The year 2017 has gotten off to a rocky start for the Old Colony Robotics team. In the final weeks leading up to their qualifying competition, tensions are high. Students and advisers have both been working long hours to make final preparations.
Every Tuesday for the past five months, the team has met after school to plan and build machines to compete in this year’s VEX Robotics Starstruck Competition. They have spent countless hours building and rebuilding to refine their ideas and work out bugs. Veteran students Tanner Stafford and John Barnes have been hard at work not only on the robot, but also on leading the newer members of the team.
Problems have arisen of varying issues. Smaller challenges like scheduling matters have been easy for the team to overcome. Larger challenges, however, have truly put the team to the test.
Broken motors, stripped gears, coding mistakes, and failed ideas have kept the team on their toes as they adapt to each problem they face. Together they’ve managed to not only survive the tribulations, but also thrive under the pressure.
Though slightly stressful, this challenge presents an amazing opportunity for the students. The VEX Robotics Competition is the fastest growing high school and middle school robotics competition. It presents its engineering challenge in the form of a game where teams compete against each other year round. It is an opportunity for students to come together and learn engineering skills as well as teamwork and critical thinking skills.
Now, in the final hours, the team has been staying after school everyday well into the night in an effort to assure everything is perfect. They need to get past this first event at Bristol Community College in order to continue to the next level.
The game is on and the students and advisers alike look optimistic.
The competition was to be held on January 7, but due to the storm it was postponed to January 21, allowing the team even more time to perfect their machines. We wish them good luck.
By Elizabeth Jerome
