4. Droney Is Cool

4 Droney Is Cool We worked so hard making Droney that we lost track of the time. We even skipped lunch. It was almost three o'clock. That's when Mr. Klutz came into the Fab Lab. "I just wanted to see how you kids were making out," he said. Ewww, gross!

"We're not making out!" we all shouted. "No," said Mr. Klutz. "You're part of the Maker Movement, so I wanted to see how you were making out. Get it? Maker Movement? Making out?" We all laughed, even though it wasn't funny. Always laugh at the principal's jokes, even if they're not funny. That's the first rule of being a kid. Mr. Klutz looked at Droney. "What's this?" he asked. "It's a wireless, radio-controlled, speech-synthesized flying robot," explained Miss Aker. "We made it." "And we named it Droney," said Ryan. "It shoots marshmallows." "Cool!" said Mr. Klutz. "I'm so proud of you kids. You're really getting into the spirit of the Maker Movement." "We were about to test Droney," said Miss Aker. "Would you like to watch,

Mr. Klutz?" "You bet!" he said. Mr. Docker tinkered with Droney's motor. Mrs. Yonkers adjusted Droney's propellers. Miss Aker flipped Droney's ON switch. And slowly, Droney rose up off the table and hovered in the air. "WOW," said Mr. Klutz, which is "MOM" upside down. "How do you control it? Is there a remote?" "No, we control it with voice commands," said Miss Aker. "Speak, Droney!" "HELLO," Droney said in a computery voice. "MY NAME IS DRONEY." "It talks?" said Mr. Klutz. "It's smart too!" said Miss Aker. "Watch this. Droney, who invented the Band-Aid?" "THE BAND-AID WAS INVENTED IN 1920 BY EARLE

DICKSON IN NEW JERSEY," said Droney. "We downloaded the entire internet into Droney's memory," said Mrs. Yonkers. "So it knows everything." "I AM SMARTER THAN ANY HUMAN BEING," said Droney. "Gee, Droney is kind of full of itself," I said.

"Yeah, Droney shouldn't brag," said Andrea. "Bragging isn't nice."

"I HEARD THAT," said Droney. "I guess we should have programmed Droney to be more modest," Miss Aker whispered. "MR. KLUTZ," said Droney, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO ARM WRESTLE?" Mr. Klutz laughed. He's a big, strong man, and it seemed kind of silly for him to arm wrestle a robot half his size. "Oh, I don't want to break you," said Mr. Klutz. "DON'T WORRY," said Droney. "IF I GET HURT, THE KIDS CAN PRINT OUT A NEW ARM ON THE 3D PRINTER." Good point. Droney hovered next to the table. Mr. Klutz got into position. Miss Aker put Mr. Klutz's hand against Droney's claw hand. "This will be a piece of cake," Mr. Klutz whispered to us.*