Category Archives: Robotics

OWATONNA Once modest in size, the Owatonna High School robotics team has quickly grown into a force.

And as part of an effort to assure the squad remains in capable hands for many years to come, the current members have begun appealing to Owatonnas youth with robot demonstrations, like one held Thursday at McKinley Elementary.

I went to McKinley, and sitting there for a presentation like this when I was a kid would be really inspirational to me, said Braydon Kubat, a senior member of the robotics team. I feel like it will be for them, too.

Justin Kiel, principal at McKinley, said he believes this to be a great opportunity for McKinley students.

We are always looking for partnerships in the community to extend the learning beyond our classroom walls, Kiel said. This is a unique experience for students to see robotics in action.

And robotics clubs are growing exponentially, Kubat said. There are more than 6,000 worldwide, and Minnesota already has more high school robotics teams than high school hockey teams.

A handful of robotics team members discussed what goes into making a robot, as well as the competitions the team engages in. When they let the robots loose, students screamed in excitement when the machines picked up and fired orange balls.

This is a glimpse into whats out there, what they can do, Kubat said. One reason students attend a STEM school like McKinley is so they can do stuff like this.

Students see how robotics can integrate all content areas, Kiel said. Also, our students can see how thinking, questioning, and technology can come together to solve a problem.

In the robotics club, known as the Rebel Alliance, you can make a robot do what you want, which is cool, Kubat told the McKinley assembly. You get to learn a whole other language, too.

Students can sign up for the squad as freshmen, said Sam Bendorf, another member of the team.

We have a spot for each and every one of you, [and] well be waiting for you, Bendorf said.

The OHS team competes across the Midwest, and theyll head to Duluth at the beginning of March to tangle with more than 60 other squads, said Kubat, who is in his first year as a member of the Rebel Alliance.

You get to travel, build stuff with your hands and have fun while doing it, said Kubat.

In fact, the hands-on nature of the club is what attracted Kubat this year. Although hes on the business side of the squad, hes learned a great deal about building robots already.

The business team contends with financing, working with businesses to secure capital for the expensive extracurricular activity, he said. Fortunately, we have lots of community support.

The requirements for the competition change each year, and this year the theme is focused on Steamworks, he said. Teams have six weeks to build robots, which receive points for completing various tasks during the competition.

The rules, though they change each year, must always be followed. Consequently, the first few weeks after seeing the next years video and learning the parameters are devoted to designing and prototyping the robot, Bendorf said.

They begin by sketching plans on a white board, then put those plots physically onto the machines, Bendorf said. Later, they wire it, and the last two weeks are devoted to final design.

Students in the robotics club are eager to give back by teaching younger children, said Val Rose, the adviser for the club.

The STEM is what we want to build on, said Rose.

Reach reporter Ryan Anderson at 507-444-2376 or follow him onTwitter.com@randerson_ryan

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OHS robotics club dazzles McKinley students - Southernminn.com

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Toyota Industries Acquires Warehouse Robotics Developer - WSJ Wall Street Journal Toyota Industries Corp. is acquiring Bastian Solutions LLC, an Indianapolis-based warehouse automation and robotics developer, as the Japanese ... and more »

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Toyota Industries Acquires Warehouse Robotics Developer - WSJ - Wall Street Journal

Left -to- right, Maggie Smith, Isaac Brown, Madison Paxton, Brogan Rapp, Coen Neal and Dylan McCumbers.

First Lego League Jr. (FLL Jr.) is the first level of three international robotics programs. In FLL Jr., children ages 6-10 are challenged to solve a real 21st Century world problem using research and problem solving skills. The other portion of their project consists of constructing a robotic model that has a simple machine and motorized piece. FLL Jr. urges young people to approach problems creatively, find unique solutions, and to work together.

The program gets young people thinking like innovators, and it provides a great structural foundation for the other competitive programs offered by FIRST Robotics such as FIRST Lego League (ages 9-14), FIRST Tech Challenge (ages 12-18), and FIRST Robotics Competition (ages 14-18).

Dylan McCumbers, Madison Paxton, Maggie Smith, Isaac Brown, Cohen Neal, and Brogan Rapp formed the local FLL Jr. team. Their coaches are Michelle Paxton and Carrie McCumbers. This group of driven and talented individuals goes by the name of Clay County Panther Engineering.

Being the first team to participate in an elementary robotics program from Clay County can be difficult, but luckily Clay County Panther Engineering received support from many sources. Their registration fee was paid by a grant.

Michael Shamblin, Extension agent with the WVU Extension service in Clay County, served as a guest speaker on the focus of this years challenge, the honey bee. He brought beekeeping equipment and a queen bee, which resulted in an incredibly informative and exciting presentation. Shamblin also loaned the group WeDo robotics sets and laptop computers so that they could have more motorized parts in their model and better access to the programming software.

