots come to life at Mitchell Community College
Bruce Matlock
Iwo Czajkowski (left) and Damon Harris fine tune their Halloween robot, The Grim Reaper, on Wednesday in class.
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Published: October 30, 2009
Robots that launch candy, get grumpy and even try to grab the hand of a thief are the stars this week in a Mitchell Community College microprocessor class.
Eleven students in Amy Troutman Chappell's class on the Continuing Education campus have built Halloween-themed robotics using Lego.
"(The class) allows you to think of how machines are programmed and how they work at a very basic level," said student David Taylor.
And for these students, constructing Lego robotics is a snap.
Each week, the students create robots with various themes.
This semester, they've made animals, transporters and — this week — some haunting creations.
Scott Bustle, 21, and Carlos Romero, 19, named their robot "Zombie."
The teammates said that while creating their class projects is exciting, it's also a huge learning experience.
"I enjoy it," Bustle said. "It's a lot of fun because you learn how to program."
"It's a good opportunity to learn something new," Romero added.
Chappell said students are learning to troubleshoot, program, research and work as a team.
For David Bennett and Joel Keller, that process created a candy launcher that can heave Halloween treats about two yards in the air.
As it throws the items, the launcher gives an audible warning: "Watch out." A haunting laugh from the robot follows.
Taylor showed "Marvin's" capabilities by placing a piece of candy on top of the robot's platform. As Taylor reached to retrieve the candy, the robot attemptted to stop him by extending his claws and grabbing Taylor's hand.
"This is a great class," Keller said. "It's a good learning experience."
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