Robotics competition at UNCP on Friday – The Robesonian

PEMBROKE Robots will invade the Jones Center on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke on Saturday.

The main gym will be the site of the countys first-ever Thundering Herds of Robots event. It is a robotics competition pitting high school students from across North Carolina against one another. A dozen teams are scheduled to compete, including Robeson Early College High Schools ROBCOBOT.

This is not just about robots, Keenan Locklear, the teams coach. They gain leadership skills and I have found since theyve been involved in these robotics competitions, they are doing better in school. Some have found something they didnt know they had an interest in, like software programming and mechanical engineering.

We are trying to get our students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and this is the first step.

The host of Saturdays competition will be FIRST North Carolina, a nonprofit created to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and technology and to help them acquire the skills to compete in a technologically-driven economy.

There are 21 members on the ROBCOBOT squad. They will be competing in a game called Steamworks, in which a three-team alliance will guide their robots in an attempt to score points by building steam pressure, gathering materials to ignite rotors, and boarding robots onto an airship.

THOR is the states first off-season robotics competition for FIRST Robotics Competition teams. The build season for FIRST begins in January. Teams are given six weeks to design, build, program, and test a robot that can perform the necessary tasks to succeed in each years game.

Students work closely with teachers, like Locklear at Robeson Community Colleges Early College, and volunteer mentors. Locklear said they are in need of mentors to assist during each phase.

The students come up with the design, he said. There are no instructions just a tub or parts. Thats why we need mentors from the community to assist with the engineering and testing.

The Early College team was formed in 2016. Locklear, a two-time UNCP graduate who teaches Chemistry and Physical Science at the Early College, learned about the FIRST organization while serving on the N.C. Board of Science, Technology and Innovation.

My goal is to start up clubs at each of the middle schools in Robeson County, he said. I have seen my kids mature in the areas of public speaking. They come to high school thinking they want to be a doctor and thats all they think.

But once they get involved in robotics, they start thinking about designing prosthetics. This exposes them to other areas that they can succeed.

We have some smart students. They just need to be challenged. Robotics gives them the opportunity to rise to the challenge.

Mark Locklear is a Public Relations specialist at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

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Robotics competition at UNCP on Friday - The Robesonian