ALHS Robotics Team

The Avon Lake Robotics Team has only been around for the past year, yet they are reaching boundaries that were unfathomable when the group started. The group started with a long list of names of those interested in joining the team, 37 males, and 3 females. While the group showed immense promise with such large numbers, many left the group. Most of the teams had a sad run at the first competition. Little did the members of Avon Lake Robotics know, that two of their teams would end up qualifying for States, and one would come close to Worlds. While there were many challenges along the way in the 2018-19 season, several teams made it to the quarter-finals, and an Avon Lake Team won an award that qualified them for State’s. This year, however, Avon Lake Robotics is coming back in full-throttle. Last weekend, Avon Lake Robotics had its' first competition where one team got third place, one got sixth place, and one got ninth place. One team from Avon Lake (44012D), won the Judges Award. This team was awarded for great team-work and a mix of other things that made the judges pick this team for this prestigious award. Avon Lake Robotics is feeling faithful for the future of its teams and is excited for the many competitions to come.

History and Background

Last year, Avon Lake High School officially kicked off their robotics program with the support of the formal principle, and the robotics teacher, Mr. Svec. In Robotics Club, students build robots and participate in VEX events, and have a lot of fun and friendly rivalry along the way. Each year, there is a different specific task to complete. This year, the task is putting colored blocks into towers and building stacks of colored blocks. Each team is partnered with another to form an “alliance”. Generally, alliances meet before the matches to make a plan of action for the match to guarantee that their robots are prepared to work together.

How the matches goes down:

1. Students are called up to the queuing table based off of the schedule given at the beginning of the tournament.
2. Each team goes up to their designated arena and readies their robot. The team waits for the judge to make sure that everyone is ready.
3. The referee counts down… 3, 2, 1.
4. The robots start its’ autonomous period. This is an unmanned period where the robot goes around for fifteen seconds based off of the code and scores for the team.
5. The team now participates in a driver-controlled period, where the team works with their “alliance” partner in order to score as many points as possible.
6. The judges count up all of the points and the winner of the match is announced.

Where we ALHS Robotics is competing:
While Robotics isn’t a group that stereotypically would have a section of people cheering them on, it is nice to see friendly faces at competitions and feel that people are supportive of the team.

Here are the competitions coming in the near future:

Brecksville-11/9/19
Elyria-11/19/19
Brookside-12/7/19
Elyria-12/12/19
Elyria-1/10/20
*For specific times check 44012D’s Twitter @44012d

If anyone has an interest in being a sponsor for the Avon Lake Robotics Team, please contact kaylandmorris@gmail.com. Follow the journey on Twitter @ALHSRobtics.

The author, Kayland M., is a student at ALHS, a member of the Robotics Team, and a Robotics Team Officer.