Hidden on a dead-end street in Lawrenceville, under tight security, 19 Jewish brains, known as Acquanots, experimented with aquarobots at the National Robotics Engineering Consortium of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotic Institute. The brains were 19 teenagers attending the first Israeli-American Teen Robotics Camp at CMU's Robotic Institute.

All high school students, they worked together as part of a new project, which draws together Pittsburgh and Israeli youth from Pittsburgh's Partnership 2000 communities of Carmiel and the Misgav for a shared educational experience in robotics.

Sponsors of the camp are United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh's Partnership 2000 program, the Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Agency For Israel.

For the camp's grand finale, the teens created miniature robots and attempted to solve the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle while having the robots serve an imaginary underwater community on a 4-by-8-feet flat board. With no water in sight, it was a trial run for the robots, which planted cardboard kelp packets, rescued phony giant squids and sunken airplanes and activated make-believe sonar sensors and toy research derricks to discover marine minerals.

Six teams worked on six different robots. And the imaginary scenario became a competition for the mechanically minded youth - 12 Israelis and seven Pittsburghers. The RoboCamp began on July 19th with a basic introduction. For the next two days the Aquanots developed Rube Goldbergesque contraptions with several mechanisms to move a ping pong ball on a convoluted journey from one end of a flat board to another.

They learned team work and how to use mechanics and it was hopefully a fun thing to do, said Jesse Flot, a sophomore at Geneva College and one of the camp's two senior counselors. By the end of the week, the Israelis and Pittsburghers were competing against each other, using Lego motors as mechanical brains for their robots.

Attached light sensors and motors and computer programs led the robots around a circuitous course on the flat boards, "letting the robots do the work that people don't want to do", Flot said. "In spite of the fact that the Israeli students appeared more advanced in robotic technology, the kids worked really well together", Flot said. "Part of the edge the Israeli students had over the American kids was their advanced science and technological training", their teachers said. Moreover, most had entered previous robotic competitions.

"We'd like to have the Pittsburgh team come to Israel for the Misgav competition next year if possible", said Israeli Yaron Doppelt, an associate at the University of Pittsburgh in Learning Research Development, who conceived the idea for the camp. The edge the Israelis held didn't seem to deter the Americans from the excitement - both of the camp and meeting Israeli peers."I like the programming and the challenge of making a robot," said Mt. Lebanon High School student Harry Barron, 15, whose family is hosting two Israeli students. "It's hard to make a robot do what you want it to do. The programming is the hardest part."

As for the Israelis, Barron said: "They're nice, really know what they're doing and they do it better than the Americans. Avi Bakal, 17, from Carmiel, was in an all-Israel robotics competition last year that involved cars and safety. "Israeli kids have more background, so they know what they're doing better, but the American kids are smart too", he said. Ina Krasnik,17, from Carmiel said "the competition was much easier for me than the one in Israel".

The robotic camp was only part of a two-week program for the teens, whose evenings were spent on activities such as ball games, amusement parks and shopping. In the next week, they are learning about Jewish Pittsburgh by visiting organizations and attending Israel Day at the JCC day camp in Monroeville. Here, they will meet this summer's second group of Israeli youth, the Teen Leadership delegates, who traveled to Pittsburgh from Carmiel and the Misgav.

As far as the RoboCamp is concerned, future learning, cooperation and perhaps a little competition probably still lie ahead. "We hope Yaron (Doppelt) will continue a robotic project while he's in Pittsburgh", said UJF's Overseas Planning Associate, Sue Linzer, "And we'll have an ongoing robotics opportunity with American and Israeli teens".

For more information, visit the Robocamp Web Site.

  Elul 5764 - August 2004