Week one of Robot Camp is now complete!
Benjamin, not content just to compete the same way as the rest of his fellow campers, broke away to be the only camp attendee to do "soft coding" rather than "hard coding". What does this mean? He built a robot that didn't just operate to set commands. He developed a robot that could "think" for itself and make judgments during the test.
They had a contest on the last day to see how well the robots they designed could compete on an obstacle course with set tasks. The team that Benjamin was with originally, for the first two days or so, won the competition. The soft-coded robot that Benjamin worked on, with only about half the camp left, did not win, but did very well, considering he was the only one to attempt a "thinking" robot.
The highlight of the whole contest came from his robot. There was a "lake" on the obstacle map, designated by an outline of orange tape. Benjamin's robot approached the lake, but it stopped just as it was about to go in. It paused for a second, and then backed up. Because Benjamin had programmed it to recognize a certain color, and not to cross the threshold of that color. It was an awesome sight to behold.
Benjamin was competing mostly against students from metro Atlanta schools, many who have had much greater exposure to robotics than Benjamin had. He still more than held his own.
Part of the reasoning behind sending him to the camp was to find out if he was genuinely interested in robotics, or if it might be a passing phase. Was he still excited by it? Was he willing to put in the hard work? So far, the answer has been a resounding yes!
But wait! There's more! This week robot camp continues with the "advanced" class! I am filled with pride, and, I must admit, a little bit of fear, of what he might accomplish! Hopefully not the beginnings of Skynet!
Benjamin! What are you going to do in Robot Camp this week?
Why, the same thing I do every week, Dad --- Try to build a robot that can take over the world!
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