Cerritos Library Demonstration
Date: July 21, 2014
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 P.M.
# of Members: 24
The demonstration at the Cerritos Library took place on Monday, July 21 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. This demonstration was set up primarily to get people interested in STEM and for team/club outreach. By holding this citywide event, we hoped to publicize our club and have a bigger impact on the community. Seeing how this was after the completion of RoboCamp, we were unable to advertise for the course.
The event was organized by Harrison and Jonathan, with Harrison serving as the liaison with the library and Jonathan arranging the demonstration itself. Through his connections with the library staff, Harrison was able to coordinate with the library in April to reserve the Skyline conference room, typically used for special events, for the club at no cost. Furthermore, as this was a city-coordinated event, the July edition of the monthly Cerritos newsletter advertised the event, making it a citywide event, attracting more people than a typical school demonstration.
The activities at this demonstration included driving FLL and VEX remote control robots and showcasing Windsor. However, because of the large size of the Skyline room, we were able to add more stations. Lawrence, member of our FTC team, reached out to Valley Christian’s FRC team he had been helping out and invited them to showcase their robot. We also added a station with our new club computers for programming-related games and another station for people to try programming a LEGO robot.
On the day off the event, about 7 members coming from VEX and FTC met at Whitney High School in the early afternoon to load the equipment into cars, with three driving parents offering their vehicle for use. In the late afternoon about 10 members met at the library to setup the event. Both packing and setup went relatively smoothly, with the only incidents being a problem with Windsor’s motor setup and a malfunctioning writing robot.
During the actual demonstration, about 150 people showed up, with 24 club members helping out at different times throughout the event. The visitors were mostly elementary-aged children accompanied by their parents. The VEX robots grabbed the attention of many, with a long line at their station. The FRC robot entertained many young children and was able to pass large balls back and forth. Valley Christian also brought their 3D printer which ran throughout the event. Each of the four teams (FLL, VEX, FTC, FRC) also gave a short introduction to their competition during the demonstration.
The demonstration was well received by those visiting as well as the library staff. The library has invited us to demonstrate again sometime in the upcoming months. For the next demonstration, we will aim to reserve a date before RoboCamp not only to advertise our summer program, but also to prepare for the demonstration instead of being preoccupied with RoboCamp. Other improvements include the structural integrity of the VEX and FLL robots, the functionality of the writing robot, and finding more unique ways for visitors to interact with our club.
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 P.M.
# of Members: 24
The demonstration at the Cerritos Library took place on Monday, July 21 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. This demonstration was set up primarily to get people interested in STEM and for team/club outreach. By holding this citywide event, we hoped to publicize our club and have a bigger impact on the community. Seeing how this was after the completion of RoboCamp, we were unable to advertise for the course.
The event was organized by Harrison and Jonathan, with Harrison serving as the liaison with the library and Jonathan arranging the demonstration itself. Through his connections with the library staff, Harrison was able to coordinate with the library in April to reserve the Skyline conference room, typically used for special events, for the club at no cost. Furthermore, as this was a city-coordinated event, the July edition of the monthly Cerritos newsletter advertised the event, making it a citywide event, attracting more people than a typical school demonstration.
The activities at this demonstration included driving FLL and VEX remote control robots and showcasing Windsor. However, because of the large size of the Skyline room, we were able to add more stations. Lawrence, member of our FTC team, reached out to Valley Christian’s FRC team he had been helping out and invited them to showcase their robot. We also added a station with our new club computers for programming-related games and another station for people to try programming a LEGO robot.
On the day off the event, about 7 members coming from VEX and FTC met at Whitney High School in the early afternoon to load the equipment into cars, with three driving parents offering their vehicle for use. In the late afternoon about 10 members met at the library to setup the event. Both packing and setup went relatively smoothly, with the only incidents being a problem with Windsor’s motor setup and a malfunctioning writing robot.
During the actual demonstration, about 150 people showed up, with 24 club members helping out at different times throughout the event. The visitors were mostly elementary-aged children accompanied by their parents. The VEX robots grabbed the attention of many, with a long line at their station. The FRC robot entertained many young children and was able to pass large balls back and forth. Valley Christian also brought their 3D printer which ran throughout the event. Each of the four teams (FLL, VEX, FTC, FRC) also gave a short introduction to their competition during the demonstration.
The demonstration was well received by those visiting as well as the library staff. The library has invited us to demonstrate again sometime in the upcoming months. For the next demonstration, we will aim to reserve a date before RoboCamp not only to advertise our summer program, but also to prepare for the demonstration instead of being preoccupied with RoboCamp. Other improvements include the structural integrity of the VEX and FLL robots, the functionality of the writing robot, and finding more unique ways for visitors to interact with our club.