Thursday, May 4, 2017

BATTLE ROBOTS IN THE MAKING AT WASHINGTONVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL

By JOHN POVEROMO

JOHN POVEROMO FOR THE WIZARD WEEKLY
A club that takes place at Washingtonville Middle School that often flies under the radar is Mr. Hartford’s “Tech Tuesday”.  Tech Tuesday is a club that was started by middle school technology teacher Mr.Hartford consisting of 76 students with a love for all things technology and building things.  The club became so popular that it actually needed to be broken up into two smaller, more manageable groups.  

When asked why the club was started, Mr.Hartford stated, “It was started because we had very mechanically inclined kids who would always finish their projects early, so I’d give them bigger projects to work on.  This club gives them a better opportunity to work with these things because if they don't get to work with them, they wouldn't know if they wanted to do it in life.”  This is an exceptional club for students to get involved with to see if they have a love for technology and whether for not they want to pursue it later on in life.

This past Tuesday, one group of students got together and continued to work on their battle robots, one of the most fun and exciting projects the students get to create.  When the battle robots are finished, students are finally able to battle them. The battle will consist of a six against six rugby style of play to see who can score the most goals.

The students make their battle robots out of extra parts they have, old parts they find, or even donated parts that anyone in the community can give to them. Having only a scale model with some wheels on it, the students need to be able to add more wheels, a way for it to steer, and even parts to make it electric, such as batteries and full wiring so that it can move around.  The students are also able to work with much more complex tools, like power tools and a welder. 

When asked why he participates, Charlie, who is in the sixth grade at WMS, responded, “I really like to tinker with things.  I like to take things apart and put them back together. I am also really into robotics.” He is clearly an extremely enthusiastic kid who is very into the club and his project. 

As of right now, the battles are happening within the middle school club, but Mr. Hartford has been in contact with other nearby schools who have sparked an interest in competing against them.  They are even trying to start up a Battle Robot League.  The best of luck to these students.  Hopefully they will obtain the opportunity to show off their talent all around the county. 



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