New Clinton Robotics Club Prepares for Competition
By Talia Foley
This year, for the first time, Clinton High School has registered two teams for the Vex Robotics competition. Vex Robotics is an organization that runs competitions between different schools, in which the schools build robots, and then have the robots compete in games. Vex Robotics creates the games in which the robots will compete, and sets the rules for how the robots can be built. They also sell parts for the robots. Winning a local competition earns a place in the state competition. From there the teams can go to national and world competitions. The Clinton teams hope to be able to attend their first competition in January.
The Clinton teams have been preparing for competition all year. The supervising teacher is Mr. Owens, but the teams are doing almost everything themselves. Students in grades 7-12 are participating. Vex Robotics has competitions for middle and high schools but the Clinton teams have chosen to work together in the high school competition. Club members have decided to form a girls' team of 4 members and a boys' team of about 6 members. The teams started learning with Clawbots, a standardized robot, but now they are focusing on building a custom robot.
Students meet Tuesdays and Thursdays. They begin to arrive minutes after the end of school bell. The students talk to each other in a casual friendly way, as they work on their robots. Overall the meeting has an atmosphere of friendly, organized chaos. One student who has put exceptional effort into the club is Brenna Masner. She is doing a lot of work for the girls team, as well as providing leadership. She is not only in the club, but she is taking the Robotics class. She has also taken the robot home to work on it.
Taking the robot home provides an opportunity for students to work on the robots more than would be otherwise possible. Mr. Owens created tool boxes full of different parts and tools for use at home. In order to successfully build a robot, Mr. Owens explains, both teams should have programmers and mechanics. The programmers should create, and be very familiar with the program. The mechanics should be good at fixing the robots, and have a complete understanding of the parts. On the girls team, everyone is learning how to do both and fulfilling multiple roles. It is also important to have people who are familiar with competition rules.
Because this is the first year Clinton Middle and High Schools are participating, their primary goals are building a cohesive team and gaining experience. The club is already talking about fundraising and getting donors for more equipment and parts. New Hartford has also started a team this year and has all the pieces necessary to create the "field" for robots to compete on. New Hartford gave the Clinton teams the opportunity to use their field in order to practice, the games the robots will have to play, on the real field.
This club gives students a chance to learn a variety of technical skills which are necessary in order to build a successful robot. Students also get the chance to practice working as a team, and balancing team work with personal responsibility. It is also simply a fun opportunity for students to experiment with exciting technology, and have a chance to participate in competitions.
