Description
Come to this camp to learn about electronics, robotics, microcontrollers, soldering, programming and much more. Not only will you gain a ton of hands-on experience using microcontrollers, using electrical components, and assembling 3D printed chassis, you also get to take home several DIY projects!
This camp starts with an introduction to everything microcontroller & electronics- from navigating the board to using the programming software. Campers use this knowledge to build simple programs, such as controlling LEDs, switches, and interacting with sensors/OLED displays.
Campers will then build on that knowledge to learn all about electrical components - what is a resistor, a diode, a capacitor? On top of that, this session will also introduce campers to soldering - how to solder wires, PCBs, and how to solder safely.
As we get closer to the summer, we will confirm what robotics platform we're using. In the past, environments like the XRP robotics platform, and MPU, MCU, and single-board computer devices like Arduinos, ESP32s, and Raspberry Pis.
Campers will build several projects over the course of the week, learning about robotics components such as motors/servos, programming, using shields, and many other topics. This culminates in assembling and testing out multiple robotics projects that campers will get to take home & experiment with further, armed with all of the knowledge & confidence they gained over the course of the week.
This camp is for ages 12-16, no experience required.
Camp pricing:
The University of Southern Maine is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, and we do everything in our power to keep our camps affordable for Maine families. At the same time we make an effort to staff with the best mentors for our campers, we do this by employing classroom educators, university faculty/staff, industry experts, and college undergraduate & graduate students.
With that being said, our biggest expense each year is our camp staff wages. As the cost of living, and the cost of wages increase, it directly impacts the cost to run our camps. Please keep this in mind as you’re browsing our selection of camps, and understand that we do everything we can to keep our camps affordable.
Possible Effects from 2025 Tariffs:
Please note that new tariffs went into effect starting early in 2025, which directly impacts some of our most critical camp equipment. This could impact any camp that has take-home electronics equipment (such as “3D Printing & Design”, “Build Your Own Computer Camp”, and “CubeSat Camp”), the cost of the materials may increase as much as 35%. At the moment, we haven’t seen any significant price increases from the vendors we use, but “we don’t know” means “we don’t know” with regard to how this will impact the cost to run the program.
We are working to mitigate that by ordering this equipment early, and from specific vendors, but we are preparing for the cost of 3D printers, computer hardware, and any other electronics equipment to increase significantly. If this ends up happening, we will work with families directly to find the best solution in this scenario, but it may result in an add-on cost to camper families.