LEGO® Pinatas!
Last summer ( 1998 ) PCS hosted a robotics camp. To make things interesting, we decided to make the robotic's
challenge: "smash open the pinata"! The pinatas were created by Anita of tissue paper and different animal heads.
We suspended them three feet in the air. Students had to start their robotic creations three feet away in a designated
square...but were allowed to use any means at their Lego® disposal. The solutions the different student teams
attempted were ingenious and varied! Some students built tall mobile
towers with gear trains designed to cut open the pinatas or rotary to linear action
"pokers" that would poke holes in the tissue. Others designed huge lever arms
that would "whap" open pinata in the traditional way. Others built trebuchets that
would lauch shot at the pinata and break it open. I would recommend this activity for anyone else hosting a robotics camp!
PICTURES OF THE 1998 ROBOTICS SUMMER CAMP!!!
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