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| Pisgah High’s winning team included, clockwise from left: Chris Skinner, Jonathan Owenby, Paul Shvidrik and Nick Abbott. |
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| Members of Cherokee High’s team that qualified for the finals include, from left: Jordan Grant, Taylor Wachacha, Gabriel Lebron and Xavier Siweumptewa. |
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| Qualifying for the final round as members of Hiwassee Dam I were, from left, Haylie Shope, Keith Hackler and Morgan Nichols. Not pictured is sponsor Ethan Dickey. |
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| Pisgah’s Jonathan Owenby (left) and Nick Abbott strategize moments before their first-round robotics competition last month in Cherokee. |
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| Cherokee’s Taylor Wachacha (left), Hiwassee Dam’s Keith Hackler (center) and Pisgah’s Nick Abbott press the ‘start’ button their teams’ respective robots during last month’s robotics competition in Cherokee. |
There’s nothing unusual about neighboring mountain high schools competing for supremacy inside a local gymnasium, but the competition that took place last month at Cherokee High School’s auxiliary gym wasn’t your typical interscholastic contest.
This battlefield consisted of a six-foot wooden square frame placed at midcourt and lined by alternating white and black balloons.
Competing for the championship were widely varying Lego robotic constructions on wheels powered by Mindstorm computers. A thumbtack was affixed to each “robot,” and the object of the game was to program your device to pop white balloons, avoid black ones and finish with a better white-to-black ratio than opponents.
The April 24 event – part of the Student Technology Advisory Council’s High School Conference – was organized by Jim Falbo, who coordinates Southwestern Community College’s Mechatronics and Electronics Engineering Technology programs.
After surviving several one-on-one rounds, Pisgah High’s team came out on top with a one-pop differential in a three-way final against Cherokee and Hiwassee Dam. But participants from all teams agreed the programming skills they fine-tuned during Southwestern Community College’s Sponsored event could have a far longer-lasting impact on their lives than the average sporting contest.
“Robotics for middle school and high school students is great because this field is going to play a huge role in society,” said Pisgah sophomore Nick Abbott, whose teammates included Jonathan Owenby, Paul Shvidrik and Chris Skinner. “It’s awesome for younger kids to get a taste of that. A lot of people like to play sports, but this is a whole other opportunity.”
Each Mindstorm robot was outfitted with color sensors, allowing it to discern white from black.
The thumbtack on Hiwassee Dam I’s robot was attached to an arm that acted much like a scorpion’s tail and was designed to only strike when the robot encountered a white balloon. It didn’t always work as planned, but team member Keith Hackler said figuring out how to tweak the programming to be more effective was part of the fun.
He also said the teams from various high schools soon realized they learned more by working together than “Each of us would have problems, and it really helped that we could go to each other to try and figure it out,” said Hackler, a senior whose Hiwassee Dam teammates were Haylie Shope and Morgan Nichols.
A crowd of Swain County elementary school students cheered on the various robots throughout the afternoon.
Before the final round, Falbo reminded the crowd that SCC’s Mechatronics program can prepare students for high-paying jobs using the same skills they were learning in the contest.
“If you enjoy what you see here today, we’ve got a program that lets you put these skills to work,” Falbo said.
“It’s fun, it’s practical and it allows you to stay, live and work right here in this same region. The program is offered to high school juniors and seniors tuition-free, and SCC will even cover the books.
“Two Swain High School students are making $13 an hour through internships using the same skills as were displayed in the competition.”
For more information about SCC’s Mechatronics program, contact Falbo at j_falbo@southwesterncc.edu or 828.339.4299.
