Neighbor News
High School Robotics Team Visits Carlsbad Seniors
Students from the Tri-City Christian High School Robotics Club visited La Costa Glen senior living community
La Costa Glen residents welcomed a group of robots to the Carlsbad senior living community. The resident-run Tech Team joined the Tri-City Christian High School Robotics Club (TCCHS) to host a unique intergenerational event. The high schoolers who designed the robots introduced them to the older adults.
About 40 residents, including many retired engineers and tech industry pioneers, attended the event.
“It’s just so nice to see young kids working together as a team and doing things that will make a difference in the world and the future,” resident Larry Greenfield told The Coast News. “They’re teaching me a lot, and it’s great. These robots are just incredible.”
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Gaining Perspective
The students presented on the four areas of responsibility: software, hardware, business, and design, where each team member works and contributes to the robot build. Following the lecture, the students gave a live demonstration using three of their actual robots. They showcased the various tasks the robots could do, including retrieving objects, shooting a paper airplane, and navigating a maze.
The residents then got to try out the robots themselves and experiment with the students’ creations firsthand. Nelvin Cepeda photographed these two generations of creators for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
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La Costa Glen resident Bette Starke, whose grandson Liam is a freshman in the TCCHS robotics club, recommended that the community's Tech Team invite the students to the San Diego County community.
This recommendation came following other intergenerational and technology-focused events, including a presentation on artificial intelligence.
“There was so much interest that I thought they’d like to see some young high school kids,” Stark said. “It was exciting to have him [Liam] come with his team and demonstrate this to the senior community because the seniors love to be around young people.”
La Costa Glen knows the importance of intergenerational events like this one. Studies show that intergenerational activities like this robotics club demonstration at La Costa Glen promote better physical health, mental stimulation, and improved mental health and overall quality of life.
La Costa Glen resident and Tech Team leader Fred Johansen said that, as someone with a background in mechanical engineering, learning from the students was fascinating.
“They’re the next generation of techies. They’re gonna be the scientists and engineers coming up. We can see ourselves in what they’re doing,” Johansen told The Coast News.
The students also visited the community’s model train display, where they saw how the system integrations worked then and discussed advancements and developments in the technologies over the last generation.
