The 2024 VEX robotics world championship is less than six months away and students at Middletown High School are tweaking and testing their robots. They started with Robotics 1 - learning the building, coding and the basics of robotics.
"Then as you go into a team, you find your individual role, which is where you want to compete, you want to play us, and my role is a builder coder and a driver," adds senior Travis Newman.
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He explains the goal of this year’s competition, which changes every season, "so this year, the competition is they have green try balls is what they're called they kind of look like acorns. And the object is to have as many of them on your side or in the goal."
Competitions also include robot inspection, an interview process and presenting a portfolio in addition to the actual matches.
"We build our own our own programs for controlling a robot. So in my team's program, it allows us to both control a robot during the driver control mode of the tournament and during the autonomous period where a robot has to perform certain actions on its own," says senior Ryan Battista, who is the lead programmer for his team.
Mia Annino is a design portfolio manager and she explains that while robotics is heavy on STEM, there are other skills they’re honing, as well: "Like, for me, I have gotten so much better at collaborating with other members of our team. And it really teaches you abilities that you're going to be able to use beyond high school."
Robotics may seem intimidating but Heidi Mallett has a few words for anyone who is interested.
"It's not about your intellect level that allows you to be in robotics. Some people think you have to have a certain IQ or lack of better ways of putting it, but it's truly just if you desire to do it, you will be given the resources and equipped with the tools you need to do it successfully. And if you have a passion for it, do it," Mallett said.
If you know of a program, or an individual student or phenomenal teacher exploring STEM in Connecticut, please reach out to me via email: rachael.jay@nbcuni.com.
