Unmanned Aerial Vehicle The latest drone news
SUNBURY — Walking through the doors of Degenstein Community Library on Monday afternoon, alarm bells could have gone off.
A distinct buzzing sound, quite similar to a hive of bees, could be heard across the library. No need to worry, it was all good fun during the library’s drone scavenger hunt where a handful of families zoomed drones in between books to find goodies.
Pitched as a “technical twist on a good, old scavenger hunt,” Monday’s event brought families out to fly through the library to find hidden candy bars. The children then snap images of the candy and return to home base for another turn.
Library officials said the programs allow families to engage their problem-solving and collaboration skills.
Jake Miller, Degenstein’s interlibrary loan and technology coordinator, said the drones were courtesy of the CSIU.
“We’ve used them for a couple of other programs and we’ve had one hunt a year or two ago,” Miller said. “The kids love it, especially when they start whirring. You can see it, when it takes off, they are like, ‘I have power now.’”
Miller said most of the children using the drones are accustomed to playing video games, so he tells them the controls are similar.
“They are pretty user-friendly, and it’s great to see the kids enjoying them,” Miller said
“The drones are cool for the kids to have and experience,” said Talitha Richardson, of Sunbury, who was at the library with her daughters. “It’s pretty easy to use with the tablet. Sometimes they can be harder to control. But this is really cool. They are really into scavenger hunts and this just adds something else to it.”
Monday’s experience was a little better than previous ones for Analeigh Richardson, 13, she said.
“It’s kind of scary. At first, it feels like it’s going to land on your head,” Analeigh said. “The first time I tried a drone, I kept flying it into a tree. But I do like to fly them.”
Miller said the families would get the candy at the end of the program, once they helped clean up.
“Finding stuff and figuring out the clues is a lot of fun,” Analeigh said. “It’s cool that the libraries have them.”
