Robotics Workshop: Build and Battle
Taught by Sean Spillane, Founder of BK Bots
Sean Spillane is a Brooklyn-based mechanical engineer who taught high school math, physics and robotics for 6 years before returning for his second bachelors degree in engineering. He earned his first BA in Economics at UC Davis followed by his Masters in Math Education at Brooklyn College. He interned with NASA at the Langley Research Center, creating an experimental redesign of an airplane wing, resulting in a patent submission and a published paper in the AIAA Journal.
Finding that standardized tests stifled creativity in the classroom and limited opportunities for project-based learning, Sean left teaching to pursue his passion for mechanical engineering. In 2012, Sean launched BK Bots to teach the foundations of computer programming, engineering practices and the iterative design process to the next generation of aspiring engineers and robotics enthusiasts. While classes were initially offered for kids, BK Bots has recently expanded it's offers to include adult classes.
In his spare time, Sean enjoys building robots made from things other than Legos and programming them to destroy each other. He is also putting the finishing touches on his Grey Goo nanobot army.
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Join BK Bots for a half-day of robot-building and battling!
During this four-hour workshop, we'll work in teams of four to build a custom robot using components from the Lego Mindstorms EV3 kit, then we'll learn how to program each robot to perform just about any task we want them to, and, ultimately, to battle each other. Once we've built them, we'll battle them against the other teams to see who reigns supreme!
All materials for the class will be provided, though robots cannot be taken home at the end of the workshop.
