Robotics

By Kylie Heit

Helena Robotics Club went to the state robotics competition in Bozeman, Montana on January 25th, 2019. Before the actual competition, the three teams, Aldabaron/4604, Antares/658, and team 12239/Arctus, were preparing their robots for the competition.

All teams got to Bozeman at about 7:30am and unloaded the bus. After we got settled into our spot in the pit, the teams got to work on fine-tuning their robots. Fine-tuning entails making any repairs that might be needed and making sure the robot could pass inspection. Inspection is when the robotics team brings its robot to a judge and receive advice on how to make it better before the actual competition starts. The judges also make sure that it isn't too big. They do so by putting it in a square box that is already cut out to be the maximum size that your team’s robot is allowed to be. If the teams don’t pass inspection once, they try to fix what needs to be fixed in order to pass the next inspection, but if they don’t make it through a second time, they will be disqualified. Luckily, all three teams made it through inspection and were able to participate in the competition.

Before the competition actually started, all three teams made revisions to their robots, trying to make sure that there would be no mistakes or errors during the competition. The first Helena team to compete was team 658, and they were paired with a team outside of Helena, and they formed an alliance. They battled against two opposing teams. The objective of the game is to get the “mineral samples” which are just small cubes and circles and bring them to the “base”, a fancy box in the center of the arena that has four slots, two for circles and two for cubes. Teams use the robot to try to get the circles into the circle slot and the cubes into the cube slot. If the robot accidentally puts a cube in a circle spot, the team wouldn't necessarily lose points, but it wouldn't gain any either. gain points by being able to get the circles and cubes into the correct slots..

Teams have three minutes to get as many “minerals” to the base as possible. Once it gets down to the last 30 seconds, teams have to either get their robots back to the base and make it so that they hang a certain amount off the ground. If a team can't get back to the base, it has to try to get at least a majority of the robot into any of the mineral pits. If the team can't achieve either of those, the team will lose a certain amount of points. Teams would win a match if they get more points than their opponents.

Mrs. Humbert, the current coach, considers herself to be a, “Placeholder, and a warm body for district, and hopefully be able to be a mentor and coach for next year.” Mrs. Humbert hopes that they will receive more support as they don't receive a lot of support, and don't quite have enough money to buy updated tools and machinery, or nicer equipment in general.

Zachary Boles and John Wilson are two members of the Helena Robotics club. Boles, a sophomore at CHS from team 4604/Aldebaran, says he would like to see the “work ethic” of robotics teams change in the future. Wilson, a junior at CHS, from team 12239/Arctus, said that he hoped for improvements in “the training system for the ‘newbies.’”

All in all, the Helena Robotics Club is a very fun, team-building experience for teens, and the age group ranges from 8th grade all the way up through the 12th.