Brett Wilker and students from the Decorah High School Robotics Club preparing to demonstrate their robots against the Rover Ruckus scenario
 
The DRC was thrilled to host students from the Decorah High School (DHS) Robotics Club, along with their faculty sponsor Brett Wilker, at our regular meeting on April 23rd. Each of the students spoke in turn about the design, construction, and operation of their robots followed by a live demonstration that recreated the scenario challenge from this year's FIRST Tech Challenge competition. Teams comprising students from 7th – 12th grade are given an obstacle course scenario and, based on that scenario, the teams design, build and program robots to compete with teams from other schools. This year’s scenario is Rover Ruckus, which takes its inspiration from the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. The playing field includes two fake moon craters, moon “minerals” and a moon lander, and the teams are able to score points through the completion of a variety of tasks. The DHS teams have been extremely successful this year, having qualified for the Super Qualifier Event in Sioux City.
 
Feel free to check out additional photos using this link: Decorah High School Robotics Club Demo
Photo credits: Gary Mineart, Paul Scott
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