Students participate in robotics competition

As most of the students were winding down and looking forward to winter break, there were two students who were working hard to compete in the Zillah Robot Challenge.

On Dec. 18, Devin Schafer, Jack Anderson, and Instructor Lance Marquardt took the robot they programmed to compete with other robots from many other Washington public and private schools. Teams had to position their robots in mazes and watch their robot navigate its way out by use of sensors. It was a difficult challenge for the boys, but they did well. Two people were allowed in a course at a time. There were three courses, and if you touched the Bo-bot, during its official trial, your team received an automatic penalty of 15 seconds.

Their first official trial on course one took 49 seconds for their Bo-bot to make it to the finish line. Course two was finished in one minute and 44 seconds, and course three was completed in three minutes. With these times they achieved 12th place. With more than 40 teams, this was a good placing!

Anderson said, “We had a good instructor, but it (robot) didn’t work exactly the way we wanted it to. I am still happy we got 12th place.”

This was a new experience for all involved, and the boys are looking forward to the next challenge.