Reynoldsburg City Schools News Article

WRJH Builds Interest in Robotics with FIRST LEGO League Camp

Jayla, a rising sixth grader at Waggoner Road Junior High School already knows what she wants to be when she grows up, and she knows learning to code will help her in her career path. "I want to be a nurse that can operate the robotic machines in hospitals," she says,

Jayla and her fellow campers attended the FIRST® LEGO® League at WRJH where they, with assistance from Technical Difficulties, RHS' Robotics Team, learned to code, problem solve and troubleshoot in real-time.

WRJH Robotics Camp

Ms. Riggs, WRJH's Administrative Assistant and Camp Advisor, watched campers put the skills they learned into action. "The students had to come up with mini-games that they would code and they worked together as a team if they didn't get the outcome they were hoping for," she says.

One of the troubleshooting issues the students came across was when sensors were coded to detect colors (red and green) and the robots were supposed to race around a track. Because of the glare from the overhead lights, campers quickly deduced that they could either turn off the lights or swap out their color sensor for a distance sensor.

Ms. Riggs said they're hoping to bring robotics back to the elementary and middle schools so Technical Difficulties has a pipeline of students experienced with robotics to join the team in high school. "Because of COVID, robotics took a back seat," said Ms. Riggs. "We wanted to have a camp to introduce the concepts back to the kids."

Campers paid $50 to attend the camp for a week from 9a-3p and that money went directly to the FIRST® LEGO® League to help pay for upcoming competitions, snacks and more.

Robotics season for the middle level kicks off in August and FIRST® LEGO® League will start having matches in November. The high school robotics season begins in January with a limited design season- but the teams already know the theme this year is "underwater."

At the end of the camp, Ms. Riggs told the students they were invited to join the WRJH FIRST® LEGO® League team. With 10 students per team, Ms. Riggs is hoping to have enough interest to do two teams. 



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