Girls can robot, too

On Friday, I had the most amazing experience with robots. Frankly, I thought the last robot showcase I went to was – at best – a little boring. But Friday, it was all sit-on-the-edge-of-your-chair excitement watching my son compete in a Sumo-Bot competition.

It is just as it sounds. Two robots heading towards each other on a table to see which can push the other off. Some robots moved slowly. Some not at all. One turned in a circle. Several just got locked up. The creativity of the teams was unlimited. Some looked like shovels, some like cars and still others like bulldozers. I could have watched all day.

Photo courtesy of Northwest Vista College

Photo courtesy of Northwest Vista College

On the winning team was a girl. One of only a handful that participated in the camp. I had to wonder…why aren’t more girls involved? As if by magic, later that afternoon, I got word from Northwest Vista College about an upcoming girls-only robotics camp. With space for 24 girls, the camp breaks them up into teams of four and sets them loose on building Tetrix robots and competing in various challenges.

And check this out: It’s free. Didn’t think you could find a last minute camp this summer? No problem. According to college spokesperson Melissa Monroe-Young, there are still ten spots left. Sign up now!

The 411

  • Campers: Girls ages 14 to 18
  • Dates: August 3 to August 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Location: Northwest Vista College, 3535 N. Ellison Dr.
  • Cost: Doesn’t get any cheaper than free.
  • Register here

SpaceTEAMS @ Northwest Vista

Don’t have a daughter that age? No problem. Northwest Vista has two other camps with openings:

July 20 -31: Robot camp for elementary students – Tuition $225. Using Lego Mindstorm
July 20-31: Robot camp for middle school students – Tuition $250. Using VEX Robotics

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  • http://www.alamo.edu/nvc/programs/tier Andrew Schuetze

    Come on out to Northwest Vista College on Friday afternoon and observe a robot competition between a group of all girls. The Texas Institute for Educational Robotics, TEIR, has been running robot camps since 2006 and this year we applied for funding to operate an all teenage girl robot camp. We partnered with the Girl Scouts and are using the Tetrix robot kit from Pitsco/Lego. The action begins at 1:00 PM in the Lago Vista Room of the Cypress Campus Center. Teams of robots will go head to head in a game with both an autonmous and tele-operated periods.

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