Robotics class members participated April 17 in an in-class double-elimination competition using robots they constructed.

   “They learned how to build and program the robot, but this also puts a lot of fun into it,” robotics teacher Duane Walton said. “They got to enjoy the competition aspect as well. While we’ve been going this project, they’ve worked a lot harder and more steadily to get everything done.”

Teams were given materials to use when constructing their robots, but received no outside help. The students were given about 5 weeks to design, assemble and program their robots to remotely perform tasks.

“It was hard not give them ideas and to refrain from helping them, but I tried to not do that so the work would be their own,” Walton said. “As they worked on it, they continued to test their robots and improve them, and it was fun to see them make progress.”

Each team had a quarantined area to put their robot in, along with multiple foam footballs and soccer balls. The objective was to pick up and launch as many balls as they could into the other team’s section of the playing field.

“A lot of this project was trial and error,” senior Nick Martin said. “We tried several designs and each one had their different strengths and flaws. At times it was difficult to figure out, but in the end it was nice to enjoy seeing what we created.”