As someone who has also been aiding and rooting along the side lines for the Clay County Panther Engineering team, teacher Claire Wayne says she is happily hoping and anticipating that some of these students will choose to move up the ranks, and form a FIRST Lego League team or continue to pursue educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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Panther engineering and robotics team paves pathways to innovation - Clay County Free Press.com (subscription)

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Oxford Hills robotics club to compete in North American championship - Lewiston Sun Journal

CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) - At Eagle Valley Middle School, six students are working to improve their LEGO robot. They're still not satisfied, even though it played a critical role in them winning the trophy at the Northern Nevada FIRST LEGO LEAGUE Championship last month.

"It was just an incredible feeling!" says Nevan McIlwee, 13. "To see all our hard work just paid off to get to that."

For this group, which calls itself the Jedi Engineers, winning that competition isn't enough. But it was a big deal. They beat out dozens of other teams at the competition at UNR. Teams were judged on their robots' ability to complete tasks and on their problem-solving skills.

Now, this group of seventh and eighth graders is gearing up for the World Championship Tournament in April in Houston, Texas. They will compete against more than a hundred other teams who are also champions in their own countries.

"It means a lot," says Kai Miller, 12, a Jedi Engineer. "I mean, we're going to see teams from all over the world. Teams from Europe, Africa, China, Russia, South America... It's really, really big for our community."

And while it was tough enough to qualify for this tournament, raising money is the new challenge.

"We are doing huge fundraising because it is going to be so expensive to go to World Festival," says Lisa Stocke-Koop, Eagle Valley STEM teacher and LEGO coach. "It's going to be over $20,000 before we're done."

That's because the students have also been invited to compete in an international tournament in England. Their teacher believes the kids are not just an inspiration for other students.

"These guys, they bring tears to my eyes," says Stocke-Koop. "When I look at what they've done and I look at how proud they are of their achievements... every one of these kids could change the world. And I am just so thrilled that I'm a part of their education."

The team has set up a gofundme account online to raise money for travel expenses. You can find it here.

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Local robotics students headed to World Championship tournament - KOLO

South Hagerstown High School students from the Green Machine and Rebellious Misfits teams and the Synobotz Z team from Carroll Educational Robotics in Westminster, Md, were named tournament champions at Volvo Group Trucks VEX Robotics Qualifier.

There were 37 teams and more than 200 students battling their bots at the recent event held at South High.

The Green Machine team included Kent Ha, Maryanne Kimani, James Stell, and Cameron Hahn. The Rebellious Misfits team was comprised of Katie Custer, Xianvieve Hulbert, Brennen Rosage, Alex Wright and Dorian Johnson. The Synobotz Z squad included Chris Scott, Nolan Hintze, William Hoke and Alyssa Magaha.

The action-packed day required middle and high school students to execute the VEX Robotics Competition game Starstruck, which is played by scoring colored stars and cubes in zones and by hanging the robot on a hanging bar.

As tournament champions, the teams qualified to compete in two upcoming events. The first is the Maryland State Championship scheduled to be held from March 3 to 4 at Sollers Point Technical High School in Dundalk, Md.

The teams seek to continue to advance to participate at the VEX Robotics World Championship, the culminating event of the season held in April with the top teams from across the U.S. and around the world who seek to become world champions.

The second is the CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Championship, scheduled to be held from April 4 to 8 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The events are open and free for media, families and community members to attend.

To prepare for the competition, the teams worked together to design and build a robot using VEX EDR, that could quickly and efficiently solve specific obstacles and challenges that come with playing the VEX Robotics Competition Starstruck game.

The students apply what theyve learned about science, technology, engineering and math in order to build the semiautonomous machines.

An equally important set of skills is learned through the competition communication, project management, site management and the importance of composure, because students have to learn how to lose as much as they have to learn how to win.

South Highs Green Machine Robotics team earned the events top honor VEX Robotics Excellence Award.

Additional esteemed VEX awards were also presented.

Design Award IVM Bio-Quantum Clubs QH BioDragons team

Judges Award North Hagerstown High Schools Hubs team

Robot Skills Winner Carroll Educational Robotics Synobotz Z team

Dawn Reed, tech ed teacher at Smithsburg Middle, was recognized with VEX Robotics Volunteer of the Year award for her time and effort as adviser and coach to five teams from Smithsburg Middle and Senior High schools.

For more information, go to RoboticsEducation.org or RobotEvents.com.

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South High wins Volvo's robotics tournament - Herald-Mail Media

East Maine School District 63 is celebrating unexpected wins by the school district's junior high school robotics team, which amassed several awards and a berth to a state competition in the last two months.

A team of nine seventh and eighth graders at Gemini Junior High School competed Dec. 10 for the first time in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League Competition, school officials said in a news release.

As part of the competition, they programmed a robot to complete 13 "missions," according to the news release.

It was supposed to be a chance for the students to gain experience with the competition and be more ready for it the following year, officials said.

But the students went on to win several accolades at the first competition and a chance to compete in the state competitions that was held Jan. 28 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, according to the news release.

