Shockwave High School Robotics - 1st Competition in 2018-2019 Season!

From Morgan Brown, Shockwave Robotics Coach:

Shockwave Robotics, Grauer's HS Robotics team, is back in action this year, having just completed their first event of the new season.  This year's FIRST Tech Challenge is called "Rover Ruckus" and involves dismounting from the center "lander" structure then collecting scoring elements from craters on the field and bringing them back to score in the lander scoring zones, and finally, requires the robots to climb back up onto the lander at the end. 

Our students tackled the challenge with open minds and created an articulating arm design that is able to both deploy and re-attach to the lander as well as collect and score the elements in the craters.  Our team is headed up by senior Bennett P. '19 and also includes returning team members Nate M. '20 and Jason W. '21, and is rounded our by new team members Joshua B. '22, Lourdes F. '22, and Julian I. '22.  Liam Murphy is the head coach this year, with key mentor Daren Gardner returning and with Morgan Brown and Peggy Gardner helping out as well.

The team had a solid performance and represented The Grauer School well, splitting their matches with a 3-3 record. We were proud of the team because regardless of winning or losing a given match, during our best performances, our robot scored its maximum possible points so we came away feeling successful.  After this first event we were able to see the designs put forth both other teams as well as the strengths (and weaknesses) of our own design, so we came away with plenty of ideas for improving it over the next month before we are back in action in January.

Save the date for two upcoming robotics events that will be hosted at Grauer on Saturday, January 26 and on Saturday, February 9. We'll be looking for adult volunteers to help with the event, and student volunteers will earn community service for helping at our Grauer tournaments.