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Students building robotic gizmos

Camp this week at UMF aims to show that science is fun

By Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON -- For some kids, playing catch or squishing bugs is more fun when they're making a robot do it.

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Tommy Eng, of New Sharon, makes adjustments on his Lego robot named “Bob” that he and Noah Widen worked on Tuesday during a robotics camp at the University of Maine in Farmington.

Staff photo by David Leaming

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Shane Riley, left, speaks about creating robots, foreground, out of Lego pieces and equipment as Mason Shink looks at related software on a laptop computer on Tuesday.

Staff photo by David Leaming

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"We squished a Japanese beetle this big," Mason Shink said, making a gumball-sized circle gesture with his fingers.

He was describing a robot he made at camp last year.

On Tuesday, Shink was programming two robots to launch a ping-pong ball back and forth. The 10-year-old Jay student is one of 17 kids attending Maine Robotics camp this week at the University of Maine at Farmington.

On Monday, instructors introduced the campers to Lego kits they'd be using to build their robots. The kits contain Lego blocks, motors, tires and sensors. By Friday, the campers will have built robots and created computer programs to make them move in different directions and react to light, touch and sound.

This is the first year for Maine Robotics at UMF. The program started in 2003 at the University of Maine and has expanded to 320 kids, ages 9 to 13, in camps statewide this year, said Director Tom Bickford.

For most of the campers, building robots is brand-new.

Avery Ancker, a 9-year-old who's home-schooled in Farmington, said he's been playing with Legos since he was 3 years old and thought he'd like to take it to the next level.

"It's awesome. I love it," Ancker said Tuesday about programming the robots to answer his commands.

Other campers, like Shink, have already learned the basics of building robots and are spending the week working on more advanced projects.

"Seeing it run after, when you did it well and did it right, that's the coolest part," said 12-year-old Shane Riley, who was also working on the ping-pong launchers.

Instructors said they can see how much the kids enjoy building robots, but that the effect of the camp reaches beyond a week of fun.

"This shows kids why they're learning science in the first place," said instructor Monica Allen, who has worked as an electrical engineer.

Allen, a 2000 graduate of Mt. Abram High School, said the robotics camp introduces kids to broad career possibilities -- an opportunity she didn't have in middle school.

"I didn't know what an engineer was until I was in high school," Allen said. "I had to do a lot of self-discovery to pursue an engineering career."

Riley, however, already knows exactly what he's going to do when he grows up. The soon-to-be sixth-grader said he plans to get an engineering degree from Dartmouth College and design roller-coasters for a living.

"I've already designed seven of them," he said.

But engineering and robotics don't rule Riley's life. He also plays soccer and basketball and runs track. He went to a 4-H camp earlier this summer and loves Adam Sandler movies.

Bickford said there's not a typical kind of kid who attends robotics camp. Some are straight-A students and others struggle in school. What they have in common, he said, is a curiosity about how things work.

Bickford said the camps give them a chance to explore robotics now, and learn about the computer science and engineering careers they could pursue in the future.

"I want them to think those things are within their capabilities," he said.

Leslie Bridgers -- 861-9252

lbridgers@centralmaine.com