Climbing to the top: Middle school students compete at robotics event at Bedford High

Jay Hathaway
·2 min read
Middle school students from across Michigan recently competed in a robotics event held at Bedford High School.
Middle school students from across Michigan recently competed in a robotics event held at Bedford High School.

Middle school students from all over Michigan recently gathered at a local high school for a robotics competition that determined who will move on to state championships.

Bedford High School hosted a First Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics competition qualifier event on Nov. 19. A total of 36 teams participated, including nine teams from Monroe County – five from Temperance, two from Milan, one from Monroe, and one from Petersburg.

In the end, seven teams qualified to move on to the state championships at Macomb Community College in Warren on Dec. 8-10. Of the seven, two are representing Monroe County, both from Bedford: Turning Gears and Bionic Broncos. One notable team to make the state finals is TorqueNados from Trenton, Mich., who made the cut in their first year of competition.

Middle school students from across Michigan recently competed in a robotics event held at Bedford High School.
Middle school students from across Michigan recently competed in a robotics event held at Bedford High School.

For FTC competitions, scoring may seem a bit complex to the uninitiated. There are two “alliances” – “Red” and “Blue” – made up of two robots each. Sixty cones – 30 red and 30 blue – are set up on a 12-foot by 12-foot competition field to serve as alliance-specific scoring elements.

Robots must traverse around the field to access cones located against the front or back field wall. Cones may also be placed by human players into the substation for robots to access and score on the junctions. Cones are placed on ground, low, medium, and high junctions to score various numbers of points based on the height of the junction.

The robots, which measure 18 inches by 18 inches by 18 inches, are built by the students from standard kits, with guidance from team coaches and mentors. Students program the robots, which run on an Android-based operating system.

Middle school students from across Michigan recently competed in a robotics event held at Bedford High School.
Middle school students from across Michigan recently competed in a robotics event held at Bedford High School.

Renee Rymanowicz, who coaches two local robotics teams and served as the event coordinator for the Bedford FTC meet, said that one of her favorite aspects of these competitions is the professionalism and respect shown by participants, coaches and mentors.

“’Gracious Professionalism’ is a term in the FIRST robotics world that means a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community,” she said. “Everyone learns and competes like crazy, but (they) treat one another with respect and kindness in the process.”

As for what the kids enjoy most, Rymanowicz said that the appeal is wide-ranging.

“I think the kids enjoy all aspects of robotics, from getting excited to learn what the challenge each season is to brainstorming and building the robot to compete,” Rymanowicz said. “Then, (they like) the competitions to see their hard work in action.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Middle school students compete at robotics event at Bedford High