A group of 16 middle-school students is learning the art of science this week at Union College.
The college is offering a handson introduction to the world of robotics at its 10th annual Robot Camp. But the Carpet Rover robots the students are learning to build and program during the five-day program are being designed as “drawing machines,” said camp director Fernando Orellana, assistant visiting professor of visual arts.
“I’m teaching them engineering skills and computer science skills, but my goal is really art, the expression of art,” he said.
After a lecture introducing students to robotics and explaining its history and a lesson in soldering, students began building their own 8-inch by 8-inch robot, a three-wheeled vehicle with two small motors, a microprocessor and sensors to help guide its motion. Once the robots were completed, the microprocessors were then programmed to guide its motion to create shapes once drawing instruments are added.
“At this level, it’s really just, ‘This is what a robot is all about, this is what engineering is all about, here’s some electrical engineering, here’s some computer science, here’s some mechanical engineering, let’s see what happens.’ It’s a lot of fun,” Orellana said.
The resulting art will be demonstrated Friday, when the camp concludes with an exhibition at 3 p.m. at the Schenectady Museum, where the students will demonstrate their robots by drawing a collective 10-foot by 12-foot illustration.
“The goal will be to make the robots all draw together. … The goal is to make this giant collaborative drawing,” Orellana said.
While Orellana views the camp as a robotic art lesson, though, Valerie Barr, chair of the computer science department, sees it as a tool to fight an alarming 40 percent to 60 percent drop in enrollment in college computer science programs nationwide.
“We need students, so recruitment and retention is really important,” Barr said. “If you can get kids really excited when they’re this age, then they’re going to think about computer science when they get into high school and college, and we’ve got a chance at getting them.”
This year’s camp is especially important at Union, Barr said, because it coincides with a push by the college into the field of robotics. During the 2006-07 school year, the college added introductory and upper-level robotics classes, as well as hiring its first roboticist and opening a robotics lab, she explained.
And the response from the students has been exceptional, said Orellana, who is in his second year running the camp. As Orellana and four members of the college’s Robot Club roamed the two classrooms in Steinmetz Hall where students were working, they were peppered with questions from students programming their robots and requests to view some of the robots in action.
“They are totally attuned to what they are doing,” Orellana said. “They’re fully paying attention to the skills they’ve been assigned. It’s great because they’ve never done this kind of thing before.”
Brian and John Kowalski, 13-yearold twins from Altamont, worked side by side on their robots, sometimes sharing information and ideas.
“It’s really been fun. I got a lot out of it,” Brian said. “I successfully built a robot and programmed it.”
John attended a similar camp last summer, but said he was disappointed that he learned nothing he didn’t already know.