Salem students ‘lead the way’ at robotics showcase | News
SALEM — Collins Middle School seventh-grade robotics students Amelia Meegan and Sam Vietzke captured the Middle School Project Lead the Way Division at the One8 Applied Learning Showcase Friday, May 10, at the Track at New Balance.
The feat was especially meaningful since the school’s entry into the One8 Showcase, spearheaded by science educator/Robotics Club advisor Gregg Beach, was its first-ever appearance.
“I just thought it was important that we showed up,” said Beach in a news release. “The process of building, doing the work and showing up was reward enough. I’m not surprised (that we won) because we have so many great students and projects in this school.”
The One8 Showcase, which included more than 300 schools, is a year-end student STEM showcase for Project Lead The Way, OpenSciEd, PBLWorks, and ST Math schools in Massachusetts for students in grades 5-12. Students shared their applied learning projects with industry professionals and had an opportunity to present to an audience.
Student teams each had a table and display board on which they described their projects as industry professionals circulated and engaged students, offering verbal and written feedback.
The Salem robotics students received commemorative One8 Showcase jackets as well as an invitation to the Philips Research Institute in Cambridge for a field trip.
Amelia and Sam presented their robot MrukBot 9000, named after their beloved assistant principal Shamus Mruk, which was capable of 360 turns and was equipped with a bluetooth speaker, comically playing loops of Mruk’s favorite lines:
– “What are you doing here?”
– “Are you supposed to be here?”
– “Where’s your pass?”
– “Get back to class!”
According to Sam, Amelia builds while he codes. “It took me about two days to code,” he said. “We know there were going to be other robots, but we were actually one of very few.”
Success at the One8 Showcase has inspired the two to keep tweaking the MrukBot 9000.
“Our next step is to put a camera on it so we can watch a live feed, basically making it a Roomba,” said Amelia.
“We want to install an AI vision sensor,” Sam added, something Beach plans to introduce to his robotics class and the after-school Robotics Club.
Beach noted that Amelia and Sam are also both drama students, which was key to their presentation.
Seventh-grader Edward Castillo Mesa also attended the One8 Showcase to present his robot, EndGame Chupacabra 3.1, named after the mythical Mexican creature, which he built to battle other robots.
His robot earned “terrific” feedback from several industry professionals in attendance and he has designs on a new project for the 2025 One8 Showcase: A robot to locate lost hikers.
“I want to build something that can actually help people,” he said.
