15 Feb, 2016 | Events
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Crashing, Smashing Robots
BY MELDON WEE
As day turned to dusk, our bellies were full of scrumptious éclairs, our hearts full of ambition and our minds full of fluff after a day of much tedium. All this had us well prepared for the activities that were to come this evening: a robotics workshop that would make any child tinkerer leap from their seat.
Working on our robots
With our brief introduction out of the way, the parts we needed to piece together our own creation were made available to us. With quick ease and precision, our assembly lines were set to work. Pages flipped, parts picked and pieces fitted together. In no time, ten beautifully crafted (we all followed the same manual) robots stood proudly on our tables. But what is a robot if it is unable to do anything? It should at least be able to move. So our first test for our eager creations was to give them personality, which meant moving in a straight line. By way of software pre-uploaded into the unit, with names that harken to a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away, our miniature automatons revved into life; startling some of us into dropping them instantly onto the floor. Making slight modifications to design, improving aerodynamics and load, and with preferred personality in hand, our robots were ready to race. Though most of the races were close, some bots proved more willful than expected, choosing to abandon the race just before the finish line and heading straight back the way they came.
And the race begins!
Programming of our very own bots proved to be a very Lego-like affair, with blocks of code appearing as veritable Lego blocks on screen. Where one would normally see a wall of text written in C, what we had at the end were strings of blocks connected to one another, as you would imagine a circuit board. It was truly surreal.
Now with remote control capabilities, our robots were ready to participate in their final challenge: a two-a-side team game with the goal of knocking over flags, balls and retrieving a basket carrying our king. Our gladiators set foot inside the pit, with spectators looking earnestly onwards. At the sound of the whistle, mayhem ensued. Bots deftly maneuvered around obstacles, only to quickly find themselves helplessly stuck in a 1cm deep hole, courtesy of a nudge from an enemy. Plastic smashed against plastic as bots tussled for their king. A limb, which was a wheel, was witnessed rolling away, having been torn out from its axle during a particularly vicious fight. The spectators cheered and roared at the sheer spectacle that unfolded before them. The atmosphere was so intense; you could barely hear yourself think. But very soon, our champion emerged from the rubble and was declared victorious.
Our battlefield with bottomless pits
After the usual fanfare, prize presentations and mandatory group photo taking, we bid our bots farewell. Though it felt like we were just scratching the surface of what we can do, it was undeniable from the smile on everyone’s face how much we all enjoyed putting our bots together and watching them ram headlong into each other.
Group photo with all participants
14 Feb, 2016 | Uncategorised
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2 Jan, 2016 | Articles
As we usher in the New Year, the CN Yang Scholars’ Club (CNYSC) would like to express our immense gratitude and appreciation for all that we have received under the scholars programme. Starting with Academic Year 2015/2016, the CNYSC has kickstarted a number of volunteering initiatives as we work towards contributing more actively to society.
Our first volunteering initiative took place with the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA). Thus far, several batches of CN Yang scholars have made their way down to volunteer with ADA. Let’s proceed to find out more about their experiences!
Volunteering Initiative with ADA
BY CNYSC PRESS & PUBLICITY PORTFOLIO
Earlier this year, we made our way down to New Horizon Centre (Bukit Batok) on a Saturday morning as part of the CN Yang Scholars’ Club Volunteering Session. For this session, we volunteered for the Saturday Extension Programme, which is managed by the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA),
Admittedly, most of us had little to no knowledge of dementia and did not know what to expect. What made this volunteering session different was that a volunteering orientation was organised by ADA before we made our way down to Bukit Batok, providing us with information about the disease and various services provided by ADA. With a better understanding of dementia, many of us became more comfortable and dismissed our reservations about volunteering for a cause we were initially unfamiliar with.
The Saturday Extension Programme is currently offered at selected ADA day care centres on Saturdays. At these sessions, a volunteer is attached to each client, who is a person with dementia, in order to provide individual care and attention. While most clients spoke mandarin or dialects, some were fluent in English and this made communication much easier. Yet, even with the communication barrier, it was relatively easy to engage their clients with the large variety of meaningful activities available and planned for them.
To commemorate Mid-Autumn Festival that fell in late September, a mooncake-making session was organized by regular volunteers. We assisted the clients to knead the dough and mould the mooncakes, but most of their clients had more experience than we did and folded the red bean paste into the pastry with quick precision.
Before arriving for the session, some of us had naively assumed that we would simply help to facilitate simple puzzles but we were proven wrong. In the early afternoon, volunteers whipped out inflatable paper balls (the colourful kinds they used to sell in primary school bookshops) for a game of ‘toss the ball across the table’. We started off slow, thinking that we had to curb our enthusiasm and play a slow game of Ping-Pong. With a simple WHOOSH, the ball flew right over our heads and landed on the floor behind us, leaving all of us stunned at the sheer force of that serve. With newfound determination, we took the game more seriously but ultimately found ourselves challenged and happily exhausted. Apart from helping to engage clients with stimulating and physical activity, this simple game of toss-the-ball served as a reminder for us to volunteer with an open mind.
Before long, it was time for us to leave. Volunteering with ADA has allowed us to interact personally with their clients and offer them individual attention, an opportunity that is usually hard to come by under group volunteering initiatives. It has also helped to build a deeper understanding of dementia, an illness that plagues many Singaporeans but until quite recently has not received much attention. With the services provided by ADA, it has become much easier for caregivers to seek support and provide persons with dementia the care they require. The volunteering initiative was memorable for us all, and we certainly hope that our services have benefitted clients of the New Horizon Centre.
