The students participating in this event were first taught how the different motors and connectors worked and the basics of how to build the starting structure of their robot. After that, we randomly assigned the students different groups and my team floated between the tables helping them to build their robots or execute the different ideas they had as they were building. They needed to design a robot to take on three different courses. They had to navigate their robot through a maze, compete in a game of soccer with 150 ping pong balls, and compete in a brief battle-bot battle. They had to make a robot that could not only survive these arenas, but they also had to build it in a way for there to be multiple drivers at the same time. They were required to have one team member operating the two driving wheels and another team member operating any weapons they build or moving parts. Each group needed to work together and communicate with people they had never met before to succeed in the different courses.

Here are some pictures of the design process for the arenas and Lego robotics kits. We constructed and painted all of the arenas by hand in a way where they can be easily disassembled and stored in our club room. We have camera mounts for each of the arenas allowing us to have a live video feed of the arenas on the big screens in the room for kids and parents who couldn't see the arenas to check out and watch. I programmed two of the arenas and equipped them with sensors and lights. In the arena where the kids would be playing a game of soccer, there was one Raspberry Pi which took input from some force sensors and lit up the lights around the center of the arena whenever a robot hit that block. The maze was the most computer-engineering heavy part of the project. This arena has 3 Raspberry Pis on it that control a variety of sensors, servo motors, and lights to bring different parts of the arenas to life as the robots pass through those parts. As the robot goes over the bridge, the bridge will light up and the servo motors controlling the dragon will begin to move. When the robot starts going under the dragon tunnels, the path will light up green and the bridge lights and motors will turn off, and finally if the robot hits any of the pegs they must avoid in the last stretch, the pegs will flash red. We also hosted a few different trial runs open to any Sac State student to test out or Lego kits and make sure we were prepared for the event!