One Plant City High School science classroom has been buzzing with excitement since the beginning of the school year. The school’s Robotics Team has been tinkering away to create the perfect mechanical specimen for The BEST Robotics Competition Nov. 9, in Tampa.
To compete, the team has had to devise a mock company that utilizes robotics. The team not only must create a working robot but also must satisfy an un-met need and develop a brand, target audience and other facets of their company.
“A lot of stuff goes into it,” team member Maddy Keene said. “Making up the entire industry, we’ve had to come up with all aspects of that. You learn a lot.”
One part of the competition will judge the team on its company, Ceres Industry. The team will set up a trade booth complete with brochures, its logo and biography. The team even made business cards and will be wearing matching company polos.
Judges will ask members who specialized on the business side of the competition questions about their company and the robots used.
The team based the name of its company and robotic models on ancient mythology. Many of the members have been reading mythology as part of their Advance Placement English classes and were inspired.
One of the major components of the competition is an emphasis on being environmentally conscious. The team chose Ceres because in mythology, she was the goddess of grain.
The company specializes in building robots that are programmed and engineered to clean up hazardous waste, such as radioactive materials. There are four different robotic models that clean waste in a variety of ways.
The decanting Ariadni model separates dangerous material from non-hazardous material. A solar powered model is called Helios. Argos has a camera, which can get an up close look at the hazardous waste.
The model Apollo is the basic model that will be shown during the competition. Apollo has a strong arm to pick up materials. The team of five engineers also has added some optional features, including the ability to clutch objects and a 360-degree rotation.
“Precision was the hardest,” Mario Leon said.
Many of the other engineers agreed creating Apollo’s main gear was a significant accomplishment.
“It was a challenge,” Jayni Patel said. “None of us knew how to make it.”
The engineers constructed the robot with a variety of materials — including PVC pipe, nails, wires and wood — given to them by competition officials.
“I thought it was funny how we got a box of random things and no directions on how to use the materials,” Michael Hahn said.
The materials were as bizarre as a scooter wheel, although the engineers didn’t use it.
During the competition, the engineers will have to maneuver Apollo to pick up objects and twist the arm to place a rod into a hole.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
TEAM MEMBERS
Sydney Bramlett
Jamie Burke
Jake Fortune
Luis Gomez
Faith Griffith
Michael Hahn
Maddy Keene
Mario Leon
Gracie Martinez
Dhara Patel
Jaynil Patel
Isaac Rivers
Megan Zimmerman