Design, build, program and compete: in a span of two months, the Midtown robotics team constructed their robot to enter this year’s ReefScape themed robotics competition.
This year’s theme, ReefScape, aims to explore aquatic environments. After the theme was announced, the team began working on their robot.
“In early January, the game is announced,” freshman team member Eleanor Shore said. “This year’s competition is ocean themed. It is called ReefScape … We have two months to design, build, wire and program the robot completely from scratch to be able to complete the task.”
The competition took place from March 6th to March 8th in Dalton, Georgia.
“The game is to collect as many pieces of algae on a piece of coral as possible and put it in the score zone,” sophomore team member Leila Yalew said. “Our robot has an intake, which basically sucks the ball into the robot and has motors which holds it in place until they get to the goal. Then there is an elevator, about seven feet tall, and it’s so we can reach the algae at the top of the coral.”
Midtown’s team made it to the final round of the competition.
“The first day of competition you are being measured on your own merit, how good is your own robot in terms of scoring points and out performing other robots,” lead faculty sponsor Angela Marshall said. “The second day of competition is like an alliance. The teams at the top of the ranking based on the day before’s performance are able to select other teams. We were picked by the second best team to align with them… We made it to the very last round of competition.”
The robotics team has weekly meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Since joining this year, Yalew said robotics allowed her to learn new skills and work on a team.
“Robotics has definitely become a lot more intense since last semester, because there is just so much to get done,” Yalew said. “It does encourage teamwork, because a lot of the work we do is in groups, so we have to work together.”
Students are divided into a mechanical group, an electrical group and a programming group.
“I am on the electrical and mechanical branches of the robotics team,” Shore said. “Mechanical physically constructs the robot out of aluminum. Most of [the robot] is aluminum, wood, some 3D printed stuff and a bit of plastic. The electrical [team] wires the robot. The programming team designs the autonomous controls, the speed of the robot and programs the elevator, algae claw, coral intake, coral outtake and bigfoot, our mechanism to climb on the deep cage.”
Sophomore team member Ava Wolgemuth believes collaboration was helpful when designing the team’s robot.
“Teamwork is really important because there’s so much to do,” Wolgemuth said. “Making a robot alone would take forever. Plus, when designing the robot, having a lot of people’s ideas together can let you find a good design faster.”
On the team are different leadership positions, which helped direct and oversee the robot’s construction.
“In terms of leadership, there is a chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief technology officer and leads of each teams who are students,” Shore said. “We call the adults ‘mentors.’ They are mostly college students and actual engineers who volunteer and help out the team.”
Marshall said mentors offered students meaningful connections, knowledge, and expertise.
“When the mentors come, they know they can advise, they can guide, and the students are receptive to that because they are talking to the people who know what they are doing,” Marshall said. “But the work, the programming, the fabrication of the parts, the assembly, the wiring, the driving, all students. They do the work of the team with the support of the mentors.”
Ultimately, the team earned an award for creative design and will continue to compete with their robot. They are currently ranked seventh in the state of Georgia. Marshall attributes the team’s success to their dedication and use of teamwork and collaboration.
“It was not just having teamwork, it was having a group of people who completely commit to the team,” Marshall said. “This team has worked together so close and so well that their work overlaps. If one [person] can’t do something another [person] pitches in. They are all looking for how to pull the best out of each other, as well as the team itself. Without [teamwork] we would not have gotten this far.”
