Latest news with #VEXRoboticsHighStakesMiddleSchool
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Teamwork pays off at VEX Robotics competition
Teamwork helped robots reach their goals at a state robotics championship. Several dozen teams from as far away as Oklahoma City and Stillwater competed in the VEX Robotics High Stakes Middle School and High School State Championships, held Thursday and Friday at Hatbox Event Center. For this competition, teamwork meant pairing with another school to go against competitors. 'You find you a teammate and try to come up with a strategy,' said Hilldale competitor Taylor Stevens. 'With teams that are in a match, you try to figure out what to do.' Taylor said teams get to pick each other in final and semifinal rounds. 'In qualifying, we just end up with them,' he said, adding that teams are assigned. Teams must get their robots to move rings to a corner, put rings on stationary pegs, then put rings on movable pegs and move the pegs to a corner. Teams must build and program the robots and drive them across the court. The robots can be stubborn. Hilldale eighth grader Jaxon Nail said he had to air up a pneumatic cylinder, 'so we can scoop up the rings on the conveyor belt and pop them onto the goal.' David Bandy, an event organizer, said robotics involves a variety of skills. 'You've got electronics, you've got coding, you've got mechanics, sprockets, gears, chains,' he said. 'You have to fine tune that robot for it to work efficiently.' Such skills can lead to different careers, he said. 'It doesn't have to be engineering,' Bandy said. 'It could be mechanics, heating and air, construction or plumbing. A lot of these kids who work with their hands like this are self-motivated. They'll find something out there. Some might end up taking it and going to medical school.' Verdigris freshman William Ray was the only member of his school team, and it's hard. He said he qualified for State by winning a tournament at his school. William said Thursday his day so far was 'not the greatest.' He said his robot was gutted in an earlier match. 'A part tipped over into the robot and, the rubber end was wrapped around my chain,' he said. 'Someone actually yanked it out and it ripped apart.' He was paired Thursday with a team representing Oklahoma City area private schools. He said he learned from them and hopes they are learning from him. 'I'm definitely learning more about drive trains,' he said. 'I'm learning a lot about different things just being here. It's a collaborative effort of everyone to work as much as possible with people with different ideas and different goals.'
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Muskogee to host State VEX Robotics meet
Robotics students could solve the vexing problem of stacking plastic rings this week. The VEX Robotics High Stakes Middle School and High School State Championships will be Thursday and Friday at Hatbox Event Center. Match play begins 10 a.m Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday with finals set for Friday afternoon. 'They're from everywhere — Jay, Roland, Claremore, Oklahoma City area, Verdigris,' Hilldale STEAM teacher Danielle Ward said, adding that 30 high school teams and 30 middle school teams from across Oklahoma will compete. 'This year's event has been expanded to 30 spots, up from previous years of 24,' Ward said. 'Muskogee's economy will benefit from teams spending the night in our great city. Local citizens of all ages can come out and watch as students use specific driving strategies with their alliances to win matches.' Winners in certain categories move on to represent Oklahoma at VEX Robotics WORLD Champion in early May in Dallas. Ward said high school and middle school champions, finalists and winners of Excellence and Design awards qualify to advance. Ward said Hilldale is bringing three high school teams and three middle school teams. She said teams form alliances with other schools' teams. Students start working on their robots as early as August she said. The young competitors keep tweaking their robots as the year goes on. Hilldale sophomore Jordan Davis said he's changing normal wheels to traction wheels on his robot. 'It's to make it faster and more resilient to other players,' Jordan said. This year's competition involves getting a wheeled robot to move blue and red plastic rings to corners. The robot also must put rings on a peg and move the peg to a corner. The robot also can put rings on stationary pegs around the field, or climb a tower in the middle of the field. Other area teams competing include three teams from Claremore High, three from Tahlequah High, as well as teams from Verdigris, Oologah-Talala and Bartlesville. Fort Gibson and Muskogee school robotics compete through a different program, FIRST Robotics.
