22 The Best of Monterey Bay® Family 2024-2025 Rise of the Machines Summer robotics camps test students’ skills in problem-solving and teamwork. By Erik Chalhoub After three years, the tiny rover that could continues to comb the surface of Mars, carving into rocks and projecting incredible images of an alien planet that doesn’t look all that different from ours, except maybe for the sky. While NASA’s Perseverance rover could be nearing the end of its life, the discoveries it made will be analyzed and celebrated for years to come. It had a much better landing than the Odysseus spacecraft about 34 million miles away, which spilled onto its side upon touching the moon’s surface in February, the first U.S. craft to land on the natural satellite in more than five decades. Such is the nature of robotics. Things most often don’t go to plan, but like the name of that little Mars rover, perseverance is key. That is exactly what students learn during a series of workshops offered by the Central Coast Mobile Fab Lab in Salinas. The lab is organizing a summer robotics workshop from June 11-14 for students in grades 5-8. Here, they will build robots to compete in various challenges, such as navigating mazes, picking up and moving objects, and racing against others. The goal is to increase the rigor and difficulty of these challenges, so students will have to learn engineering skills and manufacture designs using 3D printing to overcome whatCourtesy of Monterey County Office of Education Students in the summer robotics workshop offered by the Central Coast Mobile Fab Lab put together a robot that they will later use to compete in various challenges. Courtesy of Monterey County Office of Education
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