Robotics: a study that mixes Computer Science and Engineering, a field of study that is quickly growing in popularity among high schoolers. Luckily, our school has a great club based around robotics. Sponsored by Ms. Lynn, the robotics club has about 24 members spread across four teams. The goal of the club is to participate in robotics tournaments across the country using vex robotics. Each of the four teams has three main jobs needed to work on a robot for tournaments: Hardware- the actual robotics of the robot, software- the code that drives the robot, and a driver-the one who controls the robot. All of the members in a team switch around doing what they can to help, but some teams have dedicated software engineers or dedicated drivers, but most stay fluid in all roles. On the topic of software, according to some of the kids in the club working on software, they mainly code in a language called C++, and when making software, you need to use a language of coding to make it work, and most teams in the club say that C++ is “Easy to use and troubleshoot.”

With hardware, teams need to design, modify and document the robot that they submit to a tournament. They document their research and work through an engineering journal. These journals are filled with the research that the team does, the diagrams that they draw for prototyping, and the modifications they make to improve the robot. These journals are filled to the brim with examples of the engineering processes and prototypes. When I flipped through one of the old journals, I saw the massive changes a past team made to their robot, which enhanced its performance greatly.

All of the teams have members with various levels of experience. Each team has people entirely new to robotics and also have people who have done robotics since they were little. On top of that, the club is not lacking in achievements in any way, shape, or form. The walls of the classroom are filled with trophies, going all the way back to the founding of the club in 2014, and while I couldn’t count all of them, there had to be over 20 awards at least. One interesting thing about the club is that they have a large, arena-type setting in the middle of the room. According to the members of the club that arena is used to test and practice with the robots.

If anyone who’s reading this is interested in robotics, whether it be the software or the hardware, you can apply next year by going to Ms. Lynn and applying for the club when they are accepting applicants. Go Knights!