Inver Grove Heights Students Building a Future Through Robotics

It sounds like a scene out of a science fiction novel: High school students laboring to build a fully functioning robot that will eventually compete against other teams’ robots.

But that’s exactly what the Simley High School Robotics Club is hoping to accomplish this February. Starting at the beginning of January, the team has six weeks to design, construct and test a robot that can complete specific tasks in a regional competition against other high school clubs.

It’s the fourth year the Simley club has participated in the annual competitions, which are administered through FIRST Robotics, a national non-profit that organizes regional- and national-level competitions. This year, the Simley Robotics Club has raised roughly $15,000, enough money to participate in two regional competitions — one in Duluth on March 10-12, and one in Minneapolis from March 31 to April 2. The Simley team also hosts an invitational in Inver Grove Heights on Feb. 19.

Each weekday afternoon, the team convenes in the industrial tech department at the high school for several hours to construct, design and program the robot. They also meet for much of the day on Saturdays. The grueling schedule is necessary, coach and Simley High School mathematics teacher Wayne Anderson said, if the team is going to perfect the robot in time for the competition each year.

The team’s season begins when FIRST Robotics sends out information about the task the robots must complete in the regional meets and a kit of parts and electronics for each robot. This year, robots entering the regional meet must attempt to lift several inner tubes onto a rack. As part of a secondary challenge, the team is building another “mini-bot,” which must scale a 12-foot pole.

Robots can break down in the middle of the competition — as the Simley team learned first-hand last year, when their entry in the competition lost one of its gears in the final round of a regional competition and began spinning in circles. Because of the breakdown, the Simley club had to back out of the competition.

All of which makes the robotics competitions adrenaline-filled and “thrilling,” Simley student and Robotics Club member Tomas Icenogle said.

“People don’t usually think of this as a sport, as having a thrill level, but every time you’re at the competition, it’s more exciting than playing a sport for me,” Icenogle said.

For Simley senior and team captain Matt Kuntz, the real thrill lies in assembly and construction of the robots.

“There’s nothing better than getting a bunch of parts that have meaning, but you have to put them together into something that works, something that accomplishes a task other than what people see in those parts,” Kuntz said.

Many of the students involved in the club are considering futures in engineering or other mechanically oriented fields. Adult mentors provide guidance for the students in the Robotics Club, giving students an ideal opportunity to meet people who work in the fields they’re interested in pursuing.

“The whole big push behind it is to get some kids interested in engineering,” Anderson said. “European and Asian countries are pumping out engineers left and right…we don’t have the engineers the country is going to need.”

While the focus may be on engineering, students are also responsible for marketing, fundraising and budgeting.  That means students like Laura Hayes, who wants to become a veterinarian, are still drawing applicable skills from their involvement in the team. The team, Hayes said, has taught her to work with a group to refine and combine ideas.

In its three previous seasons, the team has qualified for and participated in nationals once, and made it to the semifinals or finals in regional meets twice. The team hopes to make another appearance at nationals this year.

“We have the best record of any sports team in the high school,” Simley senior and team captain Jake Tinucci joked.

Editor's Note: To see more photos of the Simley High School Robotics Club,