CO:bots At Brentwood Tournament
Anyone who stays late at theCO on Thursday nights knows all about the stream of kids carrying robotics equipment to the event space. These students are a part of the CO:bots Meetup hosted by theCO, in partnership with Vex Robotics, and come to practice their skills.
Made at theCO: Watering Raspberry Pi
Have you ever left for vacation and come back to dead or dying plants in your living room?
It happened to me last month, and I was frustrated with feeling like I would never have a green thumb despite my best efforts. Then I heard about Watering Raspberry Pi, a robot built and created by Dev Catalyst students from Lexington High School. The robot is designed to automatically water your plant via a soil moisture sensor, meaning you could go on vacation and not have to worry about your plants!
Summertime Learning at theCO
When school lets out at the end of May, most kids head to the pool, play outside, and visit the beach with their families. But some parents may want more educational activities for their kids during the summer. Luckily for the Jackson community, theCO offers workshops and summer camps for kids with technological abilities to develop their skills and learn about robotics, microcomputers, and more.
Summer at theCO
Staying in Jackson this summer? West Tennessee may not have a place to lay your beach towel and enjoy the seabreeze, but theCO is offering a variety activities to keep you busy and entertained in the upcoming months.
Two Students Representing Jackson in International Robot Competition
Of the 1,500 students from all across the world who will be descending on Louisville, Kentucky, for an international robotics competition later this month, two young robot-makers will be representing Jackson, Tennessee.
Ben McCarver, a homeschool freshman, and Joshua Bernheisel, a seventh grader from a Northeast Middle School, managed to beat approximately 170 students in Tennessee to take the robots they designed in CO:bots to compete with some of the best student roboticists from all of the world, from the Middle East to Australia to South America.
Coding Skills Give Students Endless Job Opportunities
Dev Catalyst is committed to preparing high school students for profitable careers in technology-based fields, such as advanced manufacturing.
According to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, over the last five years, Tennessee has ranked in the Top 10 for the largest percentage increase in the United States in manufacturing GDP, which reached $49.1 billion in 2016, making it 17% of the state’s total GDP. Advanced manufacturing job creation in Tennessee, in particular, far outpaces the rate of national growth.
Technology has revolutionized the manufacturing industry. The incorporation of robots on the assembly line has led to quicker, more efficient production. Companies have also streamlined the manufacturing and production process by using computer-aided design software.
Ben McCarver’s VEX Competition Experience
Ben McCarver found love at first sight after attending a robotics meetup at theCO last October.
Kabao McCarver, mother of Ben McCarver, took note of Ben’s interest in engineering from an early age.
“Ben was inclined to all things engineering from an early age. Before he could walk, he was trying to figure out how things fit together, mostly by first tearing them apart,” Kabao explained. “His involvement in robotics gave him the ability to express his interests in a new way.
“He kept the name, Ben the Destroyer, until a few years ago when it seemed like overnight he went from ‘breaking’ everything, and all of the sudden he was the one we called on to fix everything.”
Soon, after only days of robotics experience, Ben entered the VEX Robotics State Championship Competition held in Brentwood, Tennessee, against his mother’s wishes.