Appetite for construction: Building robots all in week's work at Kids' College

Robotics courses can teach kids math and programming skills, instructor Jeff Rivera said, but if that’s not enough, there’s always the draw of Legos.

Neal Cardin

Students taking part in the Kids' College intermediate robotics class gather around the table Wednesday to take turns testing the robots attempt to perform tasks.

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Neal Cardin

Daniel Bringas-Fonseca watches Wednesday as a robot moves across a table to perform a task. Daniel was one of several students taking part in an intermediate robotics class at Kids’ College at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College.

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Neal Cardin

Intermediate robotics instructor Jeff Rivera helps students Justice Smith, left, and Ian Thomas with programming their robot during Kids' College.

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Neal Cardin

A student's robot attempts to grasp an object and move it Wednesday as part of a programmed task in the intermediate robotics class at Kids' College.

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“Everybody loves to play with Legos,” Rivera said.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College has started its Kids’ College program this summer, offering week-long classes to children covering a variety of topics, from forensic science to video game design.

This week, the college is hosting an intermediate robotics course, one of three robotics courses in the Kids’ College program. Rivera, an associate professor in the electrical technology program, has taught the courses for several years.

The courses use Lego robotic kits. Students learn to build robots and program them to perform tasks. The robots can be programmed to retrieve and carry objects, or push and pull them along a map filled with different pathways. Programming involves a lot of math to determine distances for the path the robot needs to travel, Rivera said.

The courses have proven to be some of the most popular in the Kids’ College program. Rivera said robotics can be found in many professions from medicine to mining.

“Robotics is becoming more and more prevalent in industry and just in everyday life,” he said.

Melissa Broadfoot, 9, enrolled in the courses to explore possibilities in engineering.

“I just wanted to become an engineer or a doctor, so I just wanted to get started on one of those two,” she said.

Justice Smith, 13, is entering his freshman year at John Hardin High School. He had taken a beginning robotics before this week’s course.

“I took one the first time because I like to see how things work,” Smith said.

Smith has enjoyed himself, to the point where he thinks he might want to go into a field using some of the same skills. He’ll never be bored, he said.

“It will always keep my interest,” Smith said.

Kelly Cantrall can be reached at (270) 505-1747 or kcantrall@thenewsenterprise.com.