Winter Workshops
When most families were celebrating the holidays at home, the Penn High School Robotics lab was bustling with activity on December 27th and 28th as children traveled throughout St. Joseph County to attend Team 135’s annual Winter Workshops. Much like our Summer Camps, 2018’s Winter Workshops brought elementary and middle school students into the world of industrial technology. For two consecutive mornings, students were exposed to both the hardware and software aspects of manufacturing as seen in the industry through our Applied Camps. With a high number of participants, we split our campers into two groups; the first group was focused on CAD (computer-aided design) while the other camp focused on learning about CNC (computer numerically controlled) machinery to translate the first camp’s designs into real-world results that children could bring home. Approximately 13 first through third graders had a lot of fun learning about simple machines and problem solving in our creative workshops. Their goal was to create a Rube Goldberg machine that would carry a 3D printed egg from a height of three feet to the ground using K’Nex onto the other side of the platform. In addition, we did a robot demonstration to show what our program entails, hoping to inspire future STEM learners and spark an interest in robotics.
