Southfield High to Host Robotics Competition
Robotics team members get a lesson in using a miter saw from Southfield High alumnus Lee Johnson, Jr. (in the hat). Pictured with Lee are (from left) senior Ryan Bailey and Jalen Smith, and sophomores William Dixon, Tovan Heyden and Rachel Walker.
For the first time ever, Southfield High will host a FIRST Robotics Competition.
The event is scheduled for Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March 1. Competition is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on both days and run until 7 p.m. on Friday and until 5 p.m. on Saturday. The event will use both of the school’s gyms.
More than 40 high school teams from around the state are scheduled to compete in the sport-like game in which robots are required to throw 25-inch exercise balls over obstacles and into goals, said Joseph Minnick, adviser to Southfield High’s Technojays robotics team.
“It’s a great chance for Southfield to have some fun with robots,” said senior Jalen Smith, who is a member of the Technojays team.
Fellow teammate Rob Burnette said, “We should have hosted it every year.”
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) started this annual robotics competition in 1992 with 28 teams and now there are more than 2,700 teams in 92 cities around the globe, according to a press release sent out by Minnick.
The Southfield High Technojays have been competing since 1999.
Each year a new game is unveiled in January and teams have six weeks to build their robot for competition.
This year Southfield High’s robot is controlled by an Xbox controller, said junior Technojay team member Makene Culpepper.
Admission to the competition is free.
Joelle Jamerson • Feb 24, 2014 at 2:52 pm
I find it very exciting that we are hosting our first robotics competition. I feel as is the students truthfully earned this by dedicating themselves completely to building their robot. I find it brilliant that students my age are doing big things like this.