In their robotics team’s first year, Hackett Elementary students advanced to a state competition this month.
The fourth- and fifth-graders competed in the LEGO First competition at the University of Arkansas against fourth- through eighth-graders where they had to make their robot complete missions by coding it to perform certain tasks.
Students Matthew Garner, Tywon Jones, Evan Gordon, Christopher Elkins, Ashlyn McClure, Steven Thornburg and Makenzie Freeman make up the school’s first robotics team, and they all have assigned jobs — researchers, coders and builders.
“We make the robot move in rotations but whenever we're turning, we do it in degrees,” Elkins, a coder, said.
Coach Michelle Lasiter said, “It's different blocks that they snap together on the computer that bluetooths it to the robot, but they actually have to tell it how many rotations they want it to go forward, how many degrees they want it to turn. Positive numbers make it lift one way, negative numbers make it go a different way, so there's a lot of math involved.”
Lasiter said the school’s principal approached her about starting a robotics team. She then sought guidance from the Waldron schools, which already had a robotics team. Gail Pelham teaches math and science and is one of the coaches. She said the team is like any other sport. The students practice for hours after school a few days a week. Coach Judy Velosky’s husband works for Gerdau as a systems business analyst and writes code and software. He volunteered to come help out with the team once a week, she said.
“We started with fourth- and fifth-grade because the fourth- and fifth-graders this year did a STEM/robotics competition in third- and fourth-grade last year,” Pelham said. “So they had an idea of about how this robotics that we competed in worked, so that was a good foundation for us to start with.”
Robotics combines all the elements of STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — and the students use what they learn in class, Laister said.
Gordon said he’s learned about teamwork since joining the robotics team and about how much knowledge is needed.
“I wanted to join because I wanted something new — a new challenge for me — because I would have class and I wanted activity like the robotics,” Gordon said. “And whenever I was told I was going to be in, I was happy. I was like, ‘yes, finally something new.’”