JOHANNESBURG — The Johannesburg-Lewiston (J-L) High School Robotics Team went to Grand Valley State University for the regional competition over the weekend, coming in 23rd among the 54 teams.

Although they won’t be heading to the world competition at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., the team fared pretty well, according to Tony Fortin, J-L High School drafting, CAD teacher and robotics coach.

More than 1,500 teams compete worldwide, Fortin said.

The fate of the competition hinged on a match that resulted in penalties on three separate incidents.

Teams are randomly selected, matching three robots against three robots.

“Of our eight matches, we never had the same partner,” said Fortin. “You generally don’t have the same opponent more than once.”

They ended the competition with four wins and four losses.

“We did pretty good, actually,” said Fortin. “We had a very good, reliable, robust robot that never broke down.”

Fortin said they received several compliments on their ’bot and were the only team that used boat shrink wrap on the sides.

According to the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Web site, the robots challenge started in 1992 with 28 teams in a New Hampshire high school gym. The program now reaches more than 150,000 students.

Fortin said students received a box of parts on Jan. 5 and had six weeks to design, build and test the robot before shipping the finished project to the judges. The robot left J-L High School Feb. 18.

Supt. Jim Hilgendorf noted that after seeing last year’s robot buzzing around the school halls, twice as many students joined the team this year.

— Contact Jil Schult at 748-4518 or jil@gaylordheraldtimes.com.

• Visitor Comments

No comments posted.