Last week, we held our first session of our 3-Day High School Robotics & 3D Modeling Workshop for the summer. Teens of various ages participated in this workshop over the course of 3 days where they had access to world-class software & resources to ultimately build their own remote-controlled car! This workshop was taught at the MakerLab by MakersUIUC, a product design and development organization at the University of Illinois that gives students the opportunity to pursue innovative and creative projects.

"Leading a 3D Printing, 3D Design, and Arduino workshop for high school students at the UIUC Maker Lab was a very rewarding experience because of the opportunity share my passion for engineering and learning with such animated students. "

A PLATFORM FOR EXPLORATION & INNOVATION

MakersUIUC provided participating students with the platform to explore there ideas and learn about the different technologies they could use, such as Arduinos and 3D Printing, to make them come to life! 

Students spent the first day of the workshop learning how to 3D model parts in Autodesk Inventor software. This tool is popular in many schools adopting the next generation of technology and science standards. Within this software, students were able to gain knowledge on the tools that are available in the STEM field to begin visualizing and modeling their ideas!

ROBOTICS & ARDUINOS

On the second day of the workshop, students got the opportunity to work with Arduinos, which are tiny electronic platforms that can easily be programmed using online software and turned into functioning equipment that runs the programs loaded onto them. Students used Arduinos to write the programs for their remote-controlled cars!

3D PRINTING A CAR!

The students spent their final day in the 3 day workshop series finalizing their car designs and printing them out. Students were able to see firsthand how additive manufacturing is transforming the landscape for inventors and product developers by seeing how quickly and accurately their designs became tangible cars. Before printing their car, students chose the color they wanted to print in and added the final touches in Inventor to make sure the car represented their personalities and design flair!

Finally, students put together their cars and participated in an obstacle race where they got to see their cars in action!

NEXT SESSIONS

We will be offering two more sessions of our 3-Day High School Robotics & 3D Modeling Workshop on July 13th-15th (Session #2) and August 3rd-5th (Session #3). Spots are still available, so if you would like to register, please visit our Summer Pagefor details and to sign up! We look forward to seeing you or your student at our next session!