WMS robotics team faced with a challenge

Many of you know about WMS’s many extracurricular activities such as sports, musical electives, and other things such as the science olympiad. But probably one of the lesser-known ones is the robotics team. The robotics team, founded in 2021 by Krista McKinley and several other parents of WMS students, is a team in which students at WMS design, build, program, and compete with robots. The team has divisions on Wednesday and Tuesday, and both design and compete well. They meet for 1.5-2 hours at 6:30 on their respective nights, however additional nights may be scheduled on Monday or Thursday. Many of the staff are engineers for ford, and several of the students own 3d printers. This allows the teams to create parts perfect for their needs. The competition is this November, and the robots are coming along nicely. The current challenge is known as ‘power play’, a game in which the robots must stack plastic cones on long poles affixed to the floor on springs. The rods range from 13” to 33” in height, and the robot must fit within 18” x 18” x 18” but may expand when competition begins. This has proven a challenge for our engineers, but they have taken to it quite well. We are very close to a solution for this, the only limiting factor being the parts we have on hand. New parts are scheduled to arrive soon, but we have no knowledge of their exact arrival time. The robotics team is a great opportunity to learn, create, and just have a good time overall. If you want to join, please do. As always, this is Ben, and I will see you later!