Caroline 4-H Technology Club raises robots, not rabbits

The Caroline County Agricultural Fair is the traditional showcase each year for 4-Hers displaying their talents in raising pigs, cows, sheep and goats, as well as for residents of all ages competing in produce and baking categories.

So the Caroline County 4-H Technology Club display came as something of a pleasant surprise, nestled among the giant gourds and eggplants, home-baked cakes and displays of kitchenware and sewing projects in the L.J. Moyer homegoods building.

Let’s face it, not every teen and pre-teen has access to the acreage on which a black angus can graze, and not all of them have the inclination to raise a lamb or goat.

But a lot of them are interested in computers and technology.

And the complexity of the robotic projects produced by these kids is a real revelation, especially to us older adults who find a Chromebook or smartphone challenge enough.

In addition to a functioning wheeled robot that can pick up plastic blocks with its articulated arm and claw, the Tech Club members also displayed a Myoelectric prosthetic hand, the pieces of which were made with a 3-D printer, an Arduino drawing arm, and EV3 Spider-bot. Member Gil Johnson displayed his rubber-band- shooting Gatling gun made from Lego bits and pieces.

Mindboggling!

One of the club’s shining lights is Becky Button, 14, who graduated from Caroline Middle School in May and is a rising 9th grader at the Commonwealth’s Governor’s School.

Becky has presented her prosthetic elbow at the National Institute of Health in Bowie, Md., and wrote an inspiring New York Times Op-Ed piece titled “Kids Can Do This,” that has been picked up by Scholastic Books for republication. Virginia Tech took notice and gave her a four-year grant, noted proud mother Heather Button, who is the 4-H Technology Club advisor.

Becky was already heavily involved in robotics before the idea of a local 4-H club surfaced.

“We were here in Caroline County and driving to Washington, D.C., Richmond and Blacksburg [for robotics meets] when we decided to do this in Caroline,” Heather Button said.

“It is kid driven. They decide what they want to do. We have seven steady members and have probably doubled membership in the first 2 days of the fair.”

Following in his sister’s footsteps is John Button, 10, who built a functioning model of Leonardo Da Vinci’s 13th century aerial screw.

John later patiently talked this technological Neanderthal through successfully operating one of the club’s robots.

Another club member, Amir White, proudly explained his spider-bot and demonstrated another electric rubber-band cannon made from very simple parts.

None of this could be accomplished without a lot of encouragement and advice from parents and other community-minded individuals.

Becky and John’s parents are both engineers and Craig Woodward of Woodward Electric assisted the 4-Hers’ Team Epsilon Pi in building the mobile robot that won the Connect Award at the recent FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition.

In keeping with the 4-H spirit, the Technology Club members at the fair produced little green plastic four-leaf clover pins using a computer and a 3-D printer.

Pretty nifty stuff, indeed – now, if I can only coax one of these kids into teaching this befuddled senior citizen how to use his Android smartphone… .

 

 

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