Sharing Your Toys...

I had a hard lesson yesterday at the Riverside Robotics Club's 4th Annual Robotics Expo.  A lesson in sharing.

Friend Thomas Messerschmidt, who organizes the club at the Woodcrest Library in Riverside, brainstormed and organizes the expo.  All year long he's searching out new folks to show off their robotic parts, robotic creation or robot art.

At events like these, there's a lot of sharing that goes on... You'll let someone hold the controls to your robot, possibly hazarding a bump with a wall.  They may touch and mark or bruise your creation.  Little parts may get lost.

I knew it was risky taking my LEGO out to share with an unestimable number of kids, but Thomas helps me at my events.  There was no way I'd forget this event.

I took a HUGE risk and brought out, in addition to my regular LEGO Bricks, lots of technics parts, big and small wheels, axles, gears and links and some brand new boxes that I'd not yet opened.  I could only hope that it would all be there at the end of the day.

About 1/2 way through the day, as the number of kids grew (and the chaos with it) I started to become just a bit anxious.  I found myself counting the treads I could see; checking to make sure that my big wheels were still there; that the bags of technics parts were sufficiently separated from the rest of the parts; that I could still see some of the minifigs I'd brought. MY TOYS!!! I thought.  MY LEGO!!!

I had to make the announcement when one of the kids walked off with the creation he'd just made.  I trotted after him to retrieve it.  Please don't take my toys, I begged my new, young friends.  I want you to play with them.  I want to share them with you, but they're my toys.  Please leave them for me to play with after you go.

I think the kids understood.  I like to play with LEGO.  They like to play with LEGO.  I was sharing my LEGO with them.

To my relief, at the end of the day, the general bulk and weight of my bins of LEGO bricks were about right.  Some of my new young friends even helped me to put the LEGO back into the bins.

A large group gathered to see who won the prize, donated by The LEGO Group's community outreach division.  It was a good ending to a good day.

Here are some (amateur) videos I took of just a few of the other exhibits at the event, before I got busy.
Hand controller glove using flex sensors: http://youtu.be/Ar2QDHgk71s
Gadgets: http://youtu.be/PCLozfkj7ho
FRC Team 2493: http://youtu.be/TM9Y2OJ-fpk
Steampunk Finishing Tips: http://youtu.be/4Wp5eihKBKM

About the Author:
Trish Tsoiasue blogs voluminously on the Patch.  She likes to share her LEGO bricks, especially with kids!  She apologizes that she's only human, especially when it comes to her toys!  In her ideal world, the kids would be able to make - then take - their LEGO creation!  You can find videos of her many topics of interest here... Please subscribe!