Sixth-grader Diana Wu adjusted the angle of the NXT robot before launching it to hit a red ball onto a cardboard ski-ball course Sunday during a robotics skills demonstration.

Fifth- and sixth-grade students from Pleasant Valley School District’s elementary buildings demonstrated Lego robotics skills during the event at Riverdale Heights Elementary School, Bettendorf. The students participated in after-school programs this fall to learn about programming and constructing the robots.

“You guys are awesome,” said Dick Koos, of Davenport and a retired NASA Mission Control engineer. He highlighted NASA’s mission to learn more about Mars with robot rovers “Spirit” and “Opportunity.”

What the 48 participants accomplished in their robot presentations is similar, on a rudimentary level, to how scientists and computer specialists program the Mars rovers, he said. It takes up to 20 minutes to send radio signals to the red planet and instruct the rovers to go search for signs of water, for example.

Diane and her teammates, Sarah Meyers and Scott Murphy, both fifth-graders at Riverdale, named their robot Arwin the First. The cardboard course was marked with lines to show how many points the robot scored with each lob.

“She’s not the best athlete, so she misses quite often,” Sarah said.

Arwin evidently disagreed with that statement. A minute later, the robot nailed the mark with a strong 200 point whack to the opposite end of the course.

Bridgeview launched the effort two years ago when school parent Kim Gasaway asked why the district didn’t have a robotics program, said Heather Witters, program leader at Bridgeview. The other elementary schools, Pleasant View, Cody and Riverdale Heights got involved this year when the four PTAs collaborated on an eight-week course.

Each PTA purchased Lego Mindstorms NXT robotics kits and software for their building, and Gasaway trained volunteers to run the individual sessions. Second sessions are planned for next spring.

Students learned how to incorporate sensors into their robot’s repertoire of abilities and discovered sometimes these systems work — and occasionally malfunction. Sarah, Scott and Diana discovered that talking even in quiet voices would trigger Arwin’s sound sensor at times when they weren’t trying to make the robot move.

“They’ve learned that you just keep trying, that there is a certain level of persistence,” Witters said.

Kids also learn about working together as a team during the sessions. Fifth-grader Alex McLean and sixth-grader Austin Johnson, both students at Bridgeview, set up a course with Styrofoam cups and a Lego character for their NXT.

Part of the programming involved learning how to tell one wheel to turn while keeping the other stationary. The NXT’s twirling arm knocked over a first set of cups and turned to deal with a second set of cups. With a bop, cups and the Lego man went flying. “Bad robot,” Alex said and the NXT stopped.

“I just love building robots and designing programs. I just love it,” Austin said.