The Chesterton High School robotics club is gearing up to host its first-ever robotics competition. This year, the club will serve as the host school for a competition that will see 60 teams competing against each other. The competition will take place on November 18th at Chesterton Middle School. The event will not only be a chance for teams to compete for first place, but it will also allow students to learn from other schools’ robots and gain new ideas.
The Chesterton High School robotics club meets after school for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. As the competition season approaches, the club will meet more frequently to prepare. The challenge for this year’s competition is to build 18-inch robots that can advance tri-balls, which are Reuleaux-shaped soft balls, past midfield and under a net at the end of the playing field. The robots must also climb a pole on the side of the field. Points are awarded for each stage of the challenge that is met.
The robotics program at Chesterton High School started with a few students and a shortage of materials. Now, the program has grown to four teams with three or four students per team. The program also has an assistant robotics coach, Isaac Torrez, who teaches in the school’s engineering program. The team is led by physics teacher Jay Drew, who became interested in robotics competitions while working in the technology department at Portage High School.
The students in the robotics club are excited about the upcoming competition and enjoy working together as a team. They collaborate with students from other schools during the competitions and learn from each other’s ideas and strategies. The robotics club provides students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge of engineering and programming in a fun and challenging way. The growth of the club reflects the increasing popularity of robotics competitions in schools across the country.
Sources:
– Chesterton Tribune
– Chesterton High School Robotics Club