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Cambridge Chronicle

Posted onAugust 10th, 2006 by Nancy

As appeared in Cambridge Chronicle

August 10, 2006

Catapulting into the future Cambridge kids fuse creativity and science at tech camp

By Dawn Witlin

Alex O’Reilly, like most big brothers, watches over his younger sibling, Cameron, with a sharp eye.

And, like most big brothers, he’s willing to be critical.

“I think he’s done a pretty good job, but I also see the element where he has two other people to help him,” said 13-year-old Alex as he sizes up “Whiskers,” a robot made by 12-year-old Cameron. The robot was nearing completion after less than a week of assembly.

Alex, 13, Cameron, 12, and Adam Yedidia, 14, are taking a few weeks out of their summer to attend iD Tech Camps at MIT.

A nationwide program for ages 7-17, the camp offers hands-on technology programs ranging from robotics to computer gaming design. There are also movie-editing courses under the supervision of a paid adult staff who bring a range of skills to the table.

Staffer Katy Levinson, 19, coaches five teams of students. Her charges have taught her a thing or two.

“It’s a nice dynamic because to be able to teach something, you have to really, really know it,” said Levinson. “The kids will hold each other in a non throwing things state. They will make progress together, they will fix each other’s problems.”

The technology campers may choose to enroll in a weeklong or several weeks-long courses and are grouped based on skill level.

Alex and Adam have chosen to design computer games, while Cameron is building a robot.

“I’m better with robotics than I am at programming, so I thought I’d stick to programming,” Alex explained, touting his final project: a virtual reality computer game he mapped from scratch.

The player is put to the test of finding keys in each room of Alex’s design, by typing in certain commands to move about.

“It gives a description of the room, and then it gives information such as where doors are and where items are,” said Alex, who attends Graham and Parks School along with his younger brother.

Meanwhile, Adam, who will go to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in the fall, is putting the finishing touches on a virtual “Connect Four” computer game.

“I was short on ideas, and I thought I’ve always liked Connect Four,” said Adam. “It’s just going to be a neat thing I can tell my friends.”

Since Adam has signed up for another week, he plans to work on giving the game artificial intelligence, so that a player can pit their skills against the computer.

Cameron’s group is busy running between their robot – a silver box-shaped mechanism on wheels equipped with sensors that keep it from running into walls – to the computer program that controls it.

“It’s made to navigate out of a box or something, it uses sonar, like when it’s going along and runs into something, it will turn around,” said Cameron. “It’s just really to move around and basically not get itself destroyed.”

The group is excitedly attaching a catapult to the robot. Its name, “Whiskers,” is in honor of its cat-like sensors.

“What we need to do is, it’s going to have a limit switch so that when the limit switch is pressed, it will wait 10 seconds then the motor module will turn, causing it to fire,” said Cameron matter-of-factly. “It will fling a ball.”

Levinson navigates the frenzied room with flair, reciting program codes to some, directing others how to jump programming hurdles, all the while making the kids laugh through their often frustrating efforts.

“It’s pretty impressive; this group of kids is really good, ” said Levinson. “I love all my weeks, but some of them go faster than others.”

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