Bobcaygeon Robotics Club

We are back!!! After far too long, we have resumed. Wednesday after school for 1.5 hours (pickup 5pm).

We are shifting gears now from precision and planned sequences to strategic offensive and defensive operation that is very exciting and chock full of learning experiences.

BATTLE BOTS!

We will compete in a board competition at Halliburton High sometime in May with many other schools using an 8 bot playing field. The object is to gain the most points by lasting the longest (without being pushed off the field or being disabled) and by pushing other bots off the field. Teams of 3-4 can design their bot to be offensive, defensive or hybrid.

This requires knowledge of gearing ratios (Power vs. Speed), ultrasonic sensor use to detect other bots near them, gyroscope readings to detect if their bot is being tipped over or pushed in a direction other than what they want, rotation sensors to sense stalled wheel rotation and touch sensors to know when they have made contact!

Strategic and Tactical Planning
Our kids must understand and analyze what could happen in the ring and then plan overall strategy for coming out on top. Then create tactical maneuvers to carry out that strategy.

Programming
We will take programming to a new level this term, by running multi-threaded processes to monitor various sensors and react accordingly. Those processes will interact based on strategy - for example, one process may be carrying out a push attack on a bot, but if the edge sensor process sees we are going to be pushed off the edge, it seizes control of the processor and takes evasive moves to stop that from happening - since that is a catastrophic event (once pushed off, you are eliminated).

As you can see, the kids will learn so very much and it’s fun. We have built a playing surface at the school so we will have matches every meeting to see what they have accomplished and feel proud of their learning put into action!

If your child as not attended yet, not to worry. We are just getting started and they are more than welcome to start this coming Wednesday!

Dave Bowland
Parent Mentor

P.s. I want to thank those community members who donated to the club last year to purchase computers. They are being put to very good use! And to the Principal for providing an extra kit for us to have 3 teams this year with quality supplies!

Looks like our teams scored very close to the playoffs at 9th and 10th place out of 18. 5 points off! Great showing for a first year group. We are all so proud of them!!!! More pictures to come.

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am heading to Markham for their first tournament of the year! Wish them well!

This kids are ready for the big tournament tomorrow!!!