JAY — Several classrooms and the hallways at Spruce Mountain Middle School were a beehive of activity last week. The annual Spruce Mountain Area Robotics Team (SMART) Robotics Summer Camp was taking place and there was a lot of multitasking going on.

Twenty nine young people eager to learn more about robots were working with robots in various stages of construction and programming on the first day of camp. Some twenty three older SMART mentors were assisting the campers or working on a fundraiser effort.

In one room, several SMART mentors were helping campers as they put together LEGO robots. Once built, each robot would be then programmed for a different task. One completed robot was being programmed to launch a soccer ball-type projectile. On another, light and color sensors were being adjusted so that the robot could navigate a course outlined in red. Other campers were preparing to compete in a door challenge where the robot has to open a door.

Madyson Nichols was attending camp for the first time. “I thought it would be interesting. They came to my school,” he said. He planned to compete in the door challenge.

Owen Schwab was preparing his robot for the yellow sign challenge. In this event, the robot has to grab a loop.

Earlier, in another room, some campers quietly watched part of a movie, Akeelah and the Bee, about the National spelling bee competition. Each day during the camp, part of the movie will be shown.

SMART assistant Rob Taylor said the camp is affiliated with the district’s 21st Century After School Program. It helped supply equipment and snacks. Tet program also supports the Lego League program in the fall.

SMART advisor Daniel Lemieux said the team needs to conduct thirty hours of fundraising. Those hours count towards competitions the team will enter next year. As part of those efforts, several of the SMART mentors were working on cataloging models.

Camryn Berry was taking pictures of decals while James Herlihy was busy loading pictures and other information onto a computer. Other students were affixing sticky labels to decal sets encased in plastic sleeves.

Tina Riley, mother of two SMART members, said a benefactor had donated his model collection to the team. The majority of those models were sold last year and raised about $10,000. There are still some models that need to be catalogued for sale. In addition, there are some partial sets and many decals that can be sold.

Riley said an adult mentor for the robotics program helped create a data base where information about the models could be entered, then uploaded onto eBay where the kits are sold from. Riley said, “We have 100 percent approval rating on eBay.”

Riley said the cataloging is incredibly tedious work. “The students are doing such a great job with it” she stated.

A lot of feedback has been given from people who are supporting SMART. Some collectors have shared marketing tips on Google Drive to help the team optimize the partial model sets and decals. Riley said, “They are such nice people.”

Lemieux also arranged field trips for campers this year. On Wednesday, they travelled to the US Cellular distribution center in Augusta to learn about telecommunications. On Thursday, Ted Berry’s business was visited. On Friday, stops to Howie’s Welding and the local US Cellular retailer were made.

The SMART Robotics Summer Camp was a fun way for younger students to learn about robots and the technology and computer aids that make their use possible. Exposure through the camp may one day lead to participation in SMART programs at the middle and high school levels.

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