Middle School Students Showcase Robotic Creations

On Wednesday night, students with the New Brunswick Middle School Robotics League showcased the robots they had built and programmed to accomplish tasks, such as catching small items, lifting and carrying and moving along a track.

Middle school principal Kathy Antoine-Smith said the program began last year with 10 students and has doubled to 20 this year. It is funded through a grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The robotics program requires the use of math, literacy, computer skills and the sciences, Antoine-Smith said, as well as lots of teamwork. 

The group provided two presentations - one on seafood harvesting and another on potatoes and potato harvesting, and the potential use of robotics in those respective fields.

The students said that robotics were used in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to monitor how much oil was pouring into the ocean, and to skim some of the oil from the water.

The potato industry could benefit by using robotics to remove potatoes from the ground in a way that would cut down on bruising and cuts to the potatoes. Damaged potatoes are not worth as much, and can become contaminated, they said.

"The students worked very, very hard," Antoine-Smith said.

Superintendent Richard Kaplan said the goal is to bring the robotics program to the high school next year.