The Madison High School science club sponsored and coached by Torque Transmission competed April 30th in the AWT Foundation RoboBots Competition. Along with their “bot” called The Streaker, the team finished three heats and had an exhilarating learning experience. On May 12th the team continued on with the display of their engineering prowess and performed a demonstration to Torque Transmission employees and other team sponsors of their bot’s capabilities.
The team’s captain, Nil Thakkar, a junior at Madison High School, discussed some challenges the team faced. He mentioned time management as the main concern. In hindsight, the team should have begun the design phase sooner. Sara Hicks, a team member who worked on documentation for the team, discussed her goals for the next competition with ideas on how to improve the planning process. The science club is ready to start in June this year on the process!
During the competition on April 30th at Lakeland Community College, the Streaker lost it’s first heat, but won the second heat. The third heat was the most exciting. The team used their battle bot to deliver great damage and out maneuver their competitor but before the match finished their battery died, forcing them to forfeit the match. Zach Margelowsky, who worked on the electrical design and wiring of the robot, said he’d wished there’d been more time for testing. “We were so rushed at the end to finish our design that we didn’t have time to do all the testing we needed.”
Overall the team had a fantastic learning experience which fueled their determination for next year’s competition. Through the support of the Torque Transmission staff, the students were able to engineer and produce a working battle bot and strengthen countless real world skills. Special thanks to Connie Manypenny for making sure all materials were purchased and arrived in time, to Dan Fullum for the engineering assistance and helping the students fit all the components together, and to Russ Needhamer who supported the overall process from beginning to end.
