On Wednesday June 5, San Marino High School’s Titanium Robotics team kicked off its annual summer camp. The camp lasted from 1-4 p.m. and took place again the next day at the same time. Enthusiastic camp attendees got a taste of all of the fields in robotics and chose the field—or fields—they were most interested in to work on for the remainder of summer camp. Students worked on a series of projects and activities with the goal of learning the basics of each field- electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, programming, graphic design, and CAD (Computer Aided Design) on the first day. By the second day of summer camp, students delved deeper into their chosen fields and began larger, more complicated projects.
During the first day of summer camp, participants went through a series of rotations exhibiting and highlighting a certain field of robotics. At each rotation, students had the opportunity to be exposed to the type of work that field does. After safety training, students applied their newfound knowledge to begin assembling their own basic metal structures. Electrical engineering began to teach new students foundational concepts regarding wiring and circuitry. Programming looked at different segments of code with the newcomers and displayed which section of code controlled which functions on the robot. CAD began to teach students the fundamentals of computer aided design and gave a general overview while graphic design, representing business in its entirety this summer, taught attendees how to use photoshop and had a small competition.
Thursday, the second day of summer camp, was all about picking a specific field that each newcomer would like to specialize in. Once each student picked their desired field, they spent the rest of the day beginning to work on projects to edit last season’s robot, Galac[Ti]c, in order to prepare it for a competition taking place early on next school year. Mechanical engineering newcomers disassembled last season’s robot to become familiar with the mechanism. Electrical engineering continued their lessons of circuitry by beginning to make a circuit board. CAD and programming started to teach their new additions their respective topics with more depth.
Summer camp started off fantastically and was enjoyable for both new and returning members of the team. Members are looking forward to continue to attend summer camp for the next five weeks until it ends. When asked what her favorite part about summer camp was, Shaina Chou responded, “I really like how hands on it was!” With the hope of teaching, preparing, and inspiring new team members, Titanium Robotics’ summer camp is scheduled to take place again on Wednesday and Thursday, June 12 and 13.
