Hello, everyone! General Mayhem here with a spooky report on a VERY busy Halloween season for Trial & Error Robotics!
First, I must apologize for the delayed report. You see, I had all my notes perfectly organized and ready to go… until Bandit decided they would make an excellent addition to his candy stash. After a lengthy investigation—and several suspicious candy wrappers—we finally recovered them. So, without further delay, let’s get on with it!
Bandit’s Monster Run! 👻🤖
Our first spooky adventure was Spooky STEM at the Engineer Research and Development Center! Our team joined the many other mad scientists to welcome more than 90 fourth-grade students for a day of STEM activities and, naturally, a little mayhem. The students had the chance to experience some of the spooky and strange science ERDC has to offer.
Our team of engineers came up with a game called Bandit’s Monster Run, where students had to help Bandit, riding on TankBot, escape from a spooky cemetery while avoiding the zombies lurking in the center! The rules were simple: make it through the cemetery without hitting a zombie or driving outside the boundaries. Successfully complete the first round and you earned a 3D-printed prize!
Needless to say the game was a hit, and it quickly became a favorite with the students. And the most important scientific result of all? Bandit survived.
Truckloads of Halloween Mayhem! 🎃
But apparently, one dose of Halloween mayhem wasn’t enough for our amazing engineers.
Next up was ERDC’s Trunk or Treat, where families came out with their children to visit decorated trunks and collect plenty of Halloween candy.
Our team brought our trusty Frankenstein head where kids had to bravely reach into Franky’s nose to retrieve their prize. There were plenty of other amazing trunks to explore, along with a fire truck, bouncy houses, and even a coffee trailer for the adults who needed a little caffeine-powered assistance surviving the candy-fueled children.
Frankly, some of those kids were running around like wild raccoons. Bandit would have been proud.
To our surprise the team’s trunk even won the best trunk of the evening, and made for a great end to an amazing day.
A Spooky Success! 🧪🎃
And that wraps up our Halloween adventures! Between Spooky STEM and Trunk or Treat, our team had a fantastic time getting kids excited about STEM and giving our community a chance to see what Trial & Error Robotics is all about. A huge thank-you to ERDC and everyone who came out, played Bandit’s Monster Run, visited our trunk, or stopped by to say hello.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some very important business to attend to. I need to have a serious conversation with a certain raccoon about the proper storage of engineering notes.
General Mayhem signing out!
