Half the trophies at the recent Pacific Northwest VEX Championship robotics competition came home with students from Sky Valley Education Center (SVEC, 351 Short Columbia St.). Out of 30-plus teams that competed at the event, held at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, half of Sky Valley's six teams made it to the semi-finals. Two of them battled each other for first and second place.
Sky Valley Director Karen Rosencrans was proud of their success at the competition and the three additional awards they won. She noted that this level of success has been a longtime effort. "We've had a robotics program for as long as we've been here ' 18 years,GÇ¥ she said.
At SVEC, students start with simple machines and Duplo blocks in kindergarten, and they have competition-level robotics starting in the fourth grade. In high school, students work with VEX robots, including machining their own parts and programming in the C+ programming language.
Nona Goodwin, one of the two robotics teachers, said they had really hardworking students this year. "This group is just amazing GÇô I'm really proud and impressed and wasn't expecting them to win,GÇ¥ she said.
The students spent months turning their basic robots into models that can solve this year's specific challenge, which was to lift plastic cubes onto different-leveled goal posts.
"It was a large, awkward object compared to things we've done beforeGÇ¥ Goodwin said. "Usually, a robot will be able to do some of the challenge but not all of it. Our robots performed all elements of the challenge.GÇ¥
At the beginning of the school year, the students learn virtually in a 3D program, then use step-by-step instructions to build their first robot. Goodwin explained it's similar to an old-school Erector set, with gears, wires and circuit boards. Under the tutelage of teacher assistant Alexandra Ash, the teams modify the basic robot by programming motors and sensors. Ash is also invaluable to the teams in organizing the competition code into the required tournament format.
"This year, there were an awful lot of gears,GÇ¥ Goodwin said. "We had to learn about gearing down to increase their torque to be able to lift those objects GÇô again, these were a lot heavier than in past years.GÇ¥
Goodwin was extremely impressed with how well the students collaborated. "This group has done really well working together and supporting one another, even kids not on the same team,GÇ¥ she said.
The robotics classes work hard each year to prepare their robots for the competitions, of course, but also for SVEC's science and art fairs, as part of their outreach to younger students. "Kids just love it,GÇ¥ Goodwin said. "We have to practically push them out the door when it's over.GÇ¥
Now that Goodwin has a nationally competitive team, she's planning on raising funds so the students can attend nationals when they get the chance. "A lot of these kids are going to continue next year, and I expect they'll do even better,GÇ¥ she said
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