Brenda Mehdian, staff writer
Members of the Robotics program, MorTorq, presented at Technotainment this summer. Technotainment is a computer camp run by PlanetBravo in which kids age five to 14 are taught how to program video games, create their own movies, and build their own robots.
Created by ex-BHUSD computer teacher Danny Pezzotta, the camp started in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, but quickly branched out into a total of six locations. Senior robotics member Hans Tercek was able to intern for the company over the summer.
“I had the pleasure of helping teach the kids in various classes such as game modding, video game design and Lego robotics. It was really fun to watch the campers come up with interesting ideas and develop them,” senior Robotics member Hans Tercek said.
Team leaders presented PowerPoints that informed campers about high school robotics. Campers learned how different competitions work, different sub-teams and what a typical build season is like. After the presentation, the presenters demonstrated their robot for the campers and answered any questions about the robot or MorTorq.
“The kids had a lot of questions, and had a lot of fun playing Frisbee catch with the robot. I was impressed with the knowledge of engineering the campers already had,” senior Robotics member Jake Peskin said.
According to Peskin the goal of the presentations was not only to teach kids about robotics, but also to expose kids to the team and let them know about the different opportunities there are to contribute the team, both engineering and non-engineering.
“I left feeling that the kids knew about the variety of opportunities there are to contribute to the team, which was the main point of the presentation,” Peskin said.
MorTorq has been making similar presentations at Technotainment for years now. Many MorTorq members were introduced to the team through these presentations and Peskin wanted to keep the tradition going.
Mortorq made two separate presentations, one on July 3 and the other on July 25. The July 25 presentation was for the robotics portion of the camp, and the July 3 was for the entire camp.
When presenting to the robotics kids, the MorTorq team members had an audience of about 10 or 12 kids, but while presenting to the whole camp there were roughly 25 to 30 kids. According to seventh grade camper Sam Stahl the presentation was entertaining and informative.
“The presentation showed a lot about what Robotics does. The robot itself was really cool and I actually caught one of the the frisbees it threw. I have a feeling I’ll be joining Robotics when I get into the high school,” Stahl said.
According to Peskin, Mortorq would definitely present again,but, with certain modifications to the presentation, such as the length of the slideshow.
Mortorq looks forward to presenting at future Technotainment camps.
