Kids attend summer camp to build robots and rockets in McAllen

They built six legged robots and raced them on the first day. Throughout the week campers will build a reusable hydro-rocket, Da Vinci robotic arm and learn engineering concepts.

“It's important that students who are interested in these kinds of camps come and be apart of it and learn real applications of building robots, programming robots, wiring the robots and see these creations come to life,” said Beto Reynoso, Reybotics Camp founder.

One camper from McAllen, Brandon Sean Bloomfield, 7-years-old said his aunt told him about the camp and enrolled him saying it would be an early birthday present; knowing he would enjoy the training because he likes to build and take things apart at home.

“I had fun building the robots and putting everything together," Bloomfield said.

The week long program covers concepts in STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics lead by Beto Reynoso, originally from Brownsville. He has worked numerous internships with NASA. In 2009 he collaborated on a project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasedena, CA. His task was to automate the calibration for high-resolution aerial surveillance on a project known as Angel Fire, funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory. He pursued another internship with NASA in 2010 where he worked on developing an interface to streamline the control of a seven-foot robotic arm used to collect lunar soil samples for a proposed 2016 mission called Moon Rise.

“We are building robotic arms, six legged robots, building and launching rockets and rocket cars using balloons and water bottles and see the car travel down the track at high speeds,” said Reynoso. “The idea here is to cover concepts and apply them. We also had a speaker from NASA that worked on the entry descent landing team for the Mars Rover, Engineer Gregory Villarreal, from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Reybotics is an initiative of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation, a Mercedes-based non-profit organization with a mission to improve the quality of life in the Rio Grande Valley through education. The foundation’s core initiatives educate families and their children about the importance of earning a college degree.

Entering seventh grader at Port Isabel Middle School, Finn Strohmeyer, said “the camp is great and it’s really cool actually meeting someone who worked on the Mars Rover because I'm a big fan of NASA.”

Harlingen Gutierrez Middle School student Jerome Trevino said the construction is kind of difficult but anyone six or older could build one. He entered the class to learn how to build and learn about the wires, motors, build a robot and to try something new.

“Students will walk away with their notebooks, knowledge and experience of building their first robot,” said Reynoso. “They fully develop a robot, construct it, wire it up and see it power up for the first time.”