Rolling with it: Robotics workshops coming up – Marion Star

Staff report Published 10:15 a.m. ET May 3, 2017 | Updated 10:16 a.m. ET May 3, 2017

Students at the 2016 RAMTEC Vex Robotics Summer Camp watch as a fellow camper completes a challenge in which a robot is guided to pick up a yellow star and drag it to a marked spot, then return to its staring position. Students at the RAMTEC Vex Robotics Summer Camp watch as a fellow camper completes a challenge in which a robot is controlled to pick up a yellow star and drag it to a marked spot, then return to its staring position. One hundred and thirty-five middle and high school students attended the camp this week.(Photo: File photo /The Marion Star)Buy Photo

Robotics teams from Marion County schools have earned success this spring, and two robotics camps atTri-Rivers Career Center are available to keep that trend going.

The 2017 Summer VEX Robotics Camps an Advanced one for high schoolers and a Basics one for students in grades 6-12 will beJune 5-7. Both camps will be held at Tri-Rivers RAMTEC on the Career Center Campus, 2222 Marion-Mt. Gilead Road.

TheGrant Middle Schoolrobotics squad recorded a win in the semifinals of this year'sVEX Worldscompetition in April.

The camps, which were established in 2012, have grown each year. Last year more than 135 middle- and high-school students from Harding, Grant, North Union, Tri-Rivers, Elgin, Ridgedale, Pleasant, River Valley, Highland, Cardington, Gilead Christian, plus a number of home-schooled students, participated, said Ritch Ramey, engineering coordinator for Tri-Rivers RAMTEC. "It is a great time for our next generation of STEM professionals."

The campers will experience robot designing, building and programming using the VEX Robotics System a family of hardware and software designed to teach engineering principles. It is popular with educators for its simple, entry-level designs which can be enhanced into sophisticated robotics systems as students advance, Ramey said. "The company sponsors regional, national and international game-based engineering competitions for student teams in 32 countries."

The camp is designed to be fun and challenging, according to Ramey, who wants kids exposed to the idea of manufacturing as a career while theyre youngsters.

This year's camps are sponsored by grants from industrial manufacturing companies looking for future high skill workers, including Honda, Yaskawa Robotics, Consolidated Electric and SME EF Prime. The Ohio Department of Education alsosupports the program through its Ohio Straight A Grants, which supportproject-based learning in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The Advanced VEX Summer Camp (Grades 8-12), will include: Safety, Terminology, Tools & Software, Reviewing Robot Construction, Programming; Building & Competing in Robot Challenge; Reviewing Gearing, Torgue, Engineering Notebook & Programming; Reviewing Sensors, Pneumatics, Competing is Robot Skills Contest, and more.

Lunch and a T-shirt are provided to participants at both camps.

The Basics VEX Summer Camp (Grades 6-12), will include: students planning their designs and redesigns for their 2018 VEX Robots and working on Engineering Notebooks.

For more information call Ritch Ramey 740-360-8156. Visit ramtecohio.com to register for camplook under VEX.

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Rolling with it: Robotics workshops coming up - Marion Star