Doug Obrigawitch had high praises for the seventh- through 10th-grade students in his Robotics and Electronics summer camp.

“They’re now ready for high school STEM classes,” he said on Thursday.

This is the interdisciplinary approach for students to apply academic concepts with real-world lessons while using science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Obrigawitch, who is the department chair and Math teacher at Manteca High, used his classroom for this Manteca Unified STEM summer camp during the past week.

They kept the robotics grounded this year, using four-wheel designed vehicles.

Last year, he was able to apply robotics to his Flight School 3D, using miniature drones built by students during the weeklong session. But that was before the Federal Aviation Administration’s new rules on small drones went into effect.

During the Robotics and Electronic summer camp, Obrigawitch along with fellow MHS Math teacher Brad Garlets and McParland Elementary School Music instructor Bob Krueger worked with the 20 students enrolled in the session.

“They did coding electronics and learned how about sensor input (on their robotics),” Obrigawitch added.

The robotic vehicles were used as battle bots, with each student using their four-wheel robotics in a one-on-one competition for supremacy on the platform.

The MUSD STEM Summer Camp continues this week with Chop Chop Cook for third- through ninth- grade students at district office’s be.tech Charter Academies.

Another cooking session is planned for the following week for seventh- through ninth-grade students at be.tech.

To contact reporter Vince Rembulat, e-mail vrembulat@mantecabulletin.com.