Code
The Code Behind the Robot
Every move the robot makes starts as real Python code written by students in the same tool professional engineers use every day.
Hands-On Robotics and AI
Build Your Own
AI-Powered Robot
Students build, program, and take home a real PiCar-X robot powered by Raspberry Pi, from first line of code to final test drive.
ages 8–14No experience required1:8 instructor-to-student ratioHands-on, project-basedTake-home robotDates: June 8 – July 17, 2026Hours: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
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Real Outcomes
What Your Child
Will Build
Students will design and build a fully functional robot from the ground up, including:
Robotic Vehicle
A working vehicle, students drive through their own code.
Line-Following
Line-following logic that lets the robot navigate on its own.
Obstacle Detection
Ultrasonic sensors let the robot detect and react to obstacles.
Autonomous Behavior
Decision-making behavior is based on what the robot senses.
At the end of the camp, students take their robots home.
Promo
Videos
A quick look at the camp and the kind of work students take on, straight from our PiCar program.
Quick Previews
PiCar Camp
Students do not just learn about robotics. They build, program, and test a real PiCar-X that moves, senses, and responds using the same engineering principles behind modern intelligent systems.
Quick Previews
PiCar Build Proof
Students at this age can build real systems and take them home.
Inside Our
Curriculum
Real curriculum samples used to teach programming, robotics, and AI, developed and produced in-house by our team.
Inside the Curriculum
Meet Korra
The AI learning assistant that guides students as they build real technology with Python, robotics, and AI.
Inside the Curriculum
Meet the Development Team
These are the twelve roles involved in building real software, and the twelve roles students will learn to take on.
Curriculum
What Students
Learn
Students are introduced to the core concepts behind modern robotics and intelligent systems:
Python Programming
Python programming to control a self-driving robot
Control
How software controls physical systems
Sensors
How sensors collect and process data
AI Logic
Basic AI logic and decision-making
Real Engineering
Built with Real Technology
Not Toys
Beyond theory, students design, program, and test a working robot. The PiCar-X is a real programmable robot car that moves, sees, and talks. Every feature on this page was programmed by students, from the ground up. And at the end of camp, they take it home.
Hardware
The Brain of the Robot
A real Raspberry Pi runs the code, reads the sensors, and controls all the motors. Students program the same board that professional engineers build.
Movement
The Robot in Action
The PiCar-X moves, reacts, and makes decisions on its own, powered entirely by code the students wrote. Not a demo. Their robot is running their instructions.
AI
AI Features
Students program the robot to recognize colors, faces, cliff edges, QR codes, and gestures using real computer vision on the Raspberry Pi.
This is a real engineering system — adapted for students.
The Big Picture
Why This
Matters
Most "robotics for kids" hands students a controller. They drive a pre-built toy, the code stays hidden, and the value ends when camp does.
PiCar is different. Students program the robot themselves, in Python on a real Raspberry Pi. They write the recognition logic, tune the autonomous behaviors, and watch the car respond to the world it was trained to see. The robot they take home runs on the code they wrote.
Students will leave camp as builders of real robots,
not just the drivers of them.
Structure
How the Camp
Works
Core hours: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (extended hours available for an additional fee)
Class Size
1:8 instructor-to-student ratio · maximum 40 students
Method
Step-by-step guided build process
Pace
Hands-on learning every day
Support
Direct support from an experienced instructor
+
Tuition
=Registration Fee
$50
(due at sign-up)
Remaining Balance
$1,400
charged June 1, 2026
$1,400
charged June 15, 2026
Total
$2,850
($475/wk × 6 weeks)
Discounts
Available
10% OFF
Military families, veterans & first responders
15% OFF
Sibling discount
15% OFF
Enrolling in more than
one mini camp
Discounts do not stack. Only one discount applies per enrollment, whichever is greater. The Robotics and AI: PiCar Camp runs during the same six-week window as the mini camps, so it cannot be combined with them.
Audience
Who This Camp
Is For
Ages
ages 8–14
Experience
Beginners with no prior experience
Interest
Robots, coding, or technology
Your Instructor
Taught by a
Real Engineer
Taught by a college professor, a university lecturer, and an engineer
SWC: Programming, Computer Organization, and Architecture
SDSU: Microprocessors
16+ years of real-world engineering experience
NIWC Pacific, unmanned systems, software design
Students use real tools and technologies
Python, Docker, Raspberry Pi, networking
University-level concepts adapted for students ages 8–14
Rigorous curriculum, not watered-down activities
Students are learning how real robots are built — from someone who builds them professionally.
Give Your Child a Head Start in Technology
Spots are limited. Programs fill quickly.
Register NowSummer 2026 · Hosted at Southwestern Community College · Chula Vista, CA · ages 8–14