Anyone done robotics camps?

[Joe Matt]

Thanks for the replies guys. This is helping tons. Anyway, one more thing, Eugenia Gabrielov, WIERD is spelled wrong from my quote. I changed it after I realized it was wrong, but if you are trying to point out that it was a funny bad spelling, that's fine too.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Oh it's not that at all! I just had the urge to quote that becuase my sig was boring, and I've never had a thread I started called that before. You made me feel loved.

A quick extra suggestion regarding camps...

How much are you interested in charging?
Some random strategies...
Offer for the team to pay for some of their expenses if you take them to a competition, I dunno how your team does it, but I can't remember the californian team that does, but they offer newmembers major discounts on stuff, like they give them foodbucks, and they give them a Shirt or something. It's pretty neat.

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by Eugenia Gabrielov

Oh it's not that at all! I just had the urge to quote that becuase my sig was boring, and I've never had a thread I started called that before. You made me feel loved.

A quick extra suggestion regarding camps...

How much are you interested in charging?
Some random strategies...
Offer for the team to pay for some of their expenses if you take them to a competition, I dunno how your team does it, but I can't remember the californian team that does, but they offer newmembers major discounts on stuff, like they give them foodbucks, and they give them a Shirt or something. It's pretty neat.

We are toying around with the idea of 'free', as in the kids would come for a while, but we would pick up the whole tab.

[Rich Wong]

Good Idea about a Robot Camp Calendar-

In the Fall, NYCFIRST holds workshops for FLL students, FLL teachers, and FRC teams using the EDUbots. These workshops are always given at The Polytechnic University in Brooklyn and serves mostly NYC FLL and FRC Teams.

We also give an introduction to the Siemens/Westinghouse Science Competition.
This coming FLL season we are planning to give our first FLL Kickoff & workshop on October 2 because there will be 30+ new rookie FLL teams. (we may exceed 130+ registered FLL teams this year.....ugh )

The NYCFIRST Planning Committee has not set all the workshop dates. I can post them when they are available. (That reminds me…. I have picture from last year’s workshop that has not been posted)

[Aignam]

I ran a Lego Camp last summer. The camp lasted for approixmately 1 month (a day or two off for July 4th). A good 10 kids signed up and participated, and we held the camp at a local church building that we were graciously allowed to use.

We started off with the basics, teaching about the most simple of Lego Mindstorms constructions, than began to introduce the more technical aspects of the machines, including gear ratios, differentials, multiple computer units, etc.

For the first week, my helpers and I would introduce a concept, show them a few examples of how that concept might be utilized and the benefits of such, then let them work on their own implementation of said concept. My helpers and I assisted where needed, helped debug and test, but mostly just gave support, ideas, and encouragement. At the end of each day (2 hour days) we would run the machines. The next day, we would perfect the machines, then move on to the next concept. Another helper took the kids aside individually and taught simple Lego Mindstorms programming on a laptop.

After the kids had mastered the basics, we broke them up into groups, gave them a challenge that they had to complete in a certain amount of days, and let them work! As the kids completed the challenges, we would expand on them and help the kids to make more complex machines.

Towards the end of the camp, my helpers and I made challenges quite similar to older FIRST games and broke the kids into two groups. The kids spent multiple days working on each project and ran their machines head to head in a big tournament, which was tons of fun.

Most of the kids had a relatively easy time with completing the challenges, and those that didn't received help from their peers and from instructors.

Don't forget snacks and drinks!

If you have any more questions, by all means send me a PM.

[ahecht]

I just finished my second year serving as a TA for a High School Robotics camp for the USC Summer Seminars.

It is a month-long course, but the first two weeks are really an introduction to engineering. We cover the different types of engineering (mechanical, electrical, civil, industrial, etc.), and gave them a crash course in each. During that time, we've toured companies such as Gulfstream, Boeing, and PaperMate, had the kids build popsicle stick bridges and do water-ballon drops, and taught them about proper engineering documentations. The last couple days of the second week were a brief introduction to advanced lego design and mindstorms, and had them build simple devices such as a color recognizer or a robot that would drive in a fixed pattern. We finished with a simple game called the Can-Do Challenge, which the kids all said later was very helpful introduction to robot programming and design.

