Robotics team in PBS documentary
October 27, 2009
Wentzville School District
Wentzville’s award-winning robotics team, made up of students from Timberland and Holt High Schools, is being featured in a national documentary called Gearing Up on PBS.
A premiere event is planned for November 2 at the St. Charles Convention Center, beginning at 6 p.m. and is open to the public. The event will include robotic demonstrations and a viewing of the documentary which follows four teams from across the country, including Wentzville’s “Ratchet Rockers,” as they compete in the 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition. The Ratchet Rockers earned the chance to compete in the national competition in 2009 after winning first place in the regional event held in St. Louis last March. The broadcast premiere will air locally on KETC/Channel 9 on November 16 at 8 p.m.
The documentary chronicles the behind-the-scenes drama and excitement of the FIRST Robotics competition, and in 2008 more than 37,500 students in 48 states participated. Gearing Up focuses on four very different teams from all over the country: Miss Daisy, a seasoned team from Ambler, Pennsylvania; RoboDoves, a small all-girl rookie team from Baltimore; Rambotics, a team of teenaged felons incarcerated at the Ridge View Correctional Facility for boys in Watkins, Colorado; and Wentzville’s very own Ratchet Rockers.
Each team raises money for a robot kit, issued by FIRST Robotics, and each kit has identical parts, but no instructions. The idea is for each team to create a unique robot capable of performing the same, predetermined challenge, and after that, the game is on!
The robots are remotely operated, and the 2008 competition required them to zip around a small track maneuvering 40-inch, 10-pound balls that had to be lifted off, over, and onto an elevated bridge. They also get a taste of the real world as they struggle for a competitive edge with no money, no time and no resources. Through round after round, the teams contend with broken wheels, welds, and electronics; illegal bumpers; stripped gears; reckless navigating and robots that simply fall over.
“This whole experience has really changed my life,” says Katelyn Burns, a member of the Ratchet Rockers. “I am seriously considering going into engineering and I would have [previously] thought that was the total geek thing to do…But you know what? I actually think it would be extremely fun.”
Russell Burchill, adult coach for the Rambotics, says, “We walked away and thought to ourselves, this is probably the most powerful thing we had ever seen, as a group of teachers.”
The annual competition enjoys support from FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), as well as from the STEM project, a national initiative supporting science, technology, engineering, and math education.
From the Wentzville School District
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