For more than 100 students in the district, the end of the school year meant that it was time to start rolling with the robots.

This year, nearly 140 students from Lindbergh, Hazen and Renton High Schools, as well as Dimmit, Nelsen and McKnight Middle Schools, including 15 student mentors and 12 adult teachers and mentors, gathered at Hazen High School to attend Career and Technical Education’s Summer STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Robotics Camp, June 22 – 30.

For the first two days, students attended workshops on programming, fabrication and computer aided design (CAD) and 3D printing. Students were then allowed to choose which of the three areas they felt the strongest in, and teamed up accordingly.

For the rest of the camp, they brainstormed, designed, built and modified a robot from scratch for the final showdown.

“The teachers, community members, and CTE staff who planned the camp had very ambitious goals for what we would have students learn in the camp,” said Matthew Randall, Lindbergh’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Team’s advisor. “Every student spent at least one full day learning how to program these robots in Java, which is one of the most common, industry-standard, programming languages. Students also learned how to use OnShape, a free CAD software that is very much like the industry-standard CAD software used in this area.”

The last day of the camp was the big competition where teams competed against each other. Awards were handed out for best team spirit, best 3D printed part, best engineering notebook, best overall design, most gracious professionalism, and, of course, the highest scoring teams in the competition.

“The competition that we planned for students to build robots for was also ambitious,” Randall said.

“Every team came with a robot that worked, and worked hard to improve their robot throughout the competition,” he said. “There was a wide variety of designs and a neat mix of teams that focused their efforts in different areas, such as developing autonomous programs that used sensors, using a 3D printer to make important parts for their robots, or implement specific design ideas.”

“This year’s camp was absolutely amazing,” said Creed Nelson, who teaches Construction, Manufacturing and Aerospace class at Lindbergh. “The camp was so well organized by the district, and we have learned so much from the previous two years of the camp, that it gets better and better each year.”

“In the two years we have held camp, our [robotics] after-school program at Lindbergh has swelled from 40 members to 60 members,” Nelson said. “Students are coming in to the after-school program with a really strong background in robotics, and are ready to contribute to the team from the very first day. Since the camp started two years ago, the other two high schools and the three middle schools have also started after-school programs, and they have seen their numbers also swell. Because of the camp, robotics has taken off at all of the secondary schools in the district, and it has gained a lot of promotion in the Renton community.”

“This summer camp leads right into the district’s after school programs, and students can really discover their passion and spark their interest to peruse engineering and manufacturing,” Nelson continued. “And, if they want to pursue that interest, there will be a wonderful and fulfilling career waiting for them. If a seventh grader can design and build a working robot in four days without any prior experience, just imagine what that adult will be able to accomplish and create.”