Small robots, big lessons

by Zulema Lopez, VOW staff

Jan 31, 2020

Moving the robot as 8th graders tour the gym, freshman James Rogers recruits new members for the Robotiks team during the 8th grade visits.

photo or infographic by courtesy photo
Winner of the 1st place motivate award, 2nd place design award and 3rd place Innovate Award for the Noarth Houston League.

photo or infographic by Will Nye
WELCOME TO WHS. Greeting the 8th graders at the door, Wildkat Robtiks uses technology to recruit new students.

photo or infographic by will Nye
Moving the robot as 8th graders tour the gym, freshman James Rogers recruits new members for the Robotiks team during the 8th grade visits.

#CodeFixes #WheelAlignment #EngineeringNotebook

The world of robotics is more than driving the robot on the mat during competition. It is the little details that make a robot team go from good to great.

This weekend the robotiks team is hosting the North Houston FTC Meet and Championship Saturday. The opening ceremony is set for 10:15 A.M.

“The best part of Robotiks is bonding with one and another, trying to not get off task,” freshman Javier Banda said.

Wildkat Robotiks meets with multiple teachers everyday after school until 4PM. They face many challenges throughout the week to prepare a robot to pass the challenge presented at competitions.

The team works hard to stay on task and reach their goal to get it completed in the time given.

“The last time we had so many failures during competition,” Banda said. “The phone didn’t want to connect, and the other time we tried to reverse something, and it didn’t want to go.”

This weekend, the team is hoping for a successful competition. The robots the students build are complicated and take three weeks to build.

“Last contest our devices were going through a system update, and we couldn’t compete for three rounds,” sophomore James Rodgers said.

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About the Contributors

Zulema Lopez, VOW staff

Zulema is a senior, she took a year of journalism and also took two years of photography before joining the yearbook and newspaper staff this year. After graduating, she is attending The Art Institute of Houston. You can reach her at [email protected]

Will Nye, photographer

Will is a senior and is a staff photographer for yearbook and newspaper. His time is split between his president positions in both the class of 2020 and NHS, but he always finds time to grow his photography skills and run his photography business. In the fall of 2020 will hopes to attend UT Austin and major in microbiology and immunology. You can reach him at [email protected].