Feb 25 2011
A group of 14 students from TrekNorth Junior & Senior High School will participate in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics program from March 10-12 held at Duluth. For this competition, the first-ever robotics team from TrekNorth is geared to build robots in a span of six weeks.
JCPenney, a national sponsor of the FIRST tech challenge, has supported this team of students by awarding TrekNorth $6,000 for the construction of robots. Unfortunately, TrekNorth can neither boast of a machinery garage or an industrial technology laboratory for use by students.
TrekNorth Team
The FIRST program offers a game challenge called “logomotion” to its participants this year. The robots are expected to place three inner tubes to form shapes such as a square, circle, and triangle on a scoring rack. The teams get more points if the inner tubes are placed to create the FIRST logo.
Following this, the robots are expected to run along the field’s length carrying each game piece. Towards the end of the game, the robots must run to the towers and start the function of their minibots, which in turn must race to the top of the tower. The first minibot that makes to top of the tower will earn a bonus of 30 points.
TrekNorth’s participants are planning to build two robots under the supervision of Jeff Jones, a TrekNorth teacher, and Andrew Wiggins, Dean of Students. These robots, operated using a laptop and joysticks will compete against the robots designed by students of 41 other schools.
TrekNorth’s robot with six wheels is likely to weigh around five pounds and is very similar in shape to the bed of a self-driven lawn mower. Powered by a 12-volt battery, the robot from TrekNorth will have sufficient power to drive a lawn mower. The minibot will be powerful enough to climb up a pole.
The arm of the robot is yet to be built by the TrekNorth students and is estimated to be an easy-to-use design