Preview: Robots take over at Salt River High School tournament

Preview: Robots take over at Salt River High School tournament
Posted on 01/09/2017
A student in the SRHS robotics class manipulates a machineRoughly 80 students representing some 30 schools will descend upon Salt River High School Saturday for the Vex IQ Robotics Tournament.

“I’m excited because it’s fun to work as a team and compete,” said seventh-grader Ty Brugier, one of six SRHS students heading into this weekend’s tournament. SRHS will be represented by two teams of three junior high students. “The coolest thing is driving the robot.”

The teams will face two challenges, with the overall goal of scoring the most points on a 4’x8’ rectangular field with robots snapped together using an intuitive, toolless system, said Nathan Remington, who coaches the SRHS robotics team.

Points for each challenge are made by robots placing “hexballs” into the team’s various scoring areas, as well as technical know-how for parking and balancing robots.

“The students are hoping to win the event in either the teamwork challenge category or the skills category,” said Remington, who teaches the SRHS robotics class and seventh grade math. “The teamwork category is the main event in which our team is randomly paired with other teams and they compete to score as many points as possible. In the skills challenge our team is competing solo to score as many points as possible.”

A win in either category would take SRHS to the state tournament in March, where the team lost by small margin last year. “We hope to go this year and win, which would allow us to compete in the world championship in Kentucky against teams from all over the world,” Remington said.

The school offers junior high and high school students a class in robotics; SRHS has been competing in robotics tournaments the last several years. At a tournament last fall, the junior high team earned a special judge’s award, despite not winning the event.

“This tournament is much larger than most of us realize, as it truly is a national competition. Knowing that, it is impressive that our students are typically competing with students much older and yet they continue to be very successful,” said SRHS Principal Jon Gentile. “This tournament is yet another avenue that allows SRHS students to demonstrate an array of talents and I look forward to the growth of the program.”  

VEX IQ Robotics Tournament
Where: Salt River High School, 4827 N. Country Club Dr. Scottsdale, Arizona 85256
When: Saturday, January 21
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Teams begin arriving at SRHS at 7 a.m.; the competition begins at 8:30 a.m.)
Contact: Nathan Remington, (480) 362-2014

CLICK HERE for more information about VEX IQ robot competitions. 

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For more information:
Taté Walker
Communications and Public Relations Director
Salt River Schools
Office: (480) 362-2570
Cell: (480) 692-8159
[email protected]
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