Space Camp 2 was just as exciting as Space Camp 1, last week's demonstration. This week, July 18, there were more children. Allan was not able to make it this week. Mary and Laura had swapped places; Laura was a camper and Mary was a demonstrator. The game challenge was slightly different, and we offered three stations instead of two.

Fifty children assembled around the FTC field. This elementary school group, like last week's middle school group, knew something about robotics. Some knew that the NXTs communicated with the laptop using Bluetooth. One recognized us from Leonardtown Elementary school's Science Night demonstration. Josh, whose brother was a student on FRC 836 told us that he was tie-dyeing because he liked our shirts last year. Some recognized the Wii bot from the River Concert series. One student remembered the basketball-shooting FRC robot. We spoke about robots for a while and then told them about the challenge waiting at the first station.

The first station was Bowled Over Jr. where four students at a time drove four play-bots. Last week the bowling balls made a lot of noise in the large atrium. We found large 16-inch plastic balls and thought. The students were easily able to push the ball out of the divot. They were also able to push them up the opposite ramp. The bowling balls last week were too heavy for the play-bots to push the balls up the ramps. We also thought the plastic balls would make less noise when hitting the opposite home zone after being knocked off the ramps. They were much quieter, at least until they popped. The plastic balls were not the only changes we made to last week's demonstration.

We brought Crusader, Conductor, and Jack last week, but this week we provided a full demonstration of their abilities. Renee used a PSP NX to control Crusader. She loaded it with wiffle balls and then shot them across the hallway. The students enjoyed collecting them and rolling them into the intake system. After a few minutes, she let Crusader cool while demonstrating Conductor's jointed arm. After that, Jack's lift was demonstrated. While this was happening, Lydean was operating the third station.

Again this week, we borrowed the Wii-bot from FRC 836, and again this week, the students enjoyed controlling a robot without using their hands. The robot was harder to control than last week, possibly because some of the wiring had vibrated loose. Lydean had been chasing the robot for some time and was becoming very hot.

Part of the reason for the heat was our pirate costumes. The long sleeved shirts were under a double layered cotton vest. Renee was wearing a hat, and we were all in jeans and boots. We made a mental note to make lighter-weight uniforms next year. We weren't planning to demonstrate again during the summer, but we were invited to demonstrate at the third and final week of Space camp the following week. Renee's Virginia Tech Orientation was the following week, so we weren't able to accept the invitation. We certainly hope to demonstrate at Space Camp next year.