Tutors for Technology Camp Was A Success!

You know what they say, the best things in life are free! As you probably know, we hosted our very first Tutors for Technology camp yesterday, January 29th from 9 to 12 am free of charge. We had a grand total of 15 kids aged 4th-7th grade show up, and they all appeared to have a great time!

The session consisted of splitting the kids up into 7 groups, each with robotics-specific names such as Tetrix (our part supplier) and Java (the language we use to program the robot). 4 of these groups worked on the building activity (creating wheelbases) while the other 3 programmed several Sphero orb robots. They switched halfway through so that everyone got a chance to try everything.


For the wheelbase building, we had the kids construct them out of spare parts, and we were really impressed with their final creations! They then tested them on a ramp in a contest to see who's would go the furthest. One even drove so well that it sped under the railing and crashed 20 feet below on the ground floor, surviving the impact completely. Now that's a well-built wheelbase!

Meanwhile, the remaining groups tried their hand at programming sphere-shaped, glowing robots called Spheros. We also provided them with the choice between drag-and-drop and javascript code, depending on their skill level and level of comfort with programming in general. Once their code was to their liking they played a variety of games, including trying to hit Spencer's foot while he dodged them, pushing each other's sphere off a platform to see who would be the last one remaining, and racing around a pre-built track complete with ramps and curves! 

At the end of the day, we're really encouraged by the positive feedback we've received on this camp and hope to do more as a result. One of our attendees even said that he'd "had the best day ever", which is exciting to hear for all of us!

If you want to see some more photos from the event in case you have a kid interested in technology and were thinking about signing them up next time, or were just curious, you can check out our full visual library here!

We don't have an exact date for the next Tutors for Technology, but check us out on Twitter and Instagram (@gearedreaction) or Facebook (Geared Reaction) to receive the latest updates! 




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