By Lindsay Farlow | May 17, 2013
Nuvation Engineering's CEO Michael Worry has done many presentations and panel appearances over the years, and is certainly no stranger to grueling question and answer sessions. Still I, don’t think any of that prepared him for the show-and-tell crowd in Miss Elizabeth’s 2nd grade class this week. Michael brought Nuvation combat robots Texas Heat (the flame-throwing wedge) and Son of Ziggy (the pneumatic flipper) into his daughter Megan’s classroom to talk about how robots work and what an engineer does.
Nuvation Engineering has always been passionate about sharing our love of designing and creating with the community. In the past Michael and several other Nuvation engineers have mentored high school robotics teams, but it was nice to see the unbridled enthusiasm of second-graders. It’s a great reminder of how important education is, and why we’re so committed to doing what we do. At least a few budding engineers were identified!
Questions from the eager audience included:
“If Son of Ziggy flipped a shoe in the air, would the shoe break?”
“Can we try flipping my shoe?”
“Do the robots fight humans?”
“How long does it take to build a robot?”
“Can Son of Ziggy flip me in the air, and I’ll do a bunch of somersaults and land on my feet?
“Does the robot get a trophy if it wins?”
“Does the robot that cut Son of Ziggy have knives on the sides of it?”
“Can we put the robots in the sandbox and fight them?”
The presentation was also helpful in clearing up a little bit of confusion with Megan’s teacher. When she heard Megan talking about fighting robots and shooting flames with her dad, she thought for sure they were playing some kind of video game. Little did she know!
Though a (curiously new) school policy prohibits children from operating flamethrowers, everyone still took a turn driving Texas Heat around the schoolyard. A good time was had by all, and at the combat robotics community acquired some new fans. As Megan says, “It’s all about fun and a little bit about winning.”
Thanks for having us, Peninsula School!
