Robotics camp hosted for high school students

Heather Caygle, Staff Writer
Published On: 06/22/2009

High school students from around the area participated in a robotics camp hosted by UAB’s Department of Computer and Information Sciences from June 8-12 in Campbell Hall.

The department hosts four camps in June, each lasting a week. The robotics camp is one of three developed for high school students. Twelve students from local high schools attended the camp. During the camp, students learn to build robots using Lego NXT robotics kits and then use Java, a computer programming language, to control the robots.

The robotics camp is not limited to only students with a comprehensive knowledge of Java. A camp is hosted the week before the robotics camp which teaches students how to use Java. This allows students that may have previously been unfamiliar with computer programming to not only learn Java, but also use the programming language in an active way during the robotics camp.

During the weeklong camp students participate in many activities. According to Dixon Shuttleworth, a Ph.D. student at UAB helping with camp, there are one to two projects each day, including Balloon Buster, Kick the Can and the Self-Parking Car. Each project is unique and challenging to the students. “For example, with the self-parking car, students actually program the robot to drive down the road, sense that a space is big enough to park in, and then back into the space and park like an actual car,” says Shuttleworth.

Martin Bear, a junior from Gardendale High School attended the robotics camp. According to Bear, he had never worked with Java or used computer programming before. He attended both the Java camp and the robotics camp. Bear said the robotics camp was “really interesting and really fun.” His goals for the camp were to “get a foundation in Java… and understand the basics.”

Jeffrey Gray, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of computer and information sciences, taught the camp. His goal for camp was for students to learn “the skills to let them become technology developers.”

According to Gray, “the primary hope is that students learn to think computationally and that the result is an added skill toward general problem solving.” Gray said, “We want them to come away from the camp with a fun experience.”
For more information on the robotics camp and to see the article in full, please visit insideuab.com.

Email: hncaygle@uab.edu