Robotics Competition Entices Tech-Inclined Students

Robots specially built at Hamden Hall “pitched in” to help showcase students’ mechanical, engineering, and tech skills during competitions at the recent VEX IQ Robotics Tournament.

On February 12, five Grade 6 students and 13 Middle School students traveled to Madison’s Polson Middle School with team advisors Lower School science teacher Steve Jewett and Middle School science teacher Ian MacDonald. The two teams competed in matches against 35 other schools from across the state. This year’s tournament challenge was called “pitching in,” in which teams used their robots on a 6x8 rectangular field to move golf-sized balls into a bucket to score points.

“I am proud of our students for the hard work they put in over the last two months,” commented Mr. MacDonald. “Throughout the competition, they worked together to make adjustments to the robots and practiced driving in between matches. I am fortunate to be able to work with them as a coach.”

Prior to the tournament, each team was given a competition test kit full of electronic parts such as a controller, motor, cables, and chargers. Programming software materials were also included. With their respected advisor, students spent time after school using the kit to research, design, construct, and program their machines. The Lower School team met on Mondays with Mr. Jewett and Middle School students met with Mr. MacDonald twice a week for their practices.

During practices, students assigned themselves certain roles given their skill set. One student was chosen as the artistic designer of the robot as another was appointed the tech programmer or machine driver for the competition. Beginning practices were focused on understanding robotics and its STEM components. Ensuing practices were dedicated to using science and engineering principles to create the robots. Students were able to tinker with the robots and make modifications before using the final two weeks to test the robots against each other. 

On competition day, the teams competed in separate matches, one for Lower School and one for Middle School. Each team and their robots battled hard against other schools. While our teams didn’t qualify for the state championship following the final round of matches, students nonetheless garnered a wealth of experience.

“The challenge wasn’t strictly about competition, but working together as a team to reach the end goal,” noted Mr. Jewett. “They really supported each other throughout each stage and slowly you can see the confidence building. This was a really cool experience for all students involved.”

Both Mr. Jewett and Mr. MacDonald said they hope to see an increase in student interest and growth within Hamden Hall’s Robotics teams.

The VEX Robotics Tournament is a head-to-head style competition with a team-based structure where two teams work as an alliance against two other teams to win the challenge game. According to the website, the competition provides “elementary and middle school students with exciting, open-ended robotics and research project challenges that enhance their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills through hands-on, student-centered learning.”