Colonial Middle School students experiment with bristlebots
Colonial Middle School students experiment with bristlebots
Colonial Middle School students were challenged to create Bristlebots as part of a visit with Lockheed Martin employees on Dec. 5.
Before diving into the hands-on experience, Lockheed Martin scientists and engineers provided students with an overview of their backgrounds, what they do for the company, and what an engineer does. They also provided some information about Lockheed Martin as a company, and its role in developing systems, equipment, and technology in the areas of aeronautics, rotary and mission systems, missiles and fire control, and space.
They explained that the Bristlebot activity involves many of the same steps they have to go through in their jobs. Engineers have to keep an eye on the supplies while designing, since material costs have to be approved by the company’s finance department. Once materials are purchased and design begins, the engineers build and then test their creations. When something breaks or doesn’t work, engineers must find out why their design failed and what they need to do to fix it.
Students did exactly that while creating their robots from toothbrush heads, batteries, a small motor, tape, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes. Their goal was to create an autonomous robot, which is what Lockheed Martin is doing now through its development of an autonomous Black Hawk helicopter, which can perform missions without remote control or pilot inputs.
Students began by using double-sided tape to attach the battery and the motor to the brush, and then had to figure out how to make the proper connection between the wires for the motor to the battery. Once they figured out how to get the brush to move, they attached “feet” to their bot to control its movement.
The students experimented with varying lengths of pipe cleaners, as well as different shapes, to make their bots move in different ways. As they worked, Lockheed Martin representatives stopped by to teach them about how to affect the movement by applying Newton’s Laws of Motion, which include concepts such as how acceleration can be affected by mass and the force applied.
Students who are in the Math Club, Technology Student Association, and Science Olympiad were among those to take part in the challenging activity.
