Family Lego Day at Lincoln Public Library a day of simple fun and high tech building robots

[January 11, 2016]   LINCOLN - On Saturday morning, the Lincoln Public Library hosted a special event for families in the area. Children and their parents were invited to participate in Family Lego Day. Family Lego Day provides an opportunity for families to either bring Legos from home or borrow from the library, and spend time playing and building together.

More than a dozen families showed up for the event. Lego Day was held in the library annex behind the main building.

One of the main attractions of Lego Day was a demonstration by the Logan County 4-H Robotics Club. Leslie Starasta, a parent and one of the founders of the club, said that they only recently started the group. Starasta said she had learned of other robotics clubs in central Illinois, but she also knew other families with children in Logan County that would participate, so it seemed like a good idea to start one here.

“We would be delighted to have more groups like this,” said Starasta. Starasta said she thinks schools could benefit from programs like this one.

The Robotics Club builds small robots out of Lego kits that come with computer software. The software is a drag-and-drop style program, which kids use to program simple instructions that are transferred via USB cable to the robot. Starasta said the software can be programmed to make the robots talk, move, or utilize various sensory inputs, such as touching objects or seeing colors. Updates to the software are downloaded when available, and each kit comes with a series of different possible robots to build.

“The possibilities are only limited by the imagination,” said Starasta.

Interested families were encouraged to sign up to participate in the club. Requirements for participation are membership in 4-H and a minimum age of eight or older. The club currently meets twice a month.

For more information or to enroll in the Robotics Club contact the Logan County Extension office at 217-732-8289.

[Derek Hurley]

Past related article

4-H Robotics Club starting in September