Sterling robotics club qualifies for world championship – SaukValley.com

STERLING The first-year robotics club at Sterling High School is riding a surge of perseverance and creativity to a shot at a world championship.

In winning the Rookie All-Star Award at the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology robotics competition last weekend in Chicago, the club earned a berth in the FIRST world championship April 26-29 in St. Louis.

The club arrived at the regional March 30, only to find out its robot, Goldie, which members built, rebuilt and fine-tuned for 6 weeks, was too big. This year, unbeknownst to the club, the bots bumpers were included in their measurements.

It took 25 minutes to strip Goldie down to her base, and another 7 hours to reassemble.

Theres a reason they gave us the award, right? said Alexis Rivera, the clubs sponsor and a math teacher at the high school.

Judges interviewed team members throughout Friday and Saturday, not just about the impromptu overhaul, but the clubs history.

Clearly they were impressed, enough to honor the team at Saturdays awards ceremony.

Theyre not required to give the award when they feel its truly deserved, Rivera said.

The club finished 44th out of 53 teams, despite completely blowing the front off the bot during Thursdays practice, then needing to change the engine to help it climb a rope more effectively. Goldie also had to pick up balls and throw them in a hoop and carry a gear from one station to another.

In the end, with all the changes we made we ended up with a better robot that was better than the one we started with, Rivera said.

He was floored by other teams assistance in the rebuild.

The other teams were amazing with us, he said. Every time we had to do something, three teams would show up within minutes.

Support back home was impressive, too, with the high school broadcasting the matches in the library. Rivera said interest in the club is surging from students and mentors who want to join to manufacturers eager to donate equipment.

We learned, bonded and grew enormously not just the students and me, but the parents and the mentors, too, Rivera said.

FOLLOW THAT ROBOT

The Sterling High School robotics club is developing its social media presence. "Like" SHS Golden Bots Robotics on Facebook, or follow its blog at goldenbots.blogspot.com.

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Sterling robotics club qualifies for world championship - SaukValley.com