
Our new Exit 5A Robotics team ran their first robot demonstration at Livingston’s National Night Out, sponsored by the LPD (Livingston Police Department). Amidst the National Guard displays, armored vehicles exhibits, law enforcement demonstrations, helicopter landings, and emergency services outposts, the 5th and 6th graders of our newly minted Exit 5A team programmed their 5 robots ahead of time to navigate the race course. The robots operated autonomously and were decorated with LPD stickers. Over the course of three hours the team ran over a hundred races for participants. Participants had their choice of operating either a remote controlled robot or a remote controlled toy police car. It was a lot of fun for us to share experiences and preparations for competing in FIRST Lego League robotics competitions. We had chances to share the fun of STEM, teach basic EV3 programming, and show some of the challenges of building robots. We even were interviewed by LTV (Livingston TV)!