Robot Races

 

Ryanne's science fair project is to determine whether her cats are right pawed or left pawed. She dangles a ball with catnip in front of each of her three cats for a set time everyday and records which paw they use to bat at it. If playing with her cats is science, she's all for it.

Her project inspired me to make a science project out of a small toy. We operated the toy with different fingers and recorded the results to determine which finger was the most efficient. The results were not what I predicted which was that the index finger would win. The ring finger must have the right angle to shoot the hoop the farthest.

I like to cast a scientific light on things that we do, but lately I've noticed that the easiest way to do that is to have contests. She loves contests. Jerry found a kit for the robot at Radio Shack, and Ryanne put it together. It is a six inch high, remote control gadget that goes forward, turns around, and makes several different amusing noises. It doesn't do much, but it's good to race around an obstacle course. We set up a track lined with pillows and doilies in the kitchen to navigate through, and recorded our best times. I think the reason Ryanne likes competition so much is that she usually wins.

We've been having a sciencey kind of week. Interesting how much it felt like play.

Nancy Sherer

 

 


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