By Meagan Kendrick, IALR Communications and Public Relations Intern

Education for the future was taken to a new level recently. As part of the Southside Summer Adventure Camps program sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR),  area students attending RoboCamp-Transforming Transportation were able to see first-hand how beneficial their camp experience would be in the future.“When it comes to increasing opportunities for our children (which include better preparing them for higher education and the workforce), it’s never too early to start,” Education and Outreach Program Coordinator Nancy Combs said.

Throughout the week, the campers participated in the FIRST LEGO League Smart Move challenge, a hands-on, global program created to get children excited about science and technology.  For this project, the campers were divided into two teams to work together in constructing and operating robots. Each team was provided with a kit containing all necessary parts and pieces. From there, they were on their own to work together to build their robot, with one person designated as the team “Programmer.”

The campers also were required to program their robots to withstand a hit from a truck and to avoid or knock down barriers. “It consisted of lots of trial and error and working together in order to work out the kinks,” camp instructor Monica Hatchett said. “They learned about teamwork which is such an important, life-long skill to have.”

In addition, the campers conducted research in preparation for creating a presentation on transportation issues in the community. Not only did they gather their information from internet research, but the campers were able to meet and talk with representatives from the Pittsylvania County Sherriff’s Office and the Virginia Department of Transportation to learn more about traffic problems in our surrounding area.

At the end of the week, the campers were able to see first-hand how their early learning experiences with robotics could benefit them in the future. Across the IALR campus in the Charles Hawkins Research Center, the campers toured the Computational Multiphysics Systems (CMS) intelligent transportation lab. Here a team of researchers from IALR and Virginia Tech have been building robots as part of the Multi-Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge (MAGIC), an international war games challenge that could help save lives on the battlefield.  The MAGIC competition requires teams to build squads of fully-autonomous ground robots that are able to drive and communicate with each other. The robots will perform a series of timed tasks such as hunting objects, identifying and responding to threats, mapping out fields of terrain and differentiating between friendly, non-enemy targets and enemy targets.

At the end of July, the top five teams will be announced for the chance to travel to Australia in November to compete for the number one spot. The top three winners will receive cash prizes totaling over one million dollars and the chance to work with Australian and United States defense agencies to develop robots that may replace soldiers on the battlefield.  During the tour, the campers were able to see all of the advanced technology and testing systems used in the lab, helping them realize the opportunities that could be presented to them in the future.

According to Hatchett, the camp clearly sparked an interest in robotics and technology. The most frequently asked question throughout the week was “Where can I get one of these (robots)?” Hatchett said.

For more details about FIRST LEGO League please contact:

• Monica Hatchett at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

                or

• Robert Hatchett at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Click Here for more information on the Southside Summer Adventure Camps program.

Photos by Monica Hatchett and Meagan Kendrick

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