DID you know a seven-year-old can build and program a robot to react to its environment?
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It’s happening these school holidays at the UOW Shoalhaven Campus during the Robocamp workshops.
An army of inventive little minds has taken over part of the campus and although it looks and sounds like excited chaos there is real computer science taking place.
A group of Shoalhaven children have been learning the basics of robotics and programming as they build robots that can make simple decisions for themselves.
Turn off the lights and one of the little droids shuts down and starts to snore – you get the picture.
Once the teams of children have worked the bugs out of their bots, they take part in a robot sumo challenge, and they love it.
The Robocamp serves two purposes. The first is to engage children in learning through robotics.
The second is to raise money for the Wollongong robotics team Project Bucephalus to compete overseas.
Steering this energetic and excitable ship is Project Bucephalus coach Andrew Clark, ably assisted by a group of Illawarra children.
“We have been holding these robot camps at the University of Wollongong for a few years and they have been very popular,” he said.
“We start from scratch and run them through what a robot is, using a series of games,” Mr Clark said.
“Then the more advanced classes move onto autonomy where the robot thinks for itself through a game called Robot Sumo,” he said.
Each year two children from Shoalhaven are sponsored by Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis to attend the camp.
“In past years students from Sanctuary Point Public School were sponsored to attend.”
This year, Bomaderry Public School students Estelle Hancox and Madilyne Pride were selected.
“I do this to encourage children to be interested in science, technology and maths.
“These children in those schools would not have been likely to have those opportunities otherwise,” she said. For more information visit www.projectb.net.au