Camp Quest Arizona is not until the end of June but it’s already on my mind and on my workbench. I had super response and success with last year’s program—The Beatle Bot. The program I select must have appeal to campers from the age of 8 through 17. Such programs are “electives.” Other electives include archery, fishing, survival skills, drama, and dancing. There may be others depending on the skills of the volunteer program camp counselors. I like hands-on activities. In the past, we build model airplanes, Pinewood Derby cars, and Tin Can Robots.

Pictured here is a prototype of one possible program for 2018. It was easy to build, can be completed by the campers in four 1-hour sessions and gives them something to take home with them. Unlike last year, the tiny line following robot comes in a complete kit. All that is necessary to complete the project is a soldering iron, solder, and a couple of hand tools. It went together quickly and worked immediately. The experience wasn’t perfect though. The instructions were not in English. My guess is Chinese since there were no recognizable words just pictures. I was able to find an “English” PDF file on the internet. It was rough. For example, here is the first line of the assembly instructions:

“Pay attention to the welder, welding according to the welding circuit is simple, the welding sequence component height from low to high principles, the first welding eight resistance welding must be used universal confirmation form resistance is correct, is welded with a polar components such as transistors, the green indicator light, electrolytic capacitor must points clear polarity as reference we picture element direction, welding capacitor short pin is the negative into the PCB screen printing on the shadow side of the green LED pin long is the cathode welding time not too long otherwise easy to weld, D4, D5 R13 and R14 can be temporarily not welding, integrated circuit chip can be in, the initial completion of welding, pleas be sure to carefully check, prevent careless.”

The purpose of preparing early is to work out the bugs and make sure that there is a high probability of that the robots will work. If I go with this kit for my summer project, I’ll obviously have to rewrite the assembly instructions!

Camp Quest is the Best! For more information on Camp Quest AZ, click HERE.

• PPP = Piss Poor Performance