Students on RUSD robotics team learn technical skills, collaboration – Journal Times

MOUNT PLEASANT Most students joined the team to help with the business portions, but once they tried the technical aspects, they were hooked.

The Racine Unified School District robotics team provided the chance to learn new skills and meet new people, which the high schoolers enjoyed.

We were all friends before, and then when we joined, it strengthened our friendship, said senior Scarlette Sikora.

The robotics team, whose official name is 7900 Trial N Terror, has 22 members who attend either Case High School or the REAL School. It is also open to students from Horlick and Park high schools.

This school year, students worked to build a robot that competed in several competitions against and with schools from around the state and country.

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Most team members had never designed or programmed a robot before, and they enjoyed learning how.

Members of the Racine Unified robotics team stand with the robot they programmed and designed at Case High School, 7345 Washington Ave. Most team members had never designed or programmed a robot before, and they enjoyed learning how.

Much of that learning occurred during a 12-week build season from January to March.

Prior to build season, students met twice per week after school at Case, 7345 Washington Ave. During build season, they met every day after school and often on Saturdays.

Senior Lina Hemmig was the team captain, and several small groups of students worked on different aspects of the robot, but everyone came together to complete the finished product.

Theres a lot of collaboration between the teams, said senior Payden Schulz.

Students enjoyed seeing the results of their labor.

Its really exciting to see your work being put in action, said sophomore Nick Donaldson.

Everyone saw students, especially those who joined the team this school year, improve and take more ownership as build season progressed.

Kaitlyn Chao, robotics lead faculty mentor, was thrilled to see students learn and evolve.

The massive amount of dedication that all the students put into it and hard work and thought and all of that its really awesome to see, Chao said. They definitely go through some pretty exponential growth from January to March.

Students acquired the knowledge of using power tools, soldering, wiring and continuous loop programming. That was a gradual yet seemingly instantaneous process.

Sometimes it just all of a sudden clicks and youre like, Oh wait, I know exactly how to do this, said senior Mads Luebke.

Challenges included not having enough time to complete all the lofty goals students set for themselves. There were also supply chain issues, so they had to adjust during build season if materials didnt arrive in time.

Robotics members appreciated the multiple competitions, including a three-day contest in Milwaukee in March with nearly 50 other teams. They competed in around a dozen matches, often working with other robotics teams.

The communication and collaboration is so much friendlier, because youre going to be working with these people and youre going to be working against them, Hemmig said. Everyone wants to make sure that everyone is succeeding, and theres not this harsh competition.

Racine Unified robotics team members help control a robot on April 24 at Case High School, 7345 Washington Ave. Most team members had never designed or programmed a robot before, and they enjoyed learning how.

Competitions involved a timed contest where the teams 90-pound robot had to do a specific task like pick up a cube and place it in a certain area. The first 15 seconds were autonomous, meaning students had to program the robot to do specific actions before they could manually control it.

The Trial N Terror team names acronym is TNT, so members had a call and response chant before each competition.

Give me a T. T! Give me an N. N! Give me a T. T! What does that spell? Kaboom!

The robot was named C-4 in reference to the team name.

In addition to acquiring technical skills, students learned how to work with classmates, a rewarding experience.

Working with other people, thats a really big skill we had to learn, Luebke said. Seeing the team work together and have fun, just watching everybody actually enjoy what theyre doing, is a very good aspect.

Leading this team has given me experience to be able to delegate and talk to other teams, as well as my own, and deal with the communication aspect, Hemmig said.

They hope to attract more students to the robotics team because many team members are seniors.

That recruitment could happen this month when students visit several schools and businesses to showcase the robot.

If the experiences of current students are any indication, anyone can join the club and learn as they go.

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Students on RUSD robotics team learn technical skills, collaboration - Journal Times