Animation & Robotics Residential Summer Camp

This camp will appeal to high school students interested in stop motion animation, Virtual Reality (VR), programming, and robotics. The week will be split up with a half day of animation and a half day of animatronics. In the animation portion of the course, students will learn how to create animation for immersive environments, like VR Headsets and Fulldome displays. Students who are new to VR will practice principles of time-based storytelling through hands-on activities in Lego Creator and Mosaic Maker animation. Students with previous VR experience will work with Quill, Dragonframe and fisheye cameras to create multi-user immersive animated experiences. In the animatronics portion of the course students will learn how to build and control robotics systems involving motion, lights and sounds. Students who are new to coding and robotics will learn these principles through hand-on activities with the LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Inventor Set, while more advanced programmers will work with Arduinos controlling peripheral devices. By the end of the week students should be able to program a sequence of events which can be used to make interactive mechanical puppets.

 Students who choose to do so will have the opportunity to combine tools and skills from both animation and animatronics and share their results with their peers in a project showcase celebration.

 Participants will be joined by Japanese high school students from Saitama, Japan, Pittsburgh's sister city. They will take part in the camp experiences together as well as field trips to the Gateway Clipper, Robert Morris University's Island Sport Center and a Pittsburgh Pirate game along with other social activities taking place on RMU's campus. Please note students will be staying on campus all week and residing in the dormitories.