Every so often, an 1816 Team Member has a FIRST experience that they simply cannot express in 140 characters. Here, Srujun G., one of our senior programmers, describes his involvement with a Green Machine- mentored summer Lego Day Camp.
“It’s 12 o’clock, run! We’ve got to set up the tables and divide the Lego parts! We need to have their sign in forms ready! The campers will be here soon!” This was what I ran around hollering just one hour before the first day of the Lego Robotics camp in the Cedars of Edina apartments. It would be my first time being camp lead, and I had no clue how things were going to run. All I had were the Lego building pieces and the NXT kits packed and sorted.
My thought was I would just show the kids how the parts fit each other and how the little sensors and motors work and that would be it. After that, the kids would start building their robots and my fellow Green Machine members would help them out. But running a camp does not run without hiccups, and my first year as an FRC team member had taught me – things don’t usually go according to plan.
The idea of the camp came from one of my family’s friends at the apartments who is fascinated by robots and suggested that my FIRSTRobotics team show off our current robot to the kids to get them interested in robotics. When I presented this idea to Ms. Shimizu, a team mentor and manager, she took it to the next level and helped me to design a Lego-based camp that we would conduct in which students would not only get to play with robots but also build them. Lego’s NXT robot kit was perfect for this as it is designed for young kids and (bonus) is already used in the Jr. FLL and FLL FIRST competitions. Fast forward to the first week of July and I was helping mentor girls during a Girl Scouts Lego Robotics Camp. This Minneapolis camp was a first glance at what I might see the next week at the Cedars camp. But as it happened, it was nothing like what I eventually did see.
At 1 PM, the kids – or campers as we called them – poured in as soon as we opened the door. We initially set a limit of 12 students for the camp, but received more than double the number of requests! A total of 19 kids actually registered, and camp was underway! One of the first activities was each camper needed to create their own nametag. They even got “I (heart) US FIRST Robotics” stickers and “Ultimate Ascent” badges, a great way to set the mood for robot camp. But before getting into robots, the campers would first have to build teamwork and learn to work together with their friends. To accomplish this, they were given newspapers and tape and instructed to build a tower in 10 minutes. What was most fun about this activity was seeing how different groups came up with different ways to build their tower. While one group stacked and glued paper, on top of each other piece, another group made fanfolds to build the base of their tower. As the 10 minutes passed, each group had different kinds of tower and even though most towers were incomplete or small, the basic aim of having kids working together had been accomplished. And then, it was onto building robots.
Jordan, our team’s Lego mastermind, immediately got to work on explaining what each Lego building piece looked like and how the connectors fit the pieces. This was the first time many of the campers were playing with Lego pieces that didn’t look like bricks, and their curiosity could only be satisfied when each group finally was given a few Lego pieces to play around with. Kids immediately started building cars and trucks, a variety of things. Along with this, campers wrote down notes about what they were building in their new engineering notebooks. As camp lead, I felt a feeling of satisfaction by being able to help the campers them bring out their own creativity and I could see a similar happiness on the faces of the other Green Machine team members as they worked with their groups. The first day of the camp concluded on a high note and kids went home excited about what they would build next.
The plan for the second day of camp was to introduce each camper to the parts that make a robot sensible. Each of the motors and sensors would be shown and demonstrated, and then each group would build their robots by following instructions. The goal was to show them the possible ways of integrating the motors and sensors. As day 2 started, kids eagerly ran in to play with the Lego pieces and continued their buildings from the previous day. Once everyone arrived, Jordan and John began building the example robot, and we instructed the campers to follow along. Although everyone started together, kids soon lost interest and ran around playing tag or talking to their friends. What had we done wrong? Were we being too boring? Our mentors quickly decided that we should set goals and incentives for the kids to work toward. I announced that the “best working” and the “best behaved” groups would win a “grand prize.” Immediately, there were sounds of “ssshhhh” as the campers were ready to follow along. Still, no one had completed a Lego robot. Things had to change the next day so we could be done in time for each group to display a complete and working robot to the parents.
For the last day of the camp, it was decided that each group be sub-divided and each part of the group would be responsible for one component of the final robot. This plan worked like magic as everyone had a specific task to make “their” robot. I then instructed each group’s designated programmer how to use the NXT’s Programming software to get their robots to start following commands. Young programmers of 7 or 8 years of age showed great enthusiasm becoming the “master” of their robot. Seeing how one mouse-click could cause a robot’s motor to rotate brought out smiles and complete delight on their faces. One Green Machine member was deployed to each group and as they worked, the campers asked a lot of serious robot-related questions.
By the end of the day, kids were running around not playing between themselves but fetching parts and updating their group members about their progress. Rachel and Rebecca, our most experienced Lego mentors, assisted each table efficiently and quickly. Each group finished their robots and parents were delighted that their children had become junior engineers in the space of three days. Parents applauded the efforts of the campers in building their robots and of the Green Machine team members. There was a lengthy photo session with the parents, eagerly wanting their child’s picture with their robot. With that, the third and final day of the camp came to an end, and I’m sure every camper took home some happy experiences and a little more interest in robotics.
The FLL season is up and running! Visit www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll to learn more about this year’s challenge, “Nature’s Fury.” Then, form a team and join the fun! For registration information, contact High Tech Kids, www.hightechkids.org. Tell them FIRST Team 1816 sent you!