Legos, Learning and Loads of Fun at Robotics Summer Camp

It's early on a summer day, and kids are running toward the doors of Merrimack Middle School.

No, it's not a summer nightmare where you can't escape school no matter how hard you try. In fact, they aren't running to get out. Rather, they are running to get in.

“It's amazing. It's 8 in the morning in the summer and they are racing to get in,” said Fran Leach who runs the FIRST Lego League summer camp for two weeks in July.

Leach, with the help of several student volunteers from the High School's FIRST Robotics team Chop Shop 166, takes under her wing up to about two dozen students between the ages of 8 and 13 years old to teach them about robotics and programming.

Each week of camp culminates with an ultimate showdown on the obstacle course designed by the counselors, where teams of campers put their programming skills to the test and see if their robots can navigate the course.

Parents will arrive at camp at 12:30 on Friday each week of the camp and watch as their children's robots attempt to navigate turns, hills and other obstacles using one of two methods: installing a light sensor the follows a black line through the course, or programming the robot to move forward and turn at the appropriate times.

This is the 10th year of the FLL camp in Merrimack, a program Leach, a sixth-grade science teacher in Derry, helped start back in 2003. 

It's come full circle for her, with counselors in this year's camp who were among her first group of campers in town.

It's a great program for kids interested in science and mathematics, she said, and even better for those who think they might be interested in the FIRST Robotics program in high school, as it gets them started early.

This year, two of the campers were attending camp both weeks, despite the program being the same.

"The great thing about Legos is you can change your robot every day, if you want, and have it do different things," Leach said. 

In addition to working on a robot that they put through the obstacle course, the kids work on various projects throughout the week, one of the more popular ones being the joust. It's a match up where two robots go at each other and the winner is the one that can push its opponent in the opposite direction.

The campers choose their own teams and build their owns robots with guidance from the high school counselors.

"We try to keep things simple enough that anyone who is interested can do it," Leach said. "There's always two ways to do it, which is great, especially for the kids who've been here before. They want a challenge."

Hayden, an 11-year-old camper during the first week, said it was his first experience at the FLL camp.

"I like that there's multiple options you can do," he said, testing out a robot he was working on with Quinlan. 

He said their robot hadn't gotten through the obstacle course but they were still working on it.

He came to camp by way of recommendation from his friend Bryce. 

"He came last year and said it was really fun," Hayden said. 

At another table, Tyler was fitting iPods into the robot he was working on so he could video record while it prowled the obstacle course.

Leach, a Merrimack resident said the program really inspires creativity among the kids who attend.

Isabelle Beauregard, a captain of the Chop Shop robotics team, said she really likes FLL camp because its gets kids involved early.

"It's a nice way to get kids interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) at a younger age," Beauregard said.

The camp is also a great fundraiser for the FIRST Robotics team at the high school. In addition to paying pricey entrance fees for competition, and for materials, they also need to raise at least $4,000 a year alone for the scholarships they give out. 

Beauregard said the camp wouldn't be possible if it wasn't supplemented by great community support. In particular, three dentists in town, Dr. Elliot, Dr. Warguska and Dr. Douville provide them with financial support to keep camp costs low every year. 

Today marks the end of the two weeks of camp, which means when robots are done racing the obstacle course, and awards are handed out to the campers, it's time to break them down.

Slowly, the buckets of Legos and moving parts that were emptied as the week progressed, will be filled back up until next summer when a crop of new campers will mingle with the veterans to see what they can come up with.

"It's heartbreaking to disassemble at the end, the kids are so proud of the work they did," Leach said.

Learn more about Chop Shop 166 and the annual summer Lego camp at www.chopshop166.com.