The Gemini school team called the Gembots -- included Christopher Alexander, Ronnette Bressler, Bushido Ellis, Sarah Hussein, Prapti Patel, Neelesh Patel, Hadi Rihawi, Halle Santiago and Hannah Suboni-Kaufman. They competed against 34 other teams at the December event and won the Rookie of the Year award and placed third overall then, school officials announced.

At the January competition, they competed against 63 other teams. They didn't place, but school officials are relishing the Gembots' efforts.

"These students are a powerhouse of intelligence and design creativity," said Kathryn Sjoholm, an eighth grade science teacher who also served as one of three advisors to the team. "Our future is bright because of these young minds."

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Gemini school robotics team wins in 'FIRST' competition - Chicago Tribune

The Telangana Minorities Residential Institutes Education Society (TMRIES) has tied up with Robotics Centre of Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology (MJCET) to impart robotics education to class 7 students of eight TMR schools in Hyderabad district as a pilot project. It would be extended to all other schools in the remaining districts of the State in a phased manner soon, according to B. Shafiullah, Secretary, TMREIS.

Robotics centre

He said the society was also planning to establish a full-fledged robotics centre where the students would get to do innovative and challenging projects like robominton, parent and child robot, quadcopter, ocean roverbot, spiderbod, cleanerbot etc and participate in various State-level and national-level robotics competitions.

At a recent programme, Mohammed Faisal, third year ECE student of MJCET and team leader of external academia programme, said the association would also help the engineering students in interacting closely with the schoolchildren and make them more socially responsible citizens.

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TMRIES to impart robotics education - The Hindu - The Hindu

MERIDIAN, Idaho (KBOI)

A Meridian robotics team is putting the final touches on a robot before it competes against several others around the region.

Team 'Bullbots,' based out of Mountain View High School, worked nonstop Saturday building their robot for the Idaho FIRST Robotics Regional Competition.

The robot will be competing against others the weekend of March 30. The goal is to create a 120-pound robot that can hang game elements on pegs, climb a rope, and shoot balls into a goal.

"We just, like, all decided on an idea really fast and we've just been able to go and it worked out very well," said Tiffany Jensen, the Bullbots team mechanical lead. "Our robot is actually going to be really good."

This is Jensen's second year on team Bullbots. She's been climbing the ranks and now leads a team of mechanics.

There are only a handful of girls on the team, and Jensen hopes her leadership will encourage other females to join.

The FIRST Robotics Competition provides a hands on approach to learning science, technology, engineering and math. Students also learn programming and electric work.

"I learn a lot more here than I usually do in school honestly," said Egan Schafer, the Bullbots team programming lead.

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Meridian robotics team gears up for Idaho FRC Regional - KBOI-TV

Pace University professor Rick Kline talks about the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. Tania Savayan/lohud

John Jay High School students Elliot Lear, 16, right, Michael Fischetti, 17, and James Lucassen, 15, control the robot they built during the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. (Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)Buy Photo

PLEASANTVILLE - Student Gregory Salguero sounded happySunday afternoon that his robotics team from Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES school was vying for the lead in the Hudson Valley NY FIRST Tech Challenge regional contest.

Salguero, of Mahopac, said his parents work in the engineering field and that he would be interesting in pursuing that field as well someday.

The team from Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, which is in Yorktown Heights, goes by the moniker Dead Voltage.

One of the Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES coaches, Gerry Markel, said it gets a new group of students ever year. "They've got to be quick learners," he said.

Twenty-eight teams of students participated in the regional event held at Pace University. Each match features four robots; one team's robot teams up with another's, and they face off against another alliance of robots.

For a 30-second period, students must tell robots what to do solely by using coding; during two minutes after that, the teams may use controllers to commands their bots.

John Jay High School students James Lucassen, 15, left, Michael Fischetti, 17, and Elliot Lear, 16, control the robot they built during the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. (Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)

Techno Chix Stefanie Gschwind, 14, of Chappaqua, left, Susanna Dummit, 16, of Chappaqua, Tara Venkatadri, 16, of Ardsley, Simran Arneja,14, of Monroe and Sophia Pao, 15, of Chappaqua with the robot they built for the FIRST Tech Regional Championship at Pace University, Feb. 5, 2017 in Pleasantville. The Techno Chix members are from the Girl Scouts Heart of Hudson in Pleasantville.(Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)

Tasks in each match include picking up a ball, which include hurling balls into a kind of basket that is suspended above the robots. Another task has robots seek to touch a beacon, changing its color.

The winner of the regional competition moves on to a competition in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Over at Peekskill High School's team table the Iron Devils student Aldaine Heaven said his becoming part of the team "started by just liking how machines work."

He said he plans to study in college something in the technology area, "programming, most likely."

Heaven said while the team was not vying for the top spots, at least as of mid-afternoon, that's OK. He said it's the fun that counts.

Carlo Vidrini, Peekskill High's coach and a co-coach of Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, said "the robotics program encompasses so many aspect of engineering," from electrical to software.

In a technological age, the students who participate are getting exposure to the tools and thinking skills they need.

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First Tech Challenge: High schools battle in robotics competition - The Journal News | LoHud.com