By Matt de Simone
Some local Botetourt County high school students take engineering to the next level. The Botetourt County 4-H Robotics Team 3939 is comprised of a bright group of young engineers who spend their time most days after school tinkering in the shop at James River High School, preparing for robotics competitions.
The team spent a couple of weekends competing in Northern Virginia this month. Team 3939 competed on March 6 in Richmond at the FIRST Chesapeake Greater DC Robotics Competition. The team tweaked their robot beginning in January to meet the competition’s challenges. Each season, the team receives a task their robot must perform. For this year’s event, the team’s robot must pick up varying sizes of balls and shoot them into a tower.
The teams are placed into “alliances” of three at the beginning of the competition. The teams work to see which alliance (consisting of three robots) can score the most points in “3 vs. 3” matchups that run throughout the day. The teams are ranked and compete to stay at the top of the rankings by the tournament’s end.
“Some years have been easier than the next,” seven-year Team 3939 member and James River senior Nathan Etzler said in a recent interview. “Each year, the challenge changes. Last year, we had to (engineer our robot to) shoot a wiffleball into a hole. It was a lot easier than (engineering it for) lobbing a large ball.”
Six students from James River– seniors Etzler and Will Johnson, juniors Ryan Aaron and Tim Wilson, sophomores Ethan Spickard, Silas Miller, and J.J. Halsted– and one from Lord Botetourt High School, junior Tucker Hensley, make up this year’s team.
Ralph Hayslett and Larry Etzler serve as 4-H mentors for the team. They assist the team in the build and the robot’s operations. 4-H mentors are more than advisors; they are role models, educators, life coaches, and friends to the 4-H youth in their communities. Every 4-H project and program involves the youth collaborating with caring adult mentors where kids are encouraged to explore their interests and receive constructive, positive support.
“We mainly deal with working on any part of the robot, helping the kids, and guiding them,” Hayslett stated during the interview with the team.
It took the team several weeks to build their robot based on parts orders and metals from a sponsor who works for Precision Steel. There are several aspects to the build. Some of the things the team prepares are housing, circuitry, and the overall function of their machine. A joystick “drives” their mechanism. The robot for this year’s competition has a forward drive, but the team engineered all four wheels to rotate 360 degrees allowing it to move in all directions.
The team utilizes a 3-D printer to manufacture Mecanum wheels used for their directional intake “arm” that grabs the large tennis balls (the size of a standard “dodgeball”) to lob into the funnel/ hoop.” They manufacture several of these wheels used for the competition and as spare parts if needed by the team or another team in the competition who may need them.
The students spend hours designing and constructing their robots. Additionally, their supportive parents spend time preparing meals for the students as they prepare for their competitions. It’s a collective effort that brings the team closer as a family of bright, driven student engineers.
Some team members started with Lego Robotics or “Lego League,” which introduces science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16 through fun, exciting hands-on learning. Participants in Lego League gain real-world problem-solving experience through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. Those students’ experiences in Lego League helped train them for competitions with the 150-pound robots they now engineer and operate.
Another critical aspect of the 4-H Robotics Team is passing on their knowledge. The senior members of the team teach the first- and second-year students various elements to prepare the younger members to do the same in the years to come. Comparatively, the Botetourt 4-H Robotics Teams are much smaller in number (eight members) than most other teams they compete against, making their efforts all the more impressive.
4-H has a long history of supporting robotics programs through 4-H clubs, after-school programs, camps, and curriculum. Through robotics, 4-H’ers learn teamwork, problem-solving, critical thinking, engineering, and design.
Team 3939 returned to Richmond last weekend for another competition. The team placed 7th overall in their latest contest at the FIRST Chesapeake Greater DC Robotics Competition #2 in Richmond.
For more information about FIRST Chesapeake, visit firstchesapeake.org. To learn more about 4-H Robotics, visit team3939.com.
