Girls Learn About Robots at New Summer Camp
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2004
CONTACT: Joe Wills
530-898-4143
Girls Learn About Robots at New Summer Camp
The new Intelligent Systems Laboratory in the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology at California State University, Chico is hosting a camp for junior high school girls interested in learning about robotics.
The lab and camp are both funded through a $346,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to CSU, Chico that is geared toward using intelligent systems, or robots, to attract students to engineering and science.
The 16 Chico-area girls are working closely with CSU, Chico faculty and students learning how to program and operate robots that can perform many different functions. The sessions involve lessons that are a mixture of math, physics and mechanics.
“The camp is also organized to give these girls more confidence in themselves and to spark interest in the areas of science, math and engineering,” said computer science professor Benjoe Juliano. He and fellow computer science professor Renee Renner are coordinating the camp and are two of the principal investigators of the NSF grant.
The theme of the week-long camp is Martian exploration. The camp culminates tomorrow, June 18, in a competition among space rover robots the girls helped build. The girls’ rovers will attempt to secure a landing area, rescue space explorers and navigate a maze in the shortest time possible. Parents and other visitors are invited to the competition, which starts at 12:45 p.m. in O’Connell Technology Center 124.
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