Star Wars and Wall-E Visit First Grade

"Who knows who these droids up here are?" asked Matt Senreich to the first grade. Every hand shot up, and students couldn't wait to give the answers as they shouted out their names. Each of the four droids were familiar to nearly every student: R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars movies, while Wall-E and B-B8 were immediately recognizable from the hit Disney movie Wall-E. 

Senreich had been working with first grade teachers for a while to find some time where the students could view the droids, learn about how they were made, ask plenty of questions, and interact with them. 

Senreich worked on Robot Chicken, and from there was connected with the group of engineers who have designed and built dozens of these droids. "We've brought them to lots of charities," engineer Mike Senna explained to the students. "Places like City of Hope, Loma Linda Children's Hospital, LA Children's Hospital... they've also been on a Rose Parade float and even in a Toyota commercial."

The first R2-D2 droid took nearly a year for Senna to complete. Michael McMaster, who has built five R2-D2s since then, has cut the time to just around six weeks.

"That's why his last name is McMaster!" one student chimed in.

Wall-E is the heaviest, weighing in around 140 pounds, while B-B8 is the lightest at 40 pounds. 

"To get the size of the droids right we watched the movies a lot," said Senna. "We would look at different objects around them for scale and comparison and go from there. If Wall-E was holding a VHS cassette, that would give us a good idea of how big his hand should be." 

Among the things students wanted to know were: Which droid was built first? Which was the heaviest? Who can fly? -- and perhaps the most important question of all: What were each of the droids favorite colors? 

"C-3PO's favorite color is gold," Senna answered. "R2-D2 likes blue the best. Don't tell C-3PO, but R2 doesn't like gold very much at all." 

Word spread throughout campus quickly, and by the time the first grade had to return to class, Ms. Plant's Upper School Robotics Team had stopped by to view the droids as well. 

Senna emphasized to them the importance of working with what you have.

"That's the best thing you can teach," he said. "Look at what's available to you, look at which systems are similar, figure out how they work, and repurpose them. That teaches students to look at things in a different way, not just for what they are."