NHIS Robotics Club expect to go to World’s Competition this year
Students in the NHIS Robotics Club work on building robots that compete against other schools.
The NHIS Robotics Club is looking forward to go to the World’s Championships this school year.
The NHIS Robotics Club builds robots that compete in several competitions during the school year.
The Robotics Club is for students that love to build robots, come and work together side by side, while creating something and sharing ideas with each other.
“We build robots to do specific tasks. Last year for competition we had to make a robot with a launcher that would be able to shoot a foam ball into a net and we had to use two wheels to force the ball to fly into the net. There was a challenge with how far it could go because most of the times we overuse it and the robot would just die out then we would have to wait for that next round to change it out,” said, Angel Hobbs, grade 10 robotics student.
Richard Enright, NHIS Electronics teacher, has been the advisor of the Robotics program for the last ten years.
“The most rewarding thing is seeing my former students and them coming back and telling me how this helped them with their career. Also, watching students grow in every competition and when something goes wrong and watching them understand and learn how to solve the problem,” said Enright.
The Robotics Club faces many challenges to participate in the various competitions.
“The biggest challenge is funding. We typically spend, depending on how well the kids do each year, anywhere between $20,000 and $40,000 a year and trying to find funding to support the program, it’s hard. The funding is always the big issue,” said Enright.
NHIS Robotics students work on building a robot.
Students also feel that working with others can be a challenge.
“The challenges of being in Robotics Club is mostly the people you work with because you don’t know if they know as much as you do or if you know less than they do,” said Hobbs.
The Robotics Club believes they will do well this year.
“Seeing them compete because they get really excited about it. They have robots when they go to the Vex Competition. They usually do pretty well, but I haven’t seen them placed in the top yet, but I heard that the middle school team last year they got pretty close up there. That must be pretty exciting for them,” said Kelli Kajiwara, Robotics Mentor.
“This year I am expecting great things. I have a group of really talented kids this year and I’m actually expecting to take a week off from school in April because the kids will be in Louisville, Kentucky competing at the World’s Championship of Robotics. I’m expecting them to qualify to go to the World’s Championships,” said Enright.
