Lipscomb BisonBot campers forgo sun for Robot Wars-style competition at camp
Janel Shoun |
|
Scenes from last year's BisonBot robotics camp.
|
Last year's robotics camp headed up by DLCS Boy Scout
Forget sand castles and soccer this summer for 50 youngsters who have signed up for Lipscomb University’s BisonBot Robotics Camp, July 14-25. Every day for two weeks these middle and high schoolers will be hunched over gears and soldering irons and learning about torque and gravity – all to complete their destiny to build their very own robot.
On Friday, July 18, and Friday, July 25, the campers’ robots will be pitted against each other in two competitions. The beginners’ robots, on July 18, will compete to place the most colored blocks on a moving conveyor belt. The advanced campers’ robots will duel to pop balloons attached to each robot, a la Robot Wars.
During the rest of the week, campers will visit the Nissan automotive plant in Smyrna (on Thursday, July 17, and Thursday, July 24), watch and play with various types of robots including BisonBot – a four-foot tall mechanical Bison that snorts smoke and launches T-shirts for hundreds of feet, and learn the fundamentals of engineering design.
“There are a lot of kids out there who are excited about mechanics and robots because they see technology all around them with their computers and telephones, and in their comic books and favorite TV shows,” said Greg Nordstrom, Lipscomb associate professor of engineering, who has coordinated the camp. “Robotics provides a wonderful opportunity to take something kids are excited about and use it to teach them about math and science, engineering principles and problem-solving.”
Lipscomb held its first robotics camp last year and had such a positive response that the Raymond B. Jones School of Engineering decided to create an advanced camp this year. Many of the last year’s campers had already learned a lot of mechanical principles just by tinkering with electronics at home, so this year’s advanced camp will cover transmitters, motors, wheels and axles.
The fundamentals camp will meet from July 14 to 18 and will make a movable arm robot from a kit. Advanced students will meet from July 21 to 25 and will make a more complex rolling robot with a movable arm designed for head-to-head competition.
“I’m sure they will have Robot Wars in mind,” said Nordstrom. “There will be a lot of offensive and defensive strategies involved in their designs.”