Students from North Schuylkill, Tri-Valley, and Mahanoy Area schools converged for a robotics competition hosted by North Schuylkill on Thursday.
The event marked the first of its kind in the area, featuring student engineers vying for victory in a Vex Robotics challenge.
Vex Robotics, a Texas-based company renowned for its educational robotics kits fostering learning in engineering, mathematics, and science, provided the platform for the competition. Each year, the company devises new games for students worldwide, with competitions held across the country leading up to the World Championships.
The atmosphere at North Schuylkill resembled more of a collaborative workshop than a cutthroat competition, allowing both students and teachers to immerse themselves in the intricacies of robotics.
Vex Robotics, a Texas-based company renowned for its educational robotics kits fostering learning in engineering, mathematics, and science, provided the platform for the competition. Each year, the company devises new games for students worldwide, with competitions held across the country leading up to the World Championships.
The atmosphere at North Schuylkill resembled more of a collaborative workshop than a cutthroat competition, allowing both students and teachers to immerse themselves in the intricacies of robotics.
Eleven teams, comprising four from North Schuylkill, four from Mahanoy Area, and three from Tri-Valley, engaged in a soccer-like challenge. Their objective: to design robots capable of maneuvering acorn-shaped balls into a netted area within 2-minute rounds.
Teams, consisting of two members each—a scorer and a blocker—embarked on their missions, with the initial 15 seconds dictated entirely by pre-programmed code crafted by the students themselves. The ensuing 1 minute and 45 seconds saw the robots under remote control, navigating the field with precision and strategy.
Teams, consisting of two members each—a scorer and a blocker—embarked on their missions, with the initial 15 seconds dictated entirely by pre-programmed code crafted by the students themselves. The ensuing 1 minute and 45 seconds saw the robots under remote control, navigating the field with precision and strategy.
The second part of the event included a skill competition that was more like a time trial.
Guiding the event was Tim Hefferan from the Innovation Institute for Tomorrow, a non-profit organization lending support to Vex competitions in collaboration with Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. Their efforts were bolstered by the PA Smart Advance grant, aimed at introducing robotics to school districts in the region.
Guiding the event was Tim Hefferan from the Innovation Institute for Tomorrow, a non-profit organization lending support to Vex competitions in collaboration with Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. Their efforts were bolstered by the PA Smart Advance grant, aimed at introducing robotics to school districts in the region.
