Many viewers of the recent Winter Olympics were fascinated by the buzzy drone cameras that whooshed down snow slopes or ice tracks following skiers, snowboarders, and bobsledders.
This new, exhilarating way of capturing athletic feats certainly captivated students at Abington Friends School, which is why they asked University of Pennsylvania engineering graduate student Dexter Ong for a hands-on look at this cutting-edge technology during a special visit.
A Dynamic Drone Demonstration
AFS students were treated to a special presentation by Ong, who showcased state-of-the-art camera and drone technology being developed right here in Philadelphia. His visit, sponsored by the Upper School Robotics Club, was opened up to middle schoolers to help share the upper schoolers’ passion for engineering.
Ong brought several drones (including one that was safe to demonstrate indoors) and explained its hardware components. He then talked about how we perceive three-dimensional space is the basis of drone navigation. To make it relatable to students, he shared that his drone maps space in cubes just like the video game Minecraft.
In a live demonstration, he had a student stand and pointed the drone’s camera at the student, streaming what the computerized drone “sees” onto a TV monitor. Then, he turned the drone away to show how the drone “remembered” where the student was (still visible on the screen).
When speaking about the ways we measure distance, he mentioned that radar uses sound under water. A middle school student perked up and asked, “What about bats and echolocation?” At this question, Ong paused and thanked the student, saying “I’ve never thought about that connection.”
After his presentation, Ong said, “Before college, I didn’t know robotics was a field I might be interested in studying.” His visit was an opportunity for AFS students as early as fifth grade to meet a real-life robotics researcher.
From Field Trip to Classroom
The Upper School Robotics Club originally met Ong during a February field trip to Penn Engineering. There, in addition to viewing his work, they visited a variety of laboratories with robots that can assess a person’s injuries and vital signs, as well as drones with see-in-the-dark cameras that fly around stationary and moving objects while “thinking for themselves.”
On the Penn tour, the club was joined by AFS graduate Sophia Wang, a current undergraduate in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences who also takes classes in the Engineering School.
The Upper School Robotics Club is on a break from competition this year, but co-clerks Timur Kryzhanovsky, Georgie Martin, and Leila Wang plan an active schedule for meeting several times a week.
“I never really saw myself as a STEM person,” said Martin. “Even though the club is STEM-oriented, it’s really a place for everyone. People assume, ‘Oh, it’s math, and it’s science,’ but there’s so much more. There’s design, media, and also friendship.”
In addition to building up their coding, design, and teamwork skills this year, club members are also bringing their passion for robotics to the Lower School through the Experiential Learning Program. They recently showed off the robot that they built for last year’s competition in an interactive demonstration.
When explaining what’s new in Upper School Robotics Club this year, Martin said, “When we meet, we either teach skills or we work on building smaller robots in groups. Sometimes, we play silly building games like who can build the tallest tower with spaghetti and marshmallows. We stay on the topic of engineering, but not everything has to be hyper-serious. I think we’ve done a better job of trying to allow students to shine in their specific interests.”
Learn more about Abington Friends School and how it cultivates intellectual excellence, fosters strength of character, and supports the growth of each student’s unique talents.
