ROBOTICS CAMP
CREATING - BUILDING - CODING
Daily Schedule
8:00 - 9:00 AM
- Arrival of campers
- Settling in specific station
9:00 - 9:15 AM
- Brief overview of the day
- Intro, reviewing programming, etc.
9:15 -10:30 AM
- Campers building and coding
10:30 - 10:45 AM
- Snack break outdoors unless rain
10:45 - 12:00 AM
- More building and coding
12:00 - 12:30 PM
- Lunch outdoors unless rain
- Campers must bring lunch
12:30 - 1:30 PM
- Outdoor activity unless rain
- Soccer, capture the flag, etc.
- Activities with smaller groups
1:30 - 3:15 PM
- More building and coding
- Challenges and robo games
3:15 - 3:55 PM
- Clean up station
- Using other coding software
3:55 - 4:00 PM
- Departure of camper
4:00 - 5:30 PM
- Optional extended hours
CAMP PROGRAM AND SCHEDULE
At the Robotics Camp, each camper gets to use a LEGO Wedo 2.0 kit, a LEGO Spike Prime kit or a LEGO EV3 Mindstorms kit. The LEGO WeDo 2.0 kit is an easy-to-use system designed for beginner robotic learners (children aged 7 and 8). The LEGO Spike Prime and EV3 Mindstorms kit is designed for more skilled builders (children aged 9 and over). The LEGO software programming for both systems utilize drag-n-drop block coding. Third party software, such as Scratch, MakeCode, Swift Playgrounds, Tynker and Robot C are also available for programming.
Most of the time spent at the Robotics Camp takes place in a classroom setting. To start, each child at the camp gets to use a LEGO kit with a computer or tablet. With this one-to-one ratio, each child can learn, build and progress at their own pace. The four counselors in each classroom help the campers progress through the building and programming. The classes are conducted with a majority of English instruction, however, French is used often. Our counselors are bilingual and language is not a barrier. The building instructions and programming language (software) is mostly visual.
On the first day of camp, children start building a basic robot and go through lessons on the computer to familiarize themselves with the visual (drag n' drop) programming. Once they have completed the introductory lessons and have shown an understanding of the basics, they can move on to choose from hundreds of different robot models to build and program. The counselors can certainly direct the campers as to which models would be appropriate for their skill level. Once a camper has built a model, made it move autonomously and is ready to continue, then he/she could build other models. A camper who has experience with the LEGO block coding does not have to start with the introductory lessons.
By the third day, the campers have the opportunity to build using other kits, such as LEGO Boost, LEGO Technic, LEGO Creator, LEGO NXT Mindstorms, Meccano and K'Nex. By mid-week, challenges are presented for those campers (usually they pair up in teams) who choose to participate. Challenges vary from class-to-class but, by far, the most popular one is the Sumo Robot Challenge, where two robots try pushing each other off a circular mat.
Depending on the skill level of a camper, he/she may build anywhere from three to ten models in one week. It certainly depends on the complexity of the model they choose. Other than the initial lessons at the beginning of the week, the campers choose what they would like to build and program during the week. Campers who decide to come back for a second or third week get to build a lot more and there is no need to repeat the initial introductory lessons.
