As a freshman just starting out at Thornton Fractional South High School last fall, Rigoberto Gutierrez wasn’t really feeling it and was falling behind on his studies. That is, until he found something that piqued his interest.
That turned out to be building a robot.
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He joined several freshmen and sophomores on the Lansing school’s newly formed robotics team, which already is making waves by placing among the top finishers at a recent regional competition.
After finishing in last place in their initial try at the FIRST Tech Challenge, the team later placed third in competition on Dec. 9.
Back from winter break the students now are working hard on their robot in an effort to improve even more in upcoming competitions.
The team meets after school every day from 3:30 to 7 or 8 p.m. trying to figure out ways to make their robot perform better.
Rigoberto said he now has something to look forward to at the end of the school day other than just getting out of class.
“It’s fun and entertaining for me,” Rigoberto said.
The club was started last school year under biology teacher and robotics coach Matt Jancich.
More of a science club at that time, Jancich said he was trying to find a way to garner more student interest and discovered many of them found robotics very cool.
But the equipment needed to build robots also is very expensive.
The club was awarded a $2,000 grant this year from the 21st Century Community Learning Center to buy the robotics kits needed to start competing.
The kits come with all the metal pieces, wires and circuit boards necessary to build a robot. But no instructions are included, of course, and students must figure out the best way to build a robot that could win at competitions.
“It’s a lot harder than it seems,” Jancich said.
For example, some metal has to be cut to form.
During a January meeting, Rigoberto and the club’s president, sophomore Jacob Hollomon, were trying to figure out the best way to build the arms of the robot, which will grab boxes during the competition.
Jancich urged students to create an inexpensive model before committing to altering their limited resources.
“Build me something out of Popsicle sticks and show me how this works before we cut the expensive metal,” he told them.
While Rigoberto and Jacob were working on the mechanical aspect of the robot sophomore Mikala Peden was working on coding and programming the robot.
“The goal is to make the robot better and to win and learn from mistakes,” she said.
Jancich said the first part of the First Tech Challenge involves the robot being programmed to complete a task before club members take over via remote control.
But Mikala said she has to be careful in her programming because she doesn’t want to permanently break something on the robot.
“It turns out the hardest thing to do is to get the robot to move in a straight line,” Jacob said.
While still in its infancy Jancich hopes current club members, which also includes sophomore Tia Nicholson-Bourn, stay involved and become better at their craft while attracting new members.
It will take more than enthusiasm to keep the club going, Jancich said, as funding for robot parts always will be needed.
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He took the students to a networking event in January at Prairie State College to learn about and apply for new grant money.
Jancich even bought the students lunch out of his own pocket because he knows having them be advocates is what it’s going to take to establish the school as a real contender in robotics competitions.
But its an effort both teacher and students hope will pay off in short term fun and long-term experience.
While the other members haven’t committed to career path after high school and college, Jacob said he already knows he wants to be a mechanical engineer and working on robots in high school is giving him a great head start.
Frank Vaisvilas is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.