(Please note that all photos in this article have been selected to avoid showing camper faces, since not all students are from Providence with a photo release. Apologies if you're looking for your loved one's smiling face!)
Day 1: Architecture
After breaking into four teams, each group selected the theme for their quadrant of Robot City. The Green Team chose Time Travel, the Blue Team settled on a Medieval Castle, the Yellow Team laid out an Alien Attack on the Beach, and Red Team was Future City. A quick lesson of folding geometric nets, and all campers from 3rd to 7th Grade were ready to build!
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| The skyline emerges! A colorful mess of card and tape! |
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| Red Team's skyscraper went up and up and up, and needed to be tied down with guy ropes! |
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| Blue Team's "Nice No-Trap Castle". Should we believe them? |
With inspiring challenges like "Tallest Tower" and "Most Colorful", each team worked hard to lay out their cities. Skyscrapers rose up six feet into the air, zip lines were strung out, and spaces carefully divided out.
Day 2: CAD and 3D Printing
It might sound complex, but physically printing CAD (computer-aided design) models is something within the reach of any elementary student! Mr. Meadth taught the campers how to use Tinkercad, a free in-browser design tool created by AutoDesk. Designers can use simple shapes such as cylinders, cones, spheres, and prisms to create more complex models, such as houses and rocketships and characters.
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| Two of our campers work on their CAD models (Owen's model on the right is shown in detail below) |
This is a great tool to get kids thinking in terms of linear dimensions, negative and positive space, perspective, volume, and it's just plain creative fun! Here are a couple of examples of what the kids came up with. We also had spaceships, tanks, flying cars, and castles. Wow!
Once created (the models above took the students less than an hour to build), the designs were sent to the 3D printer. At a small enough print size, most models were done in about an hour, in a range of colors. Of course, after the camp the students got to keep whatever they have printed!
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| It's just as addictive as watching TV, but at the end of the program there's actually something to show for. Thanks, Raise3D! |
Day 3: Electrification
Always a favorite! Mr. Meadth gave a quick lesson on simple circuits, explaining terms such as "LED", "voltage", "series", and "parallel". Each team was given a supply of copper tape, coin batteries, and LEDs, and shown how to connect them together to power their city. It wasn't long before the entire room was lit up with red, blue, orange, white, and green!
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| A lovely beach paradise in the shadow of the skyscrapers (the tidal wave was added later) |
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| The Green Team's time travel zone included some helpful signs (because time travel can be confusing) |
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| A scale replica of the Golden Gate Bridge, courtesy of Abigail |
All teams took up the extra challenges as well, building working paper switches, including both series and parallel circuits, and working to match their lighting arrangements to their theme. Blue Team created "laser traps" for their medieval castle, and Green Team strung out a long neatly-lit road to mark out their different time travel zones. Billboard were illuminated and "stained-glass" windows lit from the inside.
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| Mr. Eves works on the Blue Team's medieval quadrant |
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| LEDs don't come through well in photos, but you get the idea! |
When parents arrived for pickup on Wednesday, the lights went out, and the party started!
Day 4: LEGO Robotics
What's a Robot City without robots? This year, Mr. Meadth and Mr. Eves guided the campers on how to incorporate LEGO Mindstorms robotics sets. Rather than creating robotic systems that would move around (and potentially destroy delicate buildings and circuits!), the teams focused on stationary mechanical systems. Mr. Meadth gave some lessons on essential mechanical systems (bevelled gears, gear reductions, universal joints, cams and cranks, etc.), issued some fun challenges, and away they all went!
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| Does this look like anybody's bedroom floor? Times it by 16. |
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| A futuristic monorail glides around Green Team's city buildings |
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| What's a medieval world without an authentic, functional windmill? |
We were blown away by all of the amazing creations that campers and their team leaders built: several working elevators (with tracks and with pulleys/windlasses); a slowly rotating time travel portal (sadly not actually functional); a crank-powered shooting spaceship; an amusement park ride; drawbridges; a merry-go-round; several demolition machines!
(P.S. For any parents of elementary students wanting a more cost-friendly version of LEGO Mindstorms, I highly recommend LEGO Boost. At about $150, it is a somewhat simplified system, still with sensors, motors, and fully programmable using a block-based system. The only downside is that it does always need a tablet/phone/computer app to be running via Bluetooth to make it work.)
Day 5: Do Over
At this point in the camp, the kids have learned so many different things and have typically gravitated towards one or the other. Some of them think that LED illumination is the coolest thing, and others just can't get enough of making CAD models online. So on the fifth day, Mr. Meadth and Mr. Eves issued a few more challenges of various sorts. The teams helped put together a welcome sign with their photo on it; they all constructed a wearable accessory lit up with more lights and batteries. Some made hats and funky glasses and others made glowing swords!
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| The fun keeps coming on Day 5! |
Robot City continued to grow in complexity and variety. Some teams incorporated sensors into their robotic systems, using touch triggers and infrared detectors to more accurately control their elevators and bridges.
By the time parents arrived at 12:30, the teams were ready for the final wrap-up. All points were tallied, and the all-girl Green Team took the grand prize, much to their delight!
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| Parents were delighted to see everything the kids had accomplished... and that someone else was handling the cleanup! |
Mr. Meadth and Mr. Eves would like to thank all families for making our third Robot City camp such a success! We intend to run this again in 2020 (new ideas are already in the works!), so please spread the word amongst family and friends. You can start by sharing this article with someone who might be interested! And remember, this camp is open to all students, not just those from Providence. We're always glad to welcome new friends from outside our regular community.
Until next year, may these junior engineers keep on designing and keep on building!
