Introducing the WILSOBOTICS Team
This year, students from Wilson’s School assembled their first competitive robotics team to compete in the First Tech Challenge (FTC). Our first session was in October, during which we met our teammates, with whom we would be working for the rest of the competition. FTC is a nationwide competition where schools from all over the UK compete to build and program a robot which can accomplish a wide variety of complex tasks. Since October, we have worked tirelessly on different aspects of the robot – the structure, the programming, the drivetrain, and a lot more.
Back in early December we went to the first Scrimmage of the competition, located at Langley Park School, Bromley. This was not a competitive event, but rather an opportunity to learn from other teams and provide help to them as well. We were all mostly at the same level of progress with our robots, apart from a select few who were considerably ahead – we knew we had to make more progress swiftly. Luckily, this is exactly what we did at the event, working on the arm, which would be crucial to success in the real competition. There were also seminars to learn more about constructing the robot. During all this work, we managed to talk to other schools and gained valuable insight for our robot which will prove useful in future. The underlying principle of the competition is Gracious Professionalism - one which Wilsonians are always ready to embrace!
We thoroughly enjoyed this experience and the interaction with the other students. The atmosphere was welcoming and pleasant and, even though we were lacking in experience and knowledge, we felt we had gained significant understanding in the ins-and-outs of this competition. Ultimately the session was very enriching and beneficial – but we could not become complacent: the race to win is not over yet! Watch this space for further updates on our robot as we gear up to competition day at the end of March. Our Instagram handle is @wilsobotics if you wish to follow us! Do get in contact with Mr Elwood if you happen to have any knowledge in the field of robotics as we are currently looking for mentors, sponsors, and guidance to help us succeed.
(Written by Adam, Sunny and Laxmisampath in Year 10)
