Summer Camp

This week the PantherBots partnered with GearUP to host teams of freshmen students for a week of building, programming, and testing their EV3 Lego Mars rover. With many challenges such as budget cuts, lawsuits, and even a last second problem of cosmic radiation that caused a change in code, it was a challenging and exciting experience. The pictures of the fun are below:

The teams had the option of two pathways. The red path yielded you 65 points however once you reached Earth you had to back up into Mars. The blue path yielded you 60 points. Hitting a asteroid (Basketballs) or Satellites from different countries (Small Robots) yielded a 1 point deduction and going off the map caused a 2 point deduction. Lastly if the brain of your robot landed directly over the circle it is a 3 point addition.

Monday

On Monday all of the campers organized their Lego kits, decided on a team name, and made their logos, which we are now 3D printing. Pictured below are the teams:

The Banana Ducks posing with their robot named “LilDuckieV1”
Pictured from left to right: Patrick Butler, Evan McElroy, Juan Hernandez, Gavin Libby, Dylan Mettlen

Gears, Nuts, and Bolts posing with their robot named “Bolt”
Pictured from left to right: Karsin Laningham, Felix Bermudez, Jayla Culpepper

The Gifted And Young Scientist posing with their robot named “Genius Bot”
Pictured from left to right: Krista Butterfras, Jackson Randall, Samuel Gonzalez Perez

The 3 Gamers posing with their robot named “Forehead”
Pictured from left to right: Julian Martinez, Amiya Evans, Tasia Richard

Stars United posing with their robot named “Obi2.0”
Pictured from left to right: Sacorian Gardner, Raeonna Card, DeMarkus Chinn, Kendrick Butler

The teams working together on Monday. Featuring the BananaDucks, *The* Gifted And Young Scientist, and *Gears, Nuts, and Bolts*

Tuesday

On Tuesday the teams started to build their absolutely magnificent robots and develop code. Teams started working on the presentations and completing their 3D logos. Teams are off to a great start with some able to run half of the course by Tuesday. During our break we demonstrated our newest drive train affectionately called Swervey bot as well as our award winning robot that played in the FRC game Steamworks.

Pictures of all the teams working on their robots, presentations, and 3D design. Along with campers watching Beth (Drive team lead) explain to them how our robots function. The last two pictures were taken by Jayla Culpepper from *Gears, Nuts, and Bolts*.

Wednesday

On Wednesday the teams started to run the course with ease. Most teams completed their code while others finished up the PowerPoints. Teams were advised NASA would have a press conference on Thursday morning at 10:45 a.m. CST.

The Bananaducks bot “LilDuckieV1” running the course

Gears, Nuts, and Bolts bot running the course with great success!

However some teams were having some faulty code

Thursday

Thursday, AKA announcement day. The teams were told that due to cosmic radiations their forward boosters had failed. This meant that if they traveled to Earth they would have to reverse into Mars. Their reaction was very eager to take on the challenge. They also had our first Corporate Espionage lawsuit between Stars United and the Banana Ducks. The suit was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Friday

On Friday all the campers came in ready to work, demonstrate their robots and give their presentations with their minds set on earning the most points and being awarded the Golden Ratio Double Seahorse Gear Trophy. The teams are ready to demonstrate their code and presentations to friends, family, and judges. Our judges for this event are Jeffin James and Matt Millican two of our local Lockheed Martin Manufacturing Engineers.