Thirty-five local kids turned the Greensburg Learning Center into their own robot factory this week when they constructed the whirring and mobilized machinations for the Lego Robotics Camp. According to ECO15 coordinator Lisa Deck, the robot kits were purchased through grants from ECO15 with help from WorkOne and the Decatur County Community Foundation. All week long, the kids, ages 9 to 13, worked together in teams to build, program and ready their robots for an obstacle course run for which they were awarded prizes. The theme of the week was “Building the Future in Advanced Manufacturing.”

Associate professor of mechanical engineering technology Dr. Joe Fuehne, out of Columbus, worked with the kids all week, monitoring their progress while showing them the value of engineering and mechanics.

On the first day of the camp, the students assembled the robots. On the second day, they programmed them. On day three, the robots were programmed to run the obstacle course. On Friday, the kids were given the opportunity to work out the bugs and fix the tweaks before the friendly competition began.

Deck explained that T-shirts with the camp logo were given to each participant, and the fees for the camp were used to pay for prizes and the shirts themselves. Other fees were covered by the DCCF and ECO15. She added that allowing kids to work in the areas of manufacturing and engineering was a good cornerstone that would likely help them in many other areas and could lead to work in a number of other opportunities.

“It’s fun,” 11-year-old Baker Howard explained. “You get to build your own robot.”

But Howard didn’t construct the robot on his own.

“We both had a part in this,” he said about his teammate, 9-year-old Cameron DeWeese. “There’s always something that needs fixed.”

Dr. Fuehne explained that each robot was built with four sensors, including a touch sensor that acts like a bumper, a sound sensor, an ultrasonic sensor that acts like “eyes” and a light sensor. All of the sensors that the robots use, Fuehne said, are used in high-tech manufacturing devices. The things the kids were learning were some of the things that they would learn on the job or in a manufacturing/engineering class, Fuehne said. The kids had to toil over equations, use math and utilize computer programming skills to prepare their robots for action. Fuehne said his goal was simply to get kids interested in the fields of engineering and manufacturing. According to Fuehne, in 2010, about 90 percent of all engineers will be in Asia, vastly outnumbering American engineers.

“We need more,” Fuehne said.

The Lego Robotics Camp was a good way to get them interested.

The winners in the morning session were: Reid and Ryan Domingo in first place; Conner Cuskaden and Spencer Koors in second place; and Josh Aukney and Miles Messer in third.

Deck explained that this was the first time a program like this had been executed in Decatur County. It was also the first time they had the kits. She noted that future Lego Robotics Camps were definitely in Greensburg’s future.

“We had a great response,” Deck said. “It’s been a great opportunity for the kids. It’s amazing to see how intelligent they are, and what they’re capable of.”