UCI Hosts Free Robotics Camp in Summer Outreach

Aug. 9, 2024 - The UCI Samueli School of Engineering and Stacey Nicholas Office of Outreach, Access and Inclusion (OAI) hosted an inaugural Robotics Camp for high school students last week. The Robotics Camp is part of UCI’s summer outreach activities to inspire high school students, especially those from underrepresented populations, to consider pursuing degrees in engineering.  Twenty-five students received scholarships from the Broadcom Foundation to attend the program.

Students participated in the one-week program where they learned how to build and operate autonomous robots. “What I liked about this camp is that it introduced me to a lot of things about robotics. I’ve only done robotics with controllers. I’ve never done autonomous,” said Willa Neury, a junior at the Samueli Academy. “We used a lot of technology I’ve never used before like the Raspberry Pi and ultrasonic sensor.” 

The new camp was inspired by the dean of the Samueli School of Engineering, Magnus Egerstedt who is a lead roboticist. “The Samueli School of Engineering’s Robotics Camp fires on all cylinders. It is educational, inspirational, and fun,” he said. “And, since I am not only the Dean of Engineering here at UCI, I am also a robotics professor, this camp is particularly near and dear to my heart. Who knows, in a few years, some of these students might find themselves my lab as a direct result of this camp.”

The students learned how to assemble and wire robotic cars and how to program Raspberry Pi to control their motors and movement. “The best part about camp was building robots and talking to my peers, collaborating and also my counselor was really helpful in teaching me coding, assembling and also wiring,” said Angelina Pham, a senior at Bolsa Grande High School.

The students also learned sensor integration and python programming to enable the sensors to detect and maneuver around obstacles. Instructors taught them the basics of machine learning and its application in robotics and how to integrate AI with Raspberry Pi.

Teamwork was also an engaging aspect of their experience. “I like that everyone here was able to collaborate,” said John Do, a senior at Santiago High School. “I like that everyone here was supportive and I liked seeing everyone finally come together and build all their robots.”

During the week, they also enjoyed a tour of the UCI Robot Ecology Lab, Dean Egerstedt’s lab which specializes in remote environmental monitoring robots. The students got to see his up-and-coming Raccoonbot which will be collecting environmental data on campus and at Crystal Cove State Park. They also visited the UCI Rehabilitation and Augmentation Lab led by Alexandra Voloshina, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Her lab is developing wearable technology for improving human mobility.

At the end of the week, the students gave presentations and tested their robots for speed and accuracy.  The new robotics camp sparked a stronger interest in engineering for some participants. Pham said, “The camp really inspires me in the future to go on the career path of mechanical engineering cause these skills are really useful.”

“Running these programs and seeing them work was very exciting,” Do said. “Honestly this experience was the last push I need to pursue engineering. This camp just helped me realize I really like doing stuff like this.”

- Natalie Tso