Reece Stachowiak went back to the laptop after his team’s robot went through one of the challenges on the course at RUSH Robotics Camp last Wednesday.
The robot missed its mark by only by a small margin so he adjusted the program in the computer before downloading it to the robot.
“I think it’s fun,” Stachowiak said about the four day camp ran by Team RUSH, Clarkston High School’s robotic team. “We get to program the robot and steer it through a course and for the competition we are going to do.”
Team RUSH held the camp for three sessions with an Advanced Robotics and Beginner Robotics portion.
Kyle Hughes, a teacher at the high school and Team RUSH Robotics Coach, explained the kids are building a robot and also learned about three characteristics needed in a robot.
Ben Halcrow, one of the Team RUSH leaders for the camp, added the kids build with Legos but also learn a lot about programming.
“It’s cool because you get to watch them learn about what they are doing and also be interested in it at the same time,” he said.” It’s cool because you are interested in it, too. It’s just something you have in common and you can talk about with them, too.”
Haley Velisek, another leader from Team RUSH, added it is really inspiring to see the kids get excited about their programs working and the robots moving around.
“It’s really cool to see them get inspired by engineering,” she said. “Working with robots gives them one of the engineering aspects and pushes them towards that with FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition). We want to bring kids in and want them to come onto our team and learn more about robotics.”
The kids learned about problem solving and working together as a team. For Athena Tedder, Abby Finnerty and Mathea Marcale in the Beginner Robotics camp they enjoyed something different – which helped the team.
“I loved learning about programming,” Finnerty smiled as she downloaded a program to their robot.
“And I love building,” Tedder added.
“I like setting it up,” Marcale said.
Velisek smiled as she watched a group test their robot on the course and said, “I enjoy the camps. This is one of my favorite community activities we do just because it is exciting to see young people get excited about engineering.
Each day they also took home a sheet with questions and to find robots in their house.
“We call it home fun,” Hughes said. “They also find different sensors like a garage door has a sensor and maybe their bathroom light has one. Parents love it. They have something to do and it is simple to do.”
On the last day of camp they made the last changes in their programming. Then, they put the robot on the course to do as many challenges they could in two minutes.
RUSH Robotics, for ages 8-14, was offered through Clarkston Community Education. For more information or to check out more camps offered, please visit www.clarkston.k12.mi.us.