Summer camp. For many, those words bring to mind rustic cabins, swimming in a small lake, hiking through the woods, and conquering obstacle courses. For others, it invokes the memories of soccer, football, or basketball games. Or maybe your summer camp was for music, where you learned the differences between flats and sharps. Among the various memories that arise at the thought of summer camp, it is highly unlikely that they are about robots.
What is robot summer camp and why should you care?
The reaction to the subject of this article may be something along the lines of “Robot summer camp? What in the world is that?” The idea is that you spend several days or weeks at camp learning about robotics and eventually building your own functional robot! This is a great opportunity for any students that are interested in electronics, engineering, and computers and want to see how these fields can come together to create an incredible work of science.
Chances are, your high school classes don’t get into robotics at all, and if they do, it is probably not as in depth as you may want. That’s what robot summer camp is for! As you go through your high school years, the closer you get to senior year, the more you think about the prospect of graduating. This is when the scary (but exciting!) prospect of applying for colleges comes in. Are you interested going to a university with a great reputation for engineering or computer science? Just think of how it would be to start college with some experience already under your belt, not to mention how great it would look on your applications to have attended a robot summer camp.
Robot summer camps are also for those who aren’t sure about what they want to go to college for, but want to try a few things out before committing to a specific path. When it comes to making decisions, nothing beats getting hands-on experience in a field that you think you might be interested in pursuing. Getting a feel for what it would be like to go through the process of building your own robot would show you what your future could be like!
What can you do at robot summer camp?
There are a vast number of different robot summer camps you can attend, depending on your interests. One popular type of summer camp is for robotics that utilize Arduino technology. Arduino is an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand electronics system that allows you to use controllers and buttons to control a robot by setting up circuits based on electrical engineering concepts. Some of the Arduino robot summer camps even have competitions at the end where your robot can face off against your camp mates’ robots! If this sounds like your idea of a great summer adventure, here are a couple of Arduino robot camps to look into:
- Arduino Robotics by Digital Media Academy – You can create your own custom robot to compete in challenges against other robots at the end of the week-long camp. (Multiple locations across the U.S. and Canada)
- Arduino Programming with Redbot by SiliconSTEM Academy – You can create a robotic vehicle and learn to control it remotely! (Denver, CO and Aurora, CO)
There are many more types of robotic summer camps in pretty much any area you can think of. You can work on a team to configure a robot to overcome various challenges. You can learn the basics about sailing and coding at the same time while working on robotic sailboats. You can learn about applications for robotics in NASA interplanetary missions. You can learn robot construction and C# programming. You can even learn about how artificial intelligence works in robotics. And if you’re not yet in high school, Tufts University has a summer program for elementary and middle schoolers.
If you’re interested in robotics but still don’t see the perfect camp for you, feel free to browse lists from iD Tech, Teen Life, and Digital Media Academy for more robot summer camps, and start getting excited for the summer break!