The Thunder Bolt

Have you ever wanted to build a robot? At Concordia - you can!

Concordia has launched our first high school Robotics class, teaching students every facet of the robotics process, from design to logistics, building, coding, and operations. The ultimate aim of the program is to teach kids to apply robotics to solving real-world problems.

Students work in teams comprised of four roles: Builders, who assemble the robots; Designers, who use CAD, (computer-assisted drawing), to design the robots; Coders, who actually program the robots using Vex Block and Vex Text, which follows the C++ programming language; and Documenters, who keep track of parts and logistics. Each team builds a functioning robot that is programmed and controlled to perform tasks, from moving along a track to stacking blocks.

The teams are now building tracks for their robots, which they first draw on paper and then map out on the floor. Once the track is built, complete with turns and curves, they will first drive the robot using a joystick control. Teams will also try and move their robots through other teams’ courses for extra points.

“In Robotics, we do not just make robots and race them. We actually need to apply math, coding, and engineering skills in order to design a track and make robots,” said Taiyo (G12).

Then, in an even bigger test of the robots’ success, coders transfer a program to the robot and see if it can maneuver through the course on its own.

“Our group has faced some challenges in the process of making a robot. Our robot was too big, too heavy, too slow, and dysfunctional at first. But as a group, we solved the problem and our robot now works perfectly. This class has been very enjoyable, educational and applicable so far,” Taiyo added.

The teams are also building their robots for competition: they will travel to Saigon South International School (SSIS) for a “friendly” tournament in November, to prepare for a national robotics competition. The competition will follow guidelines established by Vex Robotics, the company that supplies the robots. Vex issues an annual challenge to schools engaged in their program. This year’s challenge, called “Tour Takeover,” will require teams’ robots to lift or push a series of cubes, move them to a “parking area,” stack them, and insert other cubes into cups, all within a 12-foot by 12-foot ring.

“I like that we have a lot of trials going on - the coding team is figuring out whether their codes work, or don’t work, learning by trial and error,” said Mirae (G10). “It’s very productive and rewarding watching the building of the robots and the codes working when you process them. I want to major in engineering and so I think this robotics class is a very relevant learning experience.”