“He’s really the heart and soul of the team,” said Routsen of junior Ryan Woodard. Woodard has been a member of robotics teams for five years, and through robotics he has sharpened his skills as a mechanical engineer.
The robotics team, officially known as the Thundercats competed in three stages, or degrees, of competition throughout the week of Spring Break. Level one was hosted at Mishawaka, level two at Plainfield, and level three at West Lafayette. The purpose of this years robot was to move through obstacles and shoot cubes into different areas on the field.
Robotics is different from many clubs at JHS. The club provides students with the ability to develop interest in engineering and learn technical skills. “Stick with it,” advised senior Carson Vaal to incoming members, “as you learn more it becomes easier and more fun.”
FIRST is an organization created in 1989 by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the segway, to“hone teamwork skills, and in a six-week timeframe, build and program a robot from a standard kit of part to perform prescribed tasks against other competitors on a 27’ x 54’ field,” as described by the FIRST website. Jasper High School’s robotics team participates in FIRST Robotics Competition, one of the four categories in the FIRST organization. For more information on FIRST programs visit https://www.firstinspires.org/.
