By Ananda Irving CT Visionary
Cass Tech’s robotics is offered as a class and as a club after school. The program opens many doors for students interested in careers related to engineering.
Technology is changing so fast and robots are being using in many aspects around the globe. There are many different majors in college and many scholarship opportunities in the robotics field. From computer engineering, mechanical engineering and even electrical engineering; the robotics program is an awesome field of study or club to join.
CT senior and robotics team member Avery Shaw said, “There is also an undeniable need for technology in this rapidly growing society.”
The CT Robotics Program consists of two separate teams. The first is VEX Robotics, which deals with five robots that are entered in competitions during the fall competition. The first competition was Nov. 21 at Cass Tech. The next will be Dec. 19 at Cranbrook.
“We had a great run at our last competition,” CT junior Jordan Tucker said.
“Though we did not win the competition, we did get five robots to compete and gather lots of experience and knowledge of how to improve our designs.”
The second team is FIRST Robotics, which takes place during a hectic six-week season of building during January and February. There are 17 other Detroit High Schools involved in the FIRST Robotics team that participate in this competition.
Finally, the international competition takes place at the Michigan Engineering Zone (MEZ), which the University of Michigan sponsors. After the release of the theme for the competition there are only six weeks to put together a robot with a $1,500 spending restraint, 120-pound requirement weight restraint, as well as a design restraint.
“Students have the opportunity to succeed in this field,” said Cass Tech’s robotics adviser Karl Balke. “We give them ideas to use very similar to the actual engineering design process. We utilize STEM to creatively solve problems. It’s an intricate process to go through, until you find something that works.”
