MHS’ two advanced Robotics classes have been hard at work. They’ve been building complex robots for a game they call Pushback. It’s organized by VEX Robotics, the top robotics company for high schools across the country.
“Pushback is very different,” says Robotics teacher Curt Kornhaus. “It’s very high-scoring, it’s more focused on defense and trying to get the other team to not score points.” The game focuses around trying to get blocks into long goals, but has many more options than just that.
“It’s a lot different from my junior robotics,” Kornhaus said. “I can’t help these guys as far as actually building. I can only provide ideas or guidance.” The VEX Robotics rulebook states that teachers cannot physically interfere with the student’s robot.
Competitions take place state wide, starting in January, but Kornhaus has a special tradition of his he likes to keep alive. An inter-class competition. Since neither of his classes are big enough to play a game on their own, it’s a tradition he’s been forced to keep.
“Because my class sizes are small enough,” said Kornhaus. “You can’t really have one class by itself.” Both of his classes lack the requirement for a full match, which is 4 robots. “If you wanna make mistakes, you better make them here and not at a tournament.”
The two classes seem to be equally excited for this. Months of hard work culminated into a competition. But there’s no pressure. It’s simply to see where everyone is at. Nothing is at stake, except bragging rights.
“We’re a very hardworking team,” says Thomas Jones, a student. “We are developing every day, and I like what we’ve built.” Jones expressed how hard every team has worked, not just his.
One team in particular has been experimenting with pneumatics, using air to power parts of the robot. Carter Hundley’s team were first introduced to it by Kornhaus. They say it has led to greater success within the game itself.
“We got this little air tube thing,” says student Carter Hundley. “It pushes the ball up. I think we’re on the path to victory with it.”
Plenty of other teams have implemented unique designs. But not without failures. “My students seem to be good learners,” said Kornhaus. “They make lots of mistakes. But that’s normal. I’ve seen just as many mistakes in my classroom as I have brilliantly unique ideas. I encourage both.”
The students have not only been building robots, but upkeeping rigorous journals for their robot. This improves the students’ effectiveness to communicate engineeringly.
Kornhaus encourages MHS students to give robotics a try, even if they aren’t interested in engineering. “Give it a try, it’s not gonna hurt you. You’ll learn things that’ll benefit you later in life.”
The tournament will happen November 7.
