Park City robotics team headed to national competition – Glasgow Daily Times

PARK CITY When Park City Elementary sixth-grader Gavin McCord heard there would be a robotics competition at this year's Junior Beta State Convention, he decided to finally join the club.

And then I was like, 'I have some friends who I do robotics with,' McCord said. So we went and recruited every single person who did robotics with me.

PCES sixth-grader Hunter Wilson describes the sixth-grade group as a team of friends, consisting of himself, McCord, Caleb Janes, Megan Shirley and Daniel Shirley.

We started (robotics) in third grade, but we've all been friends since kindergarten, Wilson said.

Park City Elementary School sixth-graders, from left, Gavin McCord, Hunter Wilson, Caleb Janes, Megan Shirley and Daniel Shirley.

The theme for the inaugural Beta robotics competition was Movers, Shakers and Creators.

After brainstorming many ideas, the PCES robotics team decided to bring their project to Gotham City. The premise of their presentation involves the Joker escaping prison and Batman being unable to help.

Their robot, BatBot, comes to the rescue.

To fit the theme of the competition, BatBot moves along a board, creates the batman symbol with a sharpie and then shakes up the Joker's plans by putting him back into jail.

Eric Riemer, PCES Beta Club robotics sponsor, said when they went to the state competition in Lexington, most of the other team's robots followed a line using optics technology.

Ours actually created the line, Riemer said of BatBot, adding that the students had to program the robot one line at a time.

It took them over ten hours just to program, Reimer said. And over 40 hours with all the testing and modifications.

VIDEO: Park City Elementary robotics presentation

Reimer said the students started the project at the beginning of this school year, meeting once or twice a week. The students added that they began meeting three to four times a week as the competition got closer.

At the state competition, PCES Principal Anthony Janes said the team had one chance to get it right. They would have to start their robot and let their programming do the rest.

The PCES robotics team not only took home first place in the state competition, their presentation received a perfect score.

They will travel to Orlando, Florida for the National Junior Beta Convention in June.

They were faced with a real-world problem, Anthony Janes said. They truly had productive struggles through solving this problem. And what I see now, they've won state but they're still working through the logistics of how to continue to make this even better.

It's real life. They're living an engineering job right now, and it's really cool to see that. They are truly engaged in the learning of this process.

Problem solving is a life skill that can be applied to everything, Riemer said, adding that he is really proud of the students.

It's quite an honor and a wonderful opportunity that they're going to remember for a lifetime, he said. I know they'll represent Park City very well.

BatBot moves the Joker into the Gotham City Police Station.

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Park City robotics team headed to national competition - Glasgow Daily Times