The Xavier Robotics club recently qualified for state due to their design and their engineering workbook after competing in two qualifying competitions. When asked how the competitions went, Mr. Ward, the teacher leading the club, said, “First of all, we could have done better. So much of what happens in robotics, people get excited about making the robot and that what we really need to do is spend more time practicing with the robot. So we now feel the robot is as made as it’s going to be, but there is always more you could do. So we’re going to say yes it’s good enough now. Now practice working on the skills that we have. So I feel like if we practice more we would do much, much better.”

 Mr. Ward reviewed his personal highlight of the competitions: “One of the best things about this whole thing is that there’s not that intense competitiveness. That really everybody wants everybody’s robot running at its maximum capacity and then if you win, it’s kind of like we all win.” Mr. Ward explained how the process for making the robot for the competitions works: they are given a game and told how the point system works. The club then started the planning process. Mr. Ward said, “We identified the areas where we felt like we had the best strategy to win the game and then went about designing what it would take to score those points.” The club came up with various ideas like shooting a ball into a basket. They wanted to make a robot that would score the most points possible. Through the building process, they made minor changes to the design, but stayed true to what the club hoped to execute.

 The robotics club divides the work into two groups: the ‘builders’ and the ‘programmers.’ The builders are those who want to make the robot. While the programmers are those who want to program the robot. The ‘builders’ team incorporates different interests such as engineering and mechanical engineering. Thus, “anyone who is interested in building things,” said Mr. Ward, “robotics would be a great club/team to join.” The ‘programmers’ team is idea for those interested in computer programming. Although freshman are encouraged to join if they have a decent interest in the subject, students tend to get a “real taste for programming” sophomore year after taking the required Computer Programming class.

 Towards the beginning of the building process, the two teams tend to work independently. This early developmental stage, “the builders might ask the programmers, would you be able to do this? And the programmers would say, yeah I think so or no,” Mr. Ward explained. But once the robot is closer to completion, the teams tend to intermingle more as final details and mechanics are being worked out.