The last two weeks are spent doing the main robotics challenge. Because of the cost and time commitment involved, we've decided not to do FIRST or FLL. Instead, we do RoboCupJr, whose 1-on-1 version is easily accomplished by the High School kids in two weeks. We have four teams of four, and give each a standard Mindstorms for Schools set, plus an additional Gear Reduction Motor, a MicroMotor, and a High Speed Motor. We also bought a bunch of RadioShack IR Phototransistors and connected them to Mindstorms wires (the phototransistors fit perfectly into the holes in lego pieces).

We give the teams a crash course in programming in RoboLab, but other than that, we leave the teams to figure stuff out on their own (of course the professor teaching the course and I are always there to help). The only caveat is that they had to document everything they try, no matter how flawed it is, in their lab notebooks.

For the playing field, we purchased four IR glowing robot soccer balls and four greyscale floor mats from http://www.Acroname.com, and built the wooden field border from from Home Depot parts.

With those supplies, the kids this past term were able to build four functioning, completely autonomous, soccer playing robots in only two weeks. Only two kids in the class had any previous robotics experience (one FIRST, one BBIQ), although a bunch took the class because they were planning to join their school's FIRST team.

If you want more info on the course, such as the syllabus, please email or PM me.

[DCA Fan]

Our camps and courses can be found here: http://www.bcrobotics.org/2004/education/index.htm

[Marygrace]

Originally Posted by DCA Fan

Our camps and courses can be found here: http://www.bcrobotics.org/2004/education/index.htm

Our Robotics Camps are one of our biggest fundraisers. It was mindblowing how smart some...MOST of these kids were. I had a blast, it was a learning experience for both the students and mentors.

We do two sessions, one begginner and one advanced. Both using Lego Mindstorms and each lasting two weeks. From 1-5pm. We have challenges for them for most of the time then on the second to last day we organize the kits, then the last day one of our mentors gives a speech about robotics in general, and the rest of the day is a party day where we give the kids a chance to drive the past robots we have built, play with the RoboSapiens one of our mentors owns, and just socialize in general. Last year, and as well as this year, some of the kids of the camps came to join Beach Cities Robotics for the build season. This one student, Haley, is starting her own Lego League as well as joing our team.

Some kids had some trouble with problem solving. Figuring out how to make the programming do what the task at hand called for. Patience is a virtue. Some of the student leaders got in to the Lego Mindstorms themselves, and started to write the programming for them because they were doing the problem solving themselves. They weren't doing it intentionally, they just got into it. You just have to remember to guide them to finding the answer, don't give it to them. Whenever one of the students came up to me and asked for help, i always made them recite to me what their task was, then we took step by step. For example:

One of the tasks could be following a wall using touch sensors. I would have them break down every little thing that would have to go on in order for that to happen. (go forward, wait till touch1, then they had to figure out which way they ahd to turn, for how long, then to go forward. WHich motors to change directions all when touch1 was hit).

I think the most important thing for me about the camps is that the kids have fun. Throughout the camp I would ask them if they liked it, if they were having fun, if they would come back, what was their favorite thing about the camp. They would always be enthusiastic, mostly because they loved the competitions. At the end of each day we would gather around the "competition field" and everyone would see what everyone else came up with. It was a blast, i wish that our web cam was pointed towards the field so the parents could have seen it from home, but now we know for next year.
I had some other things to say, but I can't remember them at the moment. Good Luck, and make sure you guys (the people teaching) have fun too.

[dk5sm5luigi]

Zan you forgot to mention the camp that WPI offers.

WPI offers a two week summer camp where one of the areas of study is robotics. It is run by the same people who run the FIRST team. Half the time you are learning about robotics (sensors, motors, programming, etc.) and the other half you are building a robot for a competition at the end of the week.
For information on this you can go to http://www.admissions.wpi.edu/Frontiers/study.html. For more information pm me and I can put you in contact with the people who actually run it.

[Stephen Kowski]

i believe the Disney alliance in orlando will be holding workshops similar to what you are talking about. I will see if I can get more information...

[Jaine Perotti]

As I was planning for our robotics camp, I came across the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy website, which offers alot of good resources, such as lesson plans, activities, and power point presentations, which I am planning on using for my camp. Hope this is helpful!!