Written By: Rachel Cichon
Howell High School provides dozens of opportunities for students to join clubs, sports, teams or activities. There are so many different choices that any student can find something they like or relate to and want to support. Robotics is one of HHS’s newer groups, but it has had a promising start and is rising towards an exciting future.
“This is bigger than a football game – bigger than homecoming,” says HHS junior and devoted member of the club, Matt Hannah, about the upcoming competition that the club will be participating in. “It’s very competitive. It’s not as intense as football, but there are more teams.”
The Robotics Club may not be a familiar phrase to many students of HHS. It is not a timeless tradition of the school; in fact, it has only been an available activity for two years. Despite its youth, the club attracted the attention of enough students in its first year to win the All Star Rookie Award, along with several other awards, in their first competition.
Each year, the Robotics Club is given four weeks to build a robot that can perform a specific function. Usually, two teams, red and blue, go against each other in the competition with three people on each team.
There is always an item in the competition that the robot can interact with to earn more points. Last year, for example, this elemental aspect of the competition consisted of two pyramids, one for each team, that the robot was expected to climb up. There were three levels to the pyramids, and each one that the robot climbed earned the team an extra ten points. There were also baskets on top, and the robots could attempt to shoot five Frisbees into its goal, earning points based on the goal it was shot into. Up to 50 points could be earned from this.
The competition is coming up for this year’s club, as it starts after Christmas. The HHS Robotics Club, who call themselves the Scotsbots, are hoping to perform even better this year and to take every opportunity within their four weeks to create a formidable robot. Since last year, the size of the club has grown considerably and now there are 40-50 members representing HHS, giving them a fairly good chance.
This upcoming competition, ran by the organization First Robotics, is a very big deal for the Scotsbots, as it will be hosted by Howell and be held at Parker Middle School.
Robotics clubs, some with over 200 members, flock to participate in the competition. If a team reaches the state level of competition, they go to a larger competition in St. Louis, where often members of the government and military will come. Last year, President Obama came to attend the event. These members will recruit students straight out of high school and invite them to join the FBI or other related organizations.
Much goes on with the Scotsbots outside of the competition, too. The club pays for all of the parts needed to make the robots, and so members are expected to raise funds. Last year’s Frisbee-tossing robot cost about $600.
Currently, the Scotsbots are hoping to establish a new mascot. They haven’t made a decision yet, but one of their ideas is an off-brand version of Wall-E, wearing a kilt to reflect Howell pride.
The club meets every Wednesday and occasionally does labs on Sundays. Mr. Alberto De la Iglesias, HHS physics teacher, is one of the team mentors. A mentor can be anyone who has some experience or skill to offer the team. Mentors mainly teach the students what to do, oversee the work and help with funding, although they are not actually allowed to help build the robot.
The Robotics Club is year-round, and pre-season, they mainly work to recruit members, find sponsors, improve their team, design new ideas, and set goals. Each member of the robotics club needs to have the time and discipline to handle the rigorous work, and they are expected to contribute some skill, be it engineering, marketing, software or any other.
The team likes to have fun together, planning activities like taking a pre-season trip to Cedar Point, having movie nights, and going paintballing together, but the club demands seriousness at times.
“We try to be organized and very professional,” says Hannah. “Competition – that’s when things get serious. You have fun, but you have to keep the ball rolling and stay professional while working with dangerous machinery. It’s like being on the football team. It’s okay to have a good time, but you’re representing Howell, and you have to be serious about what you’re doing.”
The students of the robotics club are dedicated and no doubt likely to achieve in what they’re doing. With more students joining this year, they may soon be able to compete with the best, despite being such a new organization. Each member of the team is dedicated to the club and works to keep it succeeding.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot because of Robotics. I’ve learned about the business world, heavy machinery, software skills, physics. It teaches a lot of different things. You’ve just gotta be willing to learn it,” says Hannah.
