Summer robotics camps can be difficult to manage, but a $2,750 grant recently received by the robotics team, STEAM Robotics, will make these camps easier to run.

The robotics team often receives grants, and this latest one will go toward the middle school robotics camps that take place during the summer, according to teacher Jeannie Merritt, who began working with the team last year.

These camps are hosted by the robotics team and are designed and run by the student members. Students entering sixth through eighth grades are invited.

“What we did is we made pie-bots, these little robots that we had the kids wire up,” junior Charlie Nigro said of the most recent summer camp. “They would program them and drive them around.”

Merritt said the most recent grant came from the Lawrence Schools Foundation.

“We seek outside funding, so we get sponsorships from businesses, especially from national level or Kansas City areas,” Merritt said.

Alongside the grant, the team receives grants from other sponsors, which go toward the different departments that are part of the robotics team.

“Tech needs some new hard drives to speed up boot up process because right now it takes them a while,” said junior Connor Harmon, who’s been on the robotics team since his freshman year. “Art and Design has costuming goals. Engineering has quite a few projects that need to be funded.”