President Barack Obama made some waves and warned the robots at the White House Science Fair on Monday, but it was the elementary-school Supergirls who captured his science-loving heart. Wearing red capes over their Girl Scout uniforms, the 6-year-olds from Tulsa, Oklahoma, showed off a page-turning robot, made from Lego blocks and designed for use by disabled people. Later, Obama confessed he was tickled by the kids’ command of techno-lingo. “This is a quote. They said, ‘It’s just a prototype,'” he recalled.
As the president toured the three dozen exhibits, he splashed water in a wave tank to demonstrate how a lakeside power-generating system works, and got the lowdown on the science behind the show. “What’s the concept behind the algorithm?” he asked Anvita Gupta, a 17-year-old junior from Scottsdale, Arizona, who came up with software that looks for potential new drugs to treat cancer, Ebola and other diseases.
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Each Tuesday is EducationTuesday here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts about educators and all things STEM. Adafruit supports our educators and loves to spread the good word about educational STEM innovations!