Camp LearnAI

During the summer of 2025, I went to a small, 1-week long camp that was being offered at my local university, the University of North Texas. I had heard of Camp Learn AI from a WhatsApp group, and went online to discover more. I learned about the professor who was teaching the course (Dr. Robin Pottathuparambil) and what type of content would be taught. I figured it would be a good opportunity for me to learn more about the AI field and whether I would like to work in it or not, so I signed up.

The first day, we walked onto the UNT campus and were greeted by the staff. They gave us our ID badges and led us into the classroom where we would be learning. After a few minutes, the professor, Dr. Robin Pottathuparambil, walked in. Introductions were made, and he started teaching. Before starting anything specifically related to AI, he introduced us to computers—the different types of computers, their functions, and so on. Once we completed this unit, we progressed to learning Python, a coding language that is very basic and easy to learn. For the first two days, that was all we did—talk about computers and review what we did the previous day, then program some Python exercises. Once we had become proficient in the basics of Python, we continued to the next part of the class—the K210 Developer Board.

The K210 Developer Board is a product of Yahboom, a company which sells robotics products and other intelligent hardware items. Once connected to a computer using a USB cable, it can be programmed to use many of the parts placed on the keyboard, such as the Liquid-Crystal Display (LCD) screen, the LED, and the camera. For the next two days, we used our newly developed Python skills to program the K210 Dev Board. We completed multiple exercises, such as printing text on the LCD screen, making the LED flash different colors, and using the trained AI models on the Board to recognize different objects. 

At the end of the second-to-last day along with most of the last, we were given a new object to code—a robotic dog.

The XGO robotic dog was an intelligent robotic dog with multiple different features. It had an LED display, a claw to bend down and pick up different objects, 4 legs, and 12 degrees of freedom for it to move easily. We programmed this dog using a different type of programming—block programming. We connected the dog to an app in which we programmed it to do several different tasks—walk along a certain path, avoid specific objects and pick up others, walk sideways, drop an object into a marked area, etc. We worked on these exercises for a little less than two days. On the last day, however, about halfway through the day, we were told to finish up and put them away, for we had a final activity planned for the camp.

At the end of the last day, we were introduced to an employee at Aires, a global mobility company in Dallas that incorporated AI into its daily use. This employee was part of the team that created AI–related solutions for mobile companies. He talked a bit about his job and how he helps people on a daily basis, how he incorporates AI into his work. After he had finished, we were told to make groups of 5 and create a presentation about an AI-related career. This presentation helped us gain more insight into the lives of people who work in AI-related careers, such as AI-engineers and data scientists. Once everyone finished presenting, we received our certificates of course completion and parted ways.

This course taught me a lot about programming and its uses in the ever-changing world of AI. It made it more clear to me that I would be open to consider a career in this field, especially something medical-related, such as the robotic arms that are controlled by surgeons to complete precise surgeries. It was a very eye-opening camp that gave a great overview of the field of AI, improving my understanding of this field and making me more educated in  careers related to AI.