Gary Poole started the countdown. “Ready?” he asked the competitors. They each nodded. Then he turned to the crowd, “One, two, three …”
“Fight!” screamed dozens of little kids.
Wheels began flying off and mini saw blades snapped as four robots pummeled each other, each trying to claim victory. The booth, Robot Battles, was one of several at the Chattanooga Mini Maker Faire Saturday afternoon.
Fair director Graham Bredemeyer said the event’s goal is to expose children to engineering in a fun way. In addition to robot battles, youngsters could observe a 3D printer or make their own chairs. Everything was focused on kids learning to work with their hands, with demostrations from whittling to cardboard creations to the explosive results of dropping Mentos candies in Diet Cokes.
“It’s a place where tinkerers and scientists and engineers, who normally in their day jobs are kind of seen as boring, mundane people, can come and be rock stars for a day,” Bredemeyer said. “And to get kids excited in those kind of careers.”