Like so many electives, the content for Proctor's new robotics course arose from faculty and student interest. Josh Norris ‘91, a former engineer, brought his love of building, machines and problem solving to this course and has engaged fifteen students in a year-long problem solving endeavor. For robotics students, the goal of the course extends well beyond the walls of the classroom to a January 12th First Tech Challenge Robotics qualifying competition.



The challenge? Build a robot that is able to drive autonomously, pick up a series of blocks and place them in specific areas, and then complete a series of other tasks. For a complete description of the competition, visit this link, or watch the embedded video below:



Students are working in teams to create different parts of the robot. Zack, Adam and Nathaniel are designing an extending arm that will allow the robot to complete one of its tasks (to do a ‘pull-up’ lifting the entire robot off the ground).



Jake and Sam are charged with the incredibly complex task of overall design and figuring out how all the pieces will come together to make a robot that fits in the eighteen inch box required by competition rules. Vincent (below) is working on programming.



When I visited class on Thursday, some groups were making tremendous progress on their design, while others were visibly frustrated with challenges they had run into. The ideas they had spent the last week designing were not working out and they were instructed to brainstorm a different way to attack the problem, as evidenced in the video below: 



And therein lies the beauty of this course. Robotics is one big problem solving exercise. Just like life, there are times when things do not go according to plans. Designs prove ineffective, pieces break, and programming for the robot goes ary. These are lessons students will repeatedly learn in this class that relate directly to their life outside of the classroom.

While we hope all of our classes offer opportunities to teach life lessons, robotics does so on a daily basis. Students learn quickly that while each team is working independently to solve their piece of the robot puzzle, they must keep in mind the collective goals of the group as well. There is not an option to ‘give up’, or to do 'good enough' work; you will be letting down not only your small group, but the entire class. As in every job students will have in their lives, they will not be working in isolation. They will be responsible to someone other than themselves, and understanding the impact his or her work has on others is critical to becoming a responsible, engaged citizen of the world.

The robotics class is also in the process of raising additional money for competition fees. To learn how to support this class' project, click here!