HAMPDEN, Maine — Technology students in Hampden Academy’s Robotics class had a real treat on Thursday.
Bomb Squads from Bangor Police and the Maine State Police gave a hands-on presentation to the robotic class students. Squad members also gave real-life examples of how their robots have been used in emergency situations.
Hampden Academy Technology Education teacher Todd Moore says this was great for the students to see and think about because the robotics course teaches them how to design, build, program and troubleshoot any problems with their robots.
Moore said, "Our hope for them to see this today is to see real-world applications of what we do in the classroom and how it would pertain to them, outside of the classroom and in real life."
Miranda LaHaye a student in the Robotics class said, "It was pretty awesome. I’m used to working with smaller bots so, to see something that big in a real-world perspective versus our VEX competition bots, which are 18 by 18 by 18 is kind of insane."
Bangor Police Detective Tim Shaw told students that even the military has been designing equipment similar to video game controllers to be ready for the next generation.
Moore said the school has had a robotics team for several years but this is the first year for the school's Robotics course as part of its curriculum.