How a robotics workshop works

At Hofstra Summer Camps, you choose activities to do throughout the day. One of them is robotics workshop. In robotics workshop, you build robots and program them.

Campers use Lego Mindstorms NXTs. They're easy to build and program. You make them by making a base for the robot. The base includes the motors (wheels) and the robot's brain. You connect the wheels to the brain with wires.

To make the wheels turn, you have to start doing some simple programming. You can either do the programming on the robot itself or with special software on your computer (which you have to download).

The software is easy to use. To do more advanced stuff, like making the robot move when it's a certain distance from an object, you need sensors. There are four sensors: the touch sensor, the sound sensor, the light sensor and the ultrasonic sensor.

All of this may sound complicated, but it isn't once you get into it; our class was into it! We loved making these robots. If you don't have a Robotics Club at your school, this camp is the one to visit next summer!