Abbi Richcreeks’s Edgewood Middle School students, Hunter Fitterling, Hayden Stookey, Taylor Mead and Lucy Ray, led a special event for kindergartners at Washington STEM Academy recently.
Over the years, Richcreek’s focus on innovative projects led her to write numerous grants. In summer 2017, she was awarded a Nao humanoid robot, which was named Rowdy.
Rowdy is the first robot to successfully ride a horse programmed by middle school students at a professional performance event. Rowdy and Richcreek’s students have made numerous appearances at nursing homes, community ag events and elementary schools in previous years.
This year, Fitterling, Stookey, Mead and Ray surprised kindergartners with an introduction to Rowdy, who demonstrated his abilities through yoga, walking, playing a game and reciting Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, “'Twas the Night Before Christmas,” published in 1823. The children were mesmerized.
