Longtime Tampa youth robotics team hosts first-ever summer camp fundraiser
Inside Team Duct Tape's summer camp
Team Duct Tape, a community-based youth robotics team, hosted its first-ever summer camp to spark a passion for engineering. FOX 13's Allie Corey reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Team Duct Tape, a community-based youth robotics team, hosted its first-ever summer camp to spark a passion for engineering.
Tampa youth robotics camp
What we know:
Team Duct Tape, a local community-based youth robotics team entering its 19th year, is sharing its passion with the community through its inaugural summer camp.
"I just thought of it as a great way to give a piece of what we do to the community and really pull them in," 17-year-old Kaz Collins said.
The camp teaches participants a variety of skills required to construct a functioning robot, including 3D modeling and printing, distinguishing between motors and servos, and engaging in hands-on trial and error.
The backstory:
Team Duct Tape competes as a FIRST Tech Challenge team, a middle and high-school-level STEM education program where students work with adult mentors to design, build, and program robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams.
Every year, the youth team builds a brand-new robot to compete across the state. The team's home base is at AMRoC Fab Lab in the University Mall.
Engineering skills taking shape
What they're saying:
The teenage team members emphasize that robotics is heavily centered around problem-solving and perseverance.
"Very satisfying whenever it finally works, because it never works the first time," 17-year-old Daniel Fellerhoff said.
Other team members find fulfillment in watching their creations come to life.
"I just think it's really fun to get to like make something, see how it doesn't work and fix it," 13-year-old Emily Logan said.
Logan noted that she hopes camp participants "can learn from this experience that they can do things like this."
"I just love the idea of being able to just create something and move on its own. That's the best way I can put it into words," 15-year-old Austin Varney said.
Varney explained that after doing robotics, "You can like move a problem around in your head once you do something like this."
Tampa robotics fundraising goals
What you can do:
The inaugural camp also serves as a fundraiser to the upcoming competition season. The team is actively looking for new mentors, corporate sponsors, and new members to join their ranks for the upcoming season.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered through interviews with participants in Team Duct Tape's summer camp.