There was an invasion of robots at the Dayton Elementary School on Wednesday. The programmed, remote-controlled, motorized, metal machines grabbed candy off tables, raced recklessly around classrooms and did their best to take over the school.

But no one was in any danger; the students had them under control.

The Dayton third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students were teaming up with physics students from West Shamokin High School and computer-aided design and drafting/pre-engineering students from the Lenape Technical School to learn new skills while building and trying out robots during a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Robotics Day program.

West Shamokin teacher Fran Graham's physics students were busy helping the younger students put together motorized robots made from pop cans.

"The challenge for the younger students was following directions and having a finished product, having something that actually works," said Graham. "They get really excited when they see them run."

West Shamokin physics student Alycia Painter, a senior from Worthington, was making sure the elementary students attached the wires correctly to the metal for the robot's motor.

"It's kinda hard," said Painter. "The hard part for them is the directions."

"Careful not to bend them," she said.

Fifth-grader Justin Stitt was the first in the room to get his pop can robot built.

"The hard part was putting in the screws," he said. "They're magnetized and the metal pulls them away."

Heather Simpson, who teaches the computer-aided design and drafting-pre-engineering program at Lenape said her students made the robots used in an obstacle course and as robotic arms. They also made the pop can robots themselves first and then created a new set of directions at a lower reading level for the younger kids to make them, she said.

"They love working with the younger kids and sharing their knowledge about engineering and technology," said Simpson. "They want to pass on to them that hands-on activities involving engineering, science and technology is fun and they can pursue it as they go up through the grades. They try to encourage them to stick with it and not give up when things gets a little hard and tell them it will benefit them when they get older."

In one classroom, students competed using remote controls to run VEX Robotics Design System construction kit machines through an obstacle course while the rest of the class cheered them on to a win.

"Start your engines," said third-grader Colten Gourley and his classmates Madison Uncapher, Mia Daniels and Grace Stockdale started bumping their robots into each other.

"Could you please get away from me," shouted Uncapher.

In another room, students designed paper robots.

Ben Schweinberg, a fourth-grade student, took the controls of a robotic arm in the computer lab and tried to scoop up some candy.

"You have five minutes to get as much candy as you can," said Tyler Wilson, of Kittanning, a senior computer-aided design and drafting/pre-engineering at Lenape, while explaining how to operate the controls.

"I kept messing around with it until I figured it out," said Schweinberg. "Then it was easy."

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