(BUTLER, MO – June 13, 2011) - Houston, we don’t have a problem. Not if the nineteen young robotics engineers gathered at the Adrian Optimist Building in Adrian, MO during the last two weeks have their way. The local youngsters, ranging in age from 9 to 14, sacrificed the first couple of weeks of their summer vacation to spend it learning about robotics, GPS/GIS, mapping and other geospatial topics.
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| Derrold Costigan of Adrian and Mason Hayes of Butler construct their robot |
Through a grant funded by GEAR-Tech 21 from the University of Nebraska, Alan J. Mundey, Bates County 4-H Youth Specialist, and Jerry Ferguson, 4-H volunteer and Extension Council president, organized the camp which ran from May 31 to June 10 from 8:00 a.m. until noon daily. Each day was focused on a specific topic relating to the technology of robotics and geospatial technology. With instruction from several other community volunteers, the students divided their time between classroom study and the hands-on building of robots. Obviously, the more creative, hands-on sessions were more exciting to the campers. Mundey states, “Once the kids started working on the robotics portion of the camp, it was hard to get them to stop when it was time to go home. The creativity that the kids have shown in designing and programming their robots is amazing! This isn’t just using a remote device to control a robot; the kids, using computers, actually have to program the robots to do specific tasks on their own.”
The campers attending were Zach Ball, Derrold Costigan, Duane Gaylord, Mason Hayes, Slate Hayes, Caleb Jett, Will McEvoy, Connor McGinnis, Lauren McGinnis, Levi Meade, Morgan Meade, Tristin Melton, Daniel Noe, Derek Noe, Dylon Piveral, Hayley Underwood, Zack Underwood, James Wood and Mary Wood.
In addition to Mundey and Ferguson, others helping with the camp included Al Decker, Carolyn Jett, Danny Ferguson, Matt McGinnis, Mackenzie O’Neill, John Cameron, Liz Wood, West Central AgriServices, Brad Brooks (Consultechs), and Eric Dirks (Record Harvest).
Special thanks to The Adrian Optimist Club for the use of its facility; Ruth Ann Ferguson for organizing and serving the daily snacks; Yoss Thriftway for donating snacks; and Casey’s of Adrian for donating pizza. Many others provided assistance in other ways.
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| The robotics camp group |
