The robotics team is gearing up for a tournament at Bridge Street Middle this Saturday November 19th. The four team captains, Ethan Matz, Wyatt Wheeler, Seth Scott, and Will Fuller are hoping to lead their team to another victory.

The robotics team can prepare for competitions by getting familiar  with their robots and  understanding  how each part works.  Team captains Will Fuller and Seth Scott say “The most important thing about the robotics team is that it is a normal sport. A few years ago the WVSSAC recognized robotics as a co-curricular activity. Our season starts in July and ends in May.”

Scott and Fuller went on to comment, “Math is not required, but it is important. For the most part, you can measure distances and use trial and error to figure out how far to spin something, or what RPM to set a motor to to spin sufficiently fast. Math, however, is recommended, as it cuts out the need for trial and error. With the disk launching, one can use trigonometry and kinematics to figure out the correct speeds, and with gear ratios, one can figure out how fast the output will spin. There is math that is used in PID controllers. With this you give the motors a desired value(length), then you get how far the motor has spun with a distance sensor and subtract it so find how far the robot still has to move then you began to apply a higher voltage at the start then you began to lower the voltage so you stop at the correct distance. But all of this is done in code; we just write the program for it.”

We hope robotics gets off to a great season.