The South Hills Interfaith Movement (or SHIM) teamed up with Botsburgh, a competitive First Tech Challenge team, to organize an event over the summer to teach robotics to migrant children. Botsburgh is participating in robotic competitions and is committed to positively impacting their community. As part of their season’s main objectives in outreach, they aim to spark a real interest in robotics among over a thousand children this year. To work towards this goal, they organized this week-long summer camp.

Botsburgh organizes unique community events that feature a Robotic Petting Zoo as the main attraction. At these events, kids are guided by Botsburgh members to create their own robot animals using cardboard boxes and craft supplies. To make the experience more exciting, they are taught how to bring their creations to life and program movements using Hummingbird Kits. These kits come equipped with small motors, LED lights, and various sensors that can be attached to the animal. By using a smart device and block coding, the children can make their robotic pets wag their tails, move them around, or give their dragons glowing red eyes with a roar!

This week-long summer camp is for socio-economically disadvantaged campers who are immigrants and mostly refugees. The camp was enjoyable and events such as these can even serve as turning points for many young participants, sparking an interest in computer science and inspiring them to explore the possibilities of robotics. Komel Nulwala, a junior at Upper St. Clair High School and lead builder in the team, shared that the team connected with over 120 kids from over a dozen countries, “many of whom had never seen a robot before.” They found the experience rewarding and plan to hold another event with SHIM. These efforts are crucial as more and more jobs require candidates to have a strong grasp of technology. Additionally, many of the members of Botsburgh joined USC Robotics after attending similar events.

Members of Botsburgh believe that their involvement with the campers is mutually beneficial. Zahra Hossain, a sophomore, builder on the team, for example, learned more about responsibility through her role in the team. Medha Misra, a sophomore, programmer who just joined the team recently, was impressed by the kid’s abilities. She states, “It was my first time seeing so many different children from various backgrounds come and work together to improve their tech skills.” Medha found it fascinating to see how imaginative they were. One example was a collaboration between two campers with different ideas – one wanted to build a cat while the other wanted to build a bumblebee. Together, they created a new invention called “bumble-cat,” which had bumblebee wings. The team was also inspired by campers who did not speak English but used Google Translate to share ideas and contribute to the group. Ben Ross, a junior, programmer on the team, says the following about his experiences. “I was shocked by how interested the kids became in coding, even though it was block coding.” One group was so inspired that they were able to program a snake to roll on wheels.

The director of SHIM’s after-school and summer camp programs, Ashley Bajkowski said in her statement to Botsburgh, “We had such a great experience with you & your team. We so look forward to working with you again next summer. In the meantime, keep doing what you are doing! You are all truly amazing young men & women & are making a difference & sparking interest in robotics in our young learners.”