Approximately 12 Jenkins High School students have spent the last six weeks constructing a robot out of donated aluminum, wheels, piping and more for the annual FIRST Robotic Competition to be held next month in Atlanta.
FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a non-profit that was founded in 1989 to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology, according to its website, usfirst.org. This year is the second year Jenkins High has participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition, and is the only county school to participate, said Tom Maty, Jenkins Robotic Team and Jenkins High Engineering Instructor.
Teams were assigned a game that their robot must be designed and constructed to compete in. This year’s game is called Aerial Assist, which requires the robots to shoot a workout medicine ball through holes on the field of play. Teams had six weeks to build the robot before shipping it off. Competition for area teams will be held March 27-29 in Atlanta.
To learn more about the Jenkins Robotic Team, visit their website at http://hvjrobotics.org/.