Robotics Summer Camp

[mbenard]

My team, 1513 will be hosting a week long robotics camp for 8th-11th grade students. As this was my first year involved in robotics am am not sure how to structure the camp. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[J93Wagner]

Try asking our head mentor, Sean Schuff. Between him and a few other teachers, they run FLL camps, a VEX camp, and have years of experience of doing this.

His contact info is here -http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/member.php?u=4728

[Dhananjay T.]

Every summer, team 25 holds a LEGO camp for elementary, and middle school kids, we get them to use NXT's, and LEGO Mindstorms kits for a couple of weeks.

I could give you the e-mail address of one of the parent mentors that runs it, and he could probably answer your questions. Please feel free to pm me for his contact information.

[Katie_UPS]

There are mentors on 2062 (not my team) who also have experience running camps and I'm sure would love to help you guys out.

[dag0620]

Team 1071 puts on a class at our towns Summer Studies Program designed around FLL. Classes either compete using the FLL game for the previous Season, or compete in a Battle Bot type game (depends on which variation of the class students pick)

[The Analog]

Team 79 runs camps practically all summer, I will have some of the members who are really involved in them PM you about them.

[akeisic]

294 runs camps over the summer based on the needs of the team. We typically run one session a week and then use the remainder lab time to build towards a mini-competition (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67629) (pic (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/31577)).

We typically cover:
1. Systems Engineering (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2293)
2. Drive Train Fundamentals (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2294)
3. Mechanisms and Manipulators (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2295)
4. Motor Performance (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2292)
5. Basic Programming
6. Advanced Programming
7. Scouting

We teach CAD throughout every session and usually have 2 days of dedicated hands on work.

[jspatz1]

Don't know if you mean a Lego camp or a Vex camp (we run both), or something else, but here's some input.

We have found the most enjoyable camp format for us is to simulate a compressed FRC season into one week, and use a miniaturized version of an FRC game. For example last summer we played a scaled-down version of Overdrive (see pic.) The FRC GDC has already fully developed these games, and we as FRC members have already learned and experienced them, so they make a great format for helping summer campers enjoy a competition. 2 or 3 of our members each adopt a student team to coach and mentor. We use vex kits, but also supply plenty of other assorted materials. Teams can "win" extra motors or sensors by winning team-building games, or by exibiting gracious professionalism. We try to give campers the experience of an FRC season by having a kick-off day with the game reveal, brainstorming sessions, a "build season" (3 days!), and a Friday tournament complete with a crowd of family, loud music, a video score/ranking screen, and an entertaining MC. We give FRC-type awards for Spirit, GP, Creativity, Design, etc. Everyone leaves a winner. This is not only a great format for our campers, but also helps our members strengthen their own FRC values, and gain some insight into what its like to mentor and coach a team.

[Vermeulen]

Team 1306 runs a summer camp for elementary and middle school students every summer, and this year, it's expanded to 120 slots. It's a great way to introduce kids to robotics, and last year, we made around $30,000 from it, making it a huge source of funding for the team. I'm not an expert on how it's run, but I can give you a link to our website page about it, and the email address of the teacher who started the summer camp.

Website: http://badgerbots.org/summercamp.htm

Email: bsenson@madison.k12.wi.us