ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Robots took over Abilene Independent School District’s (AISD) ATEMS High School Saturday, when students across the state competed in “The Battle in the Big Country – Tipping Point,” the regional qualifying robotics tournament.
More than two dozen robotics teams around the Big Country, including five of Abilene’s ATEMS Phoenix teams, participated in the VEX robotics tournament here at The Lift.
Among those competing, was senior Aidan Boisvert, who’s been involved with robotics since he was a freshman.
“We did BEST Robotics back then, and I was actually marketing. I didn’t build the robot and didn’t program anything,” said Boisvert.
But come sophomore year, Boisvert said he worked his way up to team leader on a VEX team, and fell in love with the challenge.
“I mean I don’t know I just started doing it. It’s fun, it’s like a passion now and I think my friends will agree with me on that,” said Boisvert.
Instructor and coach, Allison Stanley, told KTAB/KRBC that students often spend their summer break brainstorming ideas. From August until the first week of March, that time is spent working on their robots.
“They come in every week, three days after school. They’ll spend their lunchtime in the robotics lab. I mean, these kids are dedicated and they want to see success,” Stanley boasted about her students.
With two robots per team, the game consisted of “platforms & goals,” with rings scattered across the field.
After 30 seconds of automated movement from the robots, teams get time to manually operate them, competing to have the most goals in their area to earn points.
“The game, through all, that gets more and more complex, depending on the skill levels of the drivers and complexity of the robots,” said Stanley.
Despite the obstacles the students may face, they all work together- keeping their eyes on the prize to make it to the world championships in Dallas, coming up in May.
“I want them to be able to say that they did this because they’re the future here. I’m leaving. I’ve had my share of fun, so I want them to take over for the future,” said Boisvert.
The robotics event wrapped up Saturday, and so far, Allison Stanley reported that one ATEMS robotic team has already qualified for regionals in March.
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