By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
“How am I going to use this in real life?” or “When will I need this?”
Those are questions many teachers have heard from students over the years.
Members of the two Otsego Middle School robotics teams learned the answer to those questions during the recently concluded season.
OMS science teacher Jen Sutton is one of the robotics coaches.
“As a coach, it is incredible to see students use real-world skills out of the classroom,” Sutton said. “They started the season with a brainstorming session and have now turned their ideas of a robot into a fully functioning robot, complete with LED lights.”
The season included two competitions and, according to Sutton and the other coaches, a lot of hands-on learning.
Both OMS teams—the Robo Dawgs #9311 and the Advanced Skilltronics #9476—worked during the fall to prepare for OMS FIRST Tech Challenge. During this time, they had to design, build and, ultimately, compete with their robots.
The teams’ task during the building season was to get their respective robots to complete certain tasks set forth by the FIRST Tech Challenge program.
Their challenge this year, as described by FIRST, is a game where they score green and purple “artifacts” (5-inch balls) by shooting them into their alliance’s goal. The students had to be strategic so their robots could pull in the ball, point it at the target and then shoot it to score.
But the game and scoring points weren’t the main objective. Rather, it was to provide an environment in which the students could learn “key soft skills that help them in the competition and in life.”
“Students also go in front of judges and have a 10-minute interview about the process of the season, community outreach, and more,” Sutton said.
Part of that community outreach involved taking the robots to Dix Street Elementary School to give a brief presentation to the members of the fifth-grade classes.
As for the competitions, the first took place on Saturday, Nov. 8, at Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids. The second took place at Fruitport High School on Saturday, Nov. 22.
At Ottawa Hills, the Robo Dawgs placed 12th with a record of 3-2, while the Advanced Skilltronics placed 20th with a record of 2-3. A total of 37 teams participated.
At Fruitport, the Robo Dawgs again placed 12th with a 3-2 record. The Advanced Skilltronics placed 26th with a 2-3 record.
