Summertime means robotics time for area youth
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
On just about any given summer day, the sounds of excited chatter can be heard emanating from the inner recesses of the James D. Hughes Center.
But, it isn’t the sound of students or faculty enjoying a break from the typical academic schedule during the summer. It’s the sound of students from around the midstate building robots in the interactive classrooms located in the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering. These boys and girls are putting their science and building skills to the test while getting a hands-on look at what engineers do.
Lipscomb University’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, in conjunction with Nissan North America Inc., offered six weeks of the highly popular summer BisonBot Robotics Camps this summer, including its WeeBots Robotics camp for kids ages 6-8, two Junior BisonBot Robotics camps for kids ages 8-11, two Fundamental BisonBot Robotics camps for kids ages 10-14 and the Advanced BisonBot camp for kids ages 12 and up.
During the Fundamental BisonBot Robotics camp July 11-15, students ages 10 to 14 built robotic arms designed to successfully remove recyclable materials from a pile of trash and place them on a moving conveyor belt in a challenge on the final day of the camp.
“I'm building robots because I probably want to build an engineer when I grow up," said Gregory, a 10-year-old Kipp Academy student.
?Alima, 9, a University School of Nashville student said she enjoys camp because, "I use my sister's robots to build and I like building.”
"Learning new things is one of the most fun things about robotics camp," said Zion, a 9-year-old student at Holy Rosary Academy. She said she plans on becoming a computer engineer “when she grows up.”
Benton, an 11-year-old Brentwood Middle School student wants to be a mechanical engineer.
“Someday I want to build a factory that is run completely on solar energy,” he said.
Benton said he decided he likes mechanical engineering because when he was little he "liked drawing machines.”
“I lived in a small yard then,” he recalled. “I recently moved to Brentwood with a big yard. I was constantly making machines that I wanted to build in a yard like that. So now I can do that."
Ten years ago, Lipscomb University’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, in partnership with Nissan North America, began a robotics camp for a couple dozen middle schoolers. The hands-on style proved popular with tinkering youngsters, and this year six Lipscomb/Nissan BisonBot Camps are being offered for students in grades grades K-12 with more than 120 campers expected to participate.
The Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering’s summer robotics camps and fall robotics contest have proven so valuable to students that the college has been awarded more than $350,000 in grants from Nissan North America to support the camps in the past few years.
For more information about Lipscomb’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, visit engineering.lipscomb.edu.