What do you get when you mix kids that love cooking with kids that love robotics? Cooking with Robotics is the answer. Thanks to a grant from Toyota Motor North America we have started this club. The goals are to provide dehydrated fruit to the Free Kitchen here in Grant County to help those in need and to help youth improve the communication skills of speaking and listening. 

So far we have used readily available kitchen utensils to prepare fruit for dehydration to understand the needed preparation for the fruit. The students are now researching and planning their robotic device that will make the process easier. By pairing students who like to cook and the students who like robots to collaborate to make the robotic devices we have a chance for communication skills to improve. By getting input from both groups they will be able to build a functioning device that meets the needs of the chef and the engineer.

In the world of electronic devices it is amazing to see students talking and engaging with each other as they explore ideas, look at the pros and cons of those ideas and decide on how to proceed.  The scientific method at its best!