“Robots by the C” Junior Edition Inspires Future Engineer

Benny Mangini, 9, crawled on her hands and knees, searching for a tiny screw.  Something glinted.  Triumphant, she handed it to her friend, Ava Palmer, 9, who twisted it into the robot motor and locked it in place with a nut.  They high-fived: step three was complete.

It’s the second year of Robots by the C Junior, an afterschool program created by Peter Langendorf, a senior at Manchester Essex Regional High School.  Named after the high school’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team, Robots by the C, Langendorf and his teammates—William Mondello, Maggie Whitman, and Thaddeus Bardsley, all seniors—have mentored more than 50 students as they build robots from scratch, learning mechanical, electrical and software engineering skills.

One of the goals of Robots by the C Junior is to create a pipeline of skilled students for the high school robotics program.  Now in its 20th season, the high school team has recently experienced a decline in membership that impacts its ability to compete against schools with larger, more experienced, and better funded teams.  Robots by the C Junior hopes to revitalize interest in robotics among younger students and rebuild Robots by the C for the future.

On four “early release” days each fall, students in grades three through five spend three hours constructing, wiring, and coding robot cars from kits with guidance from the high school students.  The students work in pairs, emulating the way the high school robotics team collaborates in building its competition robot.  The instructors explain ultrasonic sensors, circuits, and block-based code.  Students learn to improvise with a hot glue gun when a wire is loose; how to check their code and fix errors; and how to manage frustration when inevitably, the robot slams into the wall instead of stopping in front of the goal.

The first year it was offered, the program sold out in six hours.  With the help of a grant from the Hooper Fund, the program expanded in the second year, offering advanced and beginner sections with a smaller class size while keeping the program cost-accessible to all.

“Robots by the C Junior is a long-term investment,” Langendorf explains, “but already I can see its impact.”  He noted that an afterschool robotics class is planned at Essex Elementary this spring, and a high school teacher is considering incorporating the same robot kits into a new robotics elective.  “I can’t wait to come back from college as an FRC mentor and work with my Robots by the C Junior graduates again!”