Robots have now existed in the 21st century that have now evolved from doing a simple task to behaving like humans. Very few high schools offer a robotics course to their students, luckily Ánimo Pat Brown has given their seniors the privilege to learn and experience building a robot by giving them the course Engineering and Robotics.This course is about robots, but in order to build a robot the students need the knowledge of engineering, since the students will have to program their robot to function. Robotics is an activity where people design, construct, and operate robots that require the students to keep their notes for reference and the interaction with dangerous tools on a daily basis. Students that had the opportunity to take this challenging course this year say that it is a very interesting and fun class. However, it can also be one of the most stressful classes because of the patience they need while dealing with their robot. Many confront anger, stress and frustration when their creation does not function well.
Some seniors were asked different things about how this class has affected them or just in general what they thought about the class.
Current robotics student, Yessica Nava, says, “Before taking this course I had never really considered majoring in engineering, but after the first semester I have started to consider it.” Yessica also says, “The class is stressing in a way that you have to face so many challenges and problems that come when building and programming the robot. I honestly don’t think the class is hard in the sense that it’s impossible, but I will say that it is hard because you have to think of many different ways to fix the problems that you face when you are constructing the robot”.
Although some students have been affected by this class in a convenient way, some students think that this class has not been a good cause for them in any way.
Monica Diaz who is currently taking this class has not seen the usefulness of this course. Monica says, that this class consumes much of her time and she personally does not have the talents required for this major. “One of my favorite things about robotics is that you get to see how the robot functions with all that you have been spending so much time working with”, says Monica, “I think its a very good feeling when you see that all the effort you have put in has payed off and also it is good to know that you were able to do something that isn’t easy for many people”.
“We began the year by being introduced into the world of programming, and as we got closer to the mid semester we kept taking different tests”. says Senior Yessica Nava She adds, ”We got into groups to work on a project to learn more about teamwork and dealing with problems.” The senior students have been struggling to meet perfection with their robots, although with the encouragement of Robotics teacher Andrew Osterhaus they are sure they will succeed.
The Robotics’ competition day has been set for February 11 and many robotic students are preparing for this day so that they can get the victory. The competition is called “Hockey-Bot Competition”. The task is for students is to make a robot that will either shoot out the hockey pucks or deliver the two different pucks into their appropriate goal area. There will be two ways in which the students will receive points, one will be by making the puck inside the goal, which results in more points or the second way is by delivering the puck into the goal zone, which results in less points. There will be other students bringing in their robots from other schools here to ABP and see who takes the victory.
