Twenty-three homeschoolers from the ACTS Center, along with their parents and guardians, visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) on 15 November 2023 to learn about agri-robotics. They were accompanied by ACTS Center Community Directress Elizabeth Lim Yao.
ACTS Center homeschoolers, their parents and guardians, and Center Community Directress Yao pose with SEARCA representatives led by SEARCA Deputy Director for Administration Florendo.
Assoc. Prof. Joselito Florendo, SEARCA deputy director for administration, emphasized the vital role of agriculture to all individuals, including children. He highlighted its contributions to their daily necessities like food, clothing, and shelter.
Ms. Yao, on the other hand, expressed her gratitude to SEARCA for giving the students an opportunity to engage in agri-robotics through experiential modalities.
To stir the students' excitement, Mr. Richard Angelo Natata, program associate of SEARCA's Emerging Innovation for Growth Department (EIGD), presented a Lincoln Learning Solutions video, delving into the use of robotics in medicine, industry, and agriculture. He further enticed the students by showing images of robots and encouraging them to guess their specific purposes.
In two separate groups, the students toured the SEARCA Hub for Agricultural and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (SHARING) and participated in a learning session at the SHARING Café.
The ACTS Center students tour SHARING.
In their tour of SHARING, they learned about Southeast Asia's farm innovation stories and agripreneurship products. The students also explored artwork installations, interactive technologies, and innovation tools.
The students experience hands-on learning on agri-robotics using a LEGO robotics kit at the SHARING Café.
At the SHARING Café, they had the chance to experience working like scientists and engineers by building LEGO robots with the guidance of key EIGD staff.
ACTS Center homeschoolers, their parents and guardians, and Ms. Yao with the SEARCA delegation