CIS of Caldwell County – CyberKids go to camp

News-Topic

By Tiffany Shirley, Staff Writer

Monday, July 7, 2008

From the doctor’s office to vehicle production, robots have become big business and often a necessity in many of today’s industries.

Some local middle schoolers had the opportunity to gain insight into the world of robots at CyberKids Robotics Camp, which began Monday on the campus of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (CCC&TI). This hands-on learning camp is part of CCC&TI’s Super Summer Program for Kids and will continue through Thursday, July 10.

On Monday, participants were divided into teams of two and began assembling the parts of the robot to learn about their various functions.

“They’re going to build a robot and learn how to do programming,” CyberKids President and Robotics Camp instructor Kathy Kent said. “They also learn how to write and download their own programs.”

 

Kent was joined by her husband Bill and daughter Kaylen to guide the participants through the different challenges. CyberKids has been in existence for a decade and nearly four years ago began incorporating its robotics competition teams into the elementary and middle schools and has reached local high schoolers through the Communities in Schools program. Kent said the summer camp is an extension of the competitive teams and the work that is done through CyberKids throughout the school year.

“The summer camp gives them a taste of how to build and program robots,” she said. “Our focus is on an educational summer camp that is also fun. It’s an approach you can’t get in any of the schools.” 

Although it is designed to enhance what students are learning in their computer classes, Kent said the program also is geared toward those who may not otherwise be exposed to engineering and robotics.

“We hope it promotes a kind of an awareness of what else is out there through engineering,” she said. “We knew that we needed to do something that would build on what they already knew of computers and that could work with students at all ability levels.”

Marshall Thomas, a rising eighth grader at William Lenoir Middle School, said he always has been fascinated by robotics and was excited about taking part in the summer camp.

“Robots are really fun,” he said. “They are very simple and easy to use. I’m looking forward to being able to play with the robots and learning how to build them and program them.”

After assembling the robots, participants began learning how to create programs to make their robot do basic functions like moving forward and backward.

“Then they will learn how to turn the robot and to calculate distances by the number of its rotations,” Kent said. “From there they will learn how to build an attachment that will retrieve items.”

Putting the robots into motion is something Charles Martin, a rising seventh-grader at Collettsville School, was looking forward to.

“My favorite part was building it,” he said. “That was fun. Now I want to learn how to make it move.”

The campers will use trial and error to develop a program that will allow their robot to take part in a competition called “Farm Frenzie,” which will take place on the final day of the camp.

During the competition, participants will have two minutes and 30 seconds to maneuver around a model farm to perform various objectives, like gathering animals into the barn, returning the tractor to its proper place and carrying the hay to the field.

“Every mission is assigned a point value,” Kent said. “They have to achieve the objective or they don’t get the points.”

Along with gaining hands-on knowledge of robotics, Kent said participants will develop math, science and engineering skills while learning how to function as a team.

“It’s done in a competitive sports arena, which gives them a team atmosphere where they will work together to solve problems,” she said. “We hope it will help them learn to work better as a team and to incorporate their ideas with others using team concepts. They (also) learn to function under pressure, and we encourage them to do their best and work as a team.”

Kent said she was pleased to have participants from across Caldwell County take part in the first day of the camp and looks forward to seeing how they will do in the Farm Frenzie competition.

“These kids are learning how to follow a blueprint or directions from the get-go,” Kent said. “Our goal is to work together with all of the schools and (the summer camp) has at least one kid from each of the middle schools in the county.