June 26th marked the beginning of my fourth year of hosting summer robotics camp for students in fourth grade and above. I raise funds from the camp for my charity. This year is a little bit special as I had reworked the curriculum with some new mini-robot exercises.
This week the students had minimal to no experience with LEGO EV3. They knew some basic concepts but hadn’t practiced them in a while and were interested in learning the material. I built the lessons with the Sumo Challenge to be their culminating project, as that is the most popular mini-robot exercise, or challenge, for the students, viewers, parents, and siblings.
I started the camp on Monday with an introduction to EV3 and its parts. I explained what each one’s purpose was. Then i had them build their very own robots that they would use for the remainder of the camp.
Tuesday, day two of the camp, my students were ready to take on the next steps. It was time for me to teach them the EV3 software and introduce them to the world of programming. I did that with a simple move program which brought their robot to life. My students were quick learners who were able to grasp the programming constructs well. They did have some difficulties with putting the hardware and software together such as what motors to use when and for what actions. We worked through them by doing few exercises.
Wednesday was our first challenge packed day. We focused on the flow control blocks and experimented with waits, loops, and switches. I started the students on with the maze challenge. They finished it rather quickly. I improvised the challenge adding “gems” that the robot had to go over before completing the maze. My intent was for them to use various types of programming blocks which worked! Hurray!
Thursday rolled by and the students completed another handful of robot challenges with their knowledge of action and flow control blocks. I introduced them to sensors such as the touch and color. With the ample supply of robot challenges that would help reinforce the concepts, I created a small competition between the students. Based on the perfection level of their programs they earned points that would build onto their overall “ranking”. The students (and me) are excited to see who comes up on top at the end of the week.
At last, Friday was one of the most exciting days. I went over one additional sensor, the ultrasonic sensor, and then covered design tips and attachment construction. The students came up with some clever ideas and were very enthusiastic when supporting their robots in the Sumo Challenge. Even after the session was over, the students were so excited that we had a sumo fight between the robot that Rishi and I built versus other students’ robot!
The robot battles between the instructors robot and the students’ robot was the most exciting by far! To make the playing field more even the instructor’s robot would use 2 EV3 Bricks while the students would join forces and have 2 of their robots on the field against us. The initial battles were one sided and Rishi and I were dominating; however, our motor attachment fell off and the tables began to turn. The students won 2 more battles and we won the 6th one. Due to all the cheering and excitement the entire room was so loud that we weren’t able to finish the Sumo Battle and we had to call it a draw. Nevertheless, this was one of the most memorable and fun sumo challenges in all of the four years I have done the camp.
Overall the week was filled with interesting challenges, and there was never a dull time in the class. I was indeed proud of the students’ behavior, interest in learning, and effort during challenges. It was a pleasure to see them learn more about robotics and go home each day excited to come back!
This week the students had minimal to no experience with LEGO EV3. They knew some basic concepts but hadn’t practiced them in a while and were interested in learning the material. I built the lessons with the Sumo Challenge to be their culminating project, as that is the most popular mini-robot exercise, or challenge, for the students, viewers, parents, and siblings.
I started the camp on Monday with an introduction to EV3 and its parts. I explained what each one’s purpose was. Then i had them build their very own robots that they would use for the remainder of the camp.
Tuesday, day two of the camp, my students were ready to take on the next steps. It was time for me to teach them the EV3 software and introduce them to the world of programming. I did that with a simple move program which brought their robot to life. My students were quick learners who were able to grasp the programming constructs well. They did have some difficulties with putting the hardware and software together such as what motors to use when and for what actions. We worked through them by doing few exercises.
Wednesday was our first challenge packed day. We focused on the flow control blocks and experimented with waits, loops, and switches. I started the students on with the maze challenge. They finished it rather quickly. I improvised the challenge adding “gems” that the robot had to go over before completing the maze. My intent was for them to use various types of programming blocks which worked! Hurray!
Thursday rolled by and the students completed another handful of robot challenges with their knowledge of action and flow control blocks. I introduced them to sensors such as the touch and color. With the ample supply of robot challenges that would help reinforce the concepts, I created a small competition between the students. Based on the perfection level of their programs they earned points that would build onto their overall “ranking”. The students (and me) are excited to see who comes up on top at the end of the week.
At last, Friday was one of the most exciting days. I went over one additional sensor, the ultrasonic sensor, and then covered design tips and attachment construction. The students came up with some clever ideas and were very enthusiastic when supporting their robots in the Sumo Challenge. Even after the session was over, the students were so excited that we had a sumo fight between the robot that Rishi and I built versus other students’ robot!
The robot battles between the instructors robot and the students’ robot was the most exciting by far! To make the playing field more even the instructor’s robot would use 2 EV3 Bricks while the students would join forces and have 2 of their robots on the field against us. The initial battles were one sided and Rishi and I were dominating; however, our motor attachment fell off and the tables began to turn. The students won 2 more battles and we won the 6th one. Due to all the cheering and excitement the entire room was so loud that we weren’t able to finish the Sumo Battle and we had to call it a draw. Nevertheless, this was one of the most memorable and fun sumo challenges in all of the four years I have done the camp.
Overall the week was filled with interesting challenges, and there was never a dull time in the class. I was indeed proud of the students’ behavior, interest in learning, and effort during challenges. It was a pleasure to see them learn more about robotics and go home each day excited to come back!