About 20 students spent several days exploring the Red Planet from the comfort of a classroom at Aiken Technical College.
Cyber Power Camp: Mars Rover Mission Edition was a four-day camp to build skills in coding, robotics, and problem solving while sparking creativity and innovation.
“We just had an epiphany,” said Kevin Kingery, chair of the Department of Business and Computer Technology. “We were trying to think of something that would be interesting and entertaining and that we could actually have the campers leave with something in their hand that they could use going forward.”
That something was a working model of a Mars Rover.
“I think it’s pretty cool that we can get to learn this stuff, and then we’re going to eventually be able to do it, actually to a robot,” said camper Charles Craney, a student at Saint Mary Help of Christians Catholic School in Aiken. “The whole thing is just literally being run by the thing on our desk. We’re writing the code, and the thing is moving, running the coding software.”
Kingery said plans to build a replica Mars Rover are open source and available on websites including NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Materials range from common household items like cardboard, to 3D printed components. There are also businesses that sell a complete hobby kit to build a Rover.
Incorporating a Mars Rover model was a deliberate step to move the camp from the abstract to the tangible, said Kingery.
“Just knowing how to do something is one thing. Knowing how to do something and being able to do it are sometimes different things,” he said. “And that whole skill set of actually knowing how to put stuff together is an important one. And you can see the students, the campers, have different levels of that.”
Ryen Lavelle, also a student at Saint Mary, said the camp is giving them the opportunity to gain experience more in coding and computer software.
“We’ve learned a lot of new programming languages like Python and more introductions to go deeper into more technological robotics, and going into circuit boards and other things like Raspberry Pi,” he said.
Kingery said lessons learned in the cyber camp will cross all disciplines, no matter what students choose as their career.
“Because you can’t fix a car unless you can understand some electronics. If you’re interested in drafting or design work or that kind of stuff, you would deal with and use these kinds of things. If you’re into manufacturing or repair work, or electronics, they had to build the boards to put this together. Had to put components on the boards and go through a manufacturing process,” he explained.
Kingery said the camp was made possible thanks to grants Aiken Tech has received through the Metallica Scholars Initiative.
“We’re giving big thanks out to Metallica,” he said. “They’re interested in promoting actual technical education, and they have given money to lots of other technical colleges, but they gave us money specifically to help pay for the summer cyber camp.”
Aiken Tech is one of 42 schools in 33 states that the band supports through its foundation. The goal is to provide access to programs teaching individuals pursuing an education in traditional trade occupations.
