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Build and code an interactive robot in this 3-week robotics program for middle school students on UCLA’s campus.
Course Description
A pile of craft materials can become a creature that responds. Add a design, a Hummingbird robotics kit, and code, then see what happens.
In this course your student will sketch a personally meaningful robot and build it with craft supplies or recycled materials. Text-based languages such as JavaScript and Python control how it moves or responds. Testing reveals where the structure and program work together, and where something needs to change.
Possible projects include an interactive display, a model inspired by a favorite myth, or a responsive creature for a robotic zoo. Your student will make creative choices while solving technical problems, returning to construction and debugging as the robot develops. Each test offers a reason for the next change. Their finished creation brings engineering, coding, and craftsmanship together, showing how art and storytelling can give a technical project its own purpose.
This three-week course for middle school students is part of Summer Discovery’s Institute for the Gifted program on UCLA’s campus in Los Angeles, California. Residential and commuter options are available.
A supplemental course fee of $295 applies.
What You Will Do
• Sketch a robot and plan its movement or responses
• Build with craft materials and a Hummingbird kit
• Write JavaScript or Python code for interactive behavior
• Test how the physical design and program work together
• Find coding or construction problems and revise the robot
• Create a personally meaningful interactive robotic project
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Explain how a robot’s structure and code work together
• Use JavaScript or Python to control and change interactive behavior
• Use test results to find problems and improve a prototype
You’ll leave with your personally meaningful robotic creation and a certificate of completion.
Why Creative Robotics Skills Matter
Creative robotics asks students to connect imagination with precise problem-solving. An idea only becomes interactive when the structure, materials, and code work together. Building and testing a robot helps students break a larger challenge into manageable parts, spot why something is not working, and make purposeful revisions.
Coding adds another layer of logic, while designing the physical creation keeps the process visual and hands-on. Students practice persistence without treating mistakes as failure because each test produces useful information. These habits support future learning in engineering, computer science, art, design, and any setting where people create, test, and improve ideas.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 6th, 7th, or 8th grade.
For students who like building, coding, or crafting a world of their own, this course brings those interests together. A myth, a creature, or another personal idea can become something that moves or responds.
Your student will work with text-based code, test repeatedly, and revise a physical build. Institute for the Gifted eligibility requirements apply; see the program FAQ.
Your Summer at UCLA
UCLA gives middle-school students an energetic place to learn, have fun, and experience campus life in Los Angeles. The setting brings together science, technology, creativity, entertainment, and culture, helping new subjects feel connected to a wider world of ideas.
The program combines hands-on academics with friendships, campus activities, clear routines, and support as students become comfortable in a large university environment. Students can try new challenges, share interests with peers, and build confidence through participation without needing to decide where those interests will lead. For families, UCLA offers a structured middle-school experience that balances substantive learning with fun, community, and age-appropriate independence. Students leave with new memories and a clearer sense of what they may want to explore next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification of completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive