Lincoln Land Community College RoboQuest camp held at Beardstown Junior High
By Ben Cox
Photos/Submitted to The Source
Area eighth grade students got hands on with robotics at Beardstown Junior High School from June 23-27. The camp was put on by Lincoln Land Community College.
Campers kicked things off on the first day by learning the engineering design process and using it to build balloon-powered LEGO cars. Their mission? Design a car that could travel 20 feet using only the force of air from two balloons. After tons of tweaks and creative fixes, some students even hit the 25-foot mark.
Students built advanced LEGO Spike Prime robotic cars, complete with motors and sensors on the second day. The cars were coded and programmed by students to move in perfect 1-foot squares as well as to detect, grab and move blocks.
On day three, campers had to fine-tune their coding to get their robots through a 9-part challenge without touching them at all. Campers became the engineers themselves — designing and building their own obstacle courses for the other group to complete on day four.
To wrap it up, students toured DOT Foods and got a behind-the-scenes look at real-world robotics in action. They saw how automation is used in the workplace and how the skills they practiced all week can lead to exciting future careers.
