TINTON FALLS – The Ranney Middle and Upper School Robotics Clubs traveled to North Brunswick High School for the 2014-2015 Kick-Off event of the New Jersey VEX Robotics season.
Thirty-two Ranney students – the highest number to attend a robotics event in the club’s history – were accompanied by robotics club advisor Chiara Shah, Middle School Dean of Students David Ketcham, engineering mentor Ray Moser and parent chaperone Lori Johnson.
Students in grades 8-12 brought 11 VEX robots to North Brunswick to participate in a scrimmage, workshop and skills challenges during the season-opening event.
Students were able to see the progress of other robots from other teams in the state, learn about the rules of the upcoming season, test drive their robot on a field, and spend time building, fixing and programming their robots.
“This event was a teaser for the real season, which begins on Sunday, Nov. 23 at Rowan University,” Shah said. “After months of building, students are madly finalizing their designs and excited to attend their first competition.”
In addition to the scrimmage for the older students, North Brunswick hosted a VEX IQ competition for elementary and middle school students, ages 8-14.
VEX IQ is a robotics system similar to the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® system. This year’s competition challenge is to move 3-inch cubes from one side to the other of a 4-by-8 foot field. As a bonus, cubes that are stacked in towers earn additional points.
While Ranney has been competing in VEX Robotics competitions for several years, the school has never competed in VEX IQ competitions. Ranney sixth- and seventh-grade middle-schoolers brought five robots to the competition, which they had begun building just four weeks prior.
“I am proud of these students for all their hard work,” Shah said. “To get ready for this event, they have been staying after school several days per week.”
VEX IQ robots are typically driven by teams of two students. When a few students could not make the competition at the last minute, three eighth-graders – Alex Klatsky, Ananya Pandey and Rohan Sharma – graciously stepped in as replacements.
When he learned that a team from another school was missing a driver, student Sathya Edamadaka volunteered to step in for the day as a replacement as well. Helping other schools and other teams is a core value that the event sponsor – the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (REC) – hopes to foster with these competitions.
In VEX IQ competitions, the top 10 teams after the qualifying rounds move on to compete in a final round. The next VEX IQ competition in New Jersey is Nov. 22 at South Orange Middle School. Ranney School will be hosting an event Dec. 6 and Jan. 17 as well on its campus.
