The Arkansas High School Robotics Team’s award winning performance in the First Robotics Regional Competition (FRC) resulted in the team receiving an invitation to participate in the First Robotics Global Championship. This is the team’s second win at the regional level resulting in an invitation to the First Robotics Global Championships in Houston on April 18 – 22. “This year, we made several improvements,” said Team Sponsor Mr. Chris Brisco. “Our team worked directly with industrial partner, Ledwell Machinery, for design guidance and fabrication of a welded aluminum frame.” The team also transitioned away from coding in Labview and used Java as the main programming language with assistance from the First Robotics Team in Searcy, Arkansas.
During the first week of January each year, all the FRC teams wait for the simultaneous release of the game details world-wide. From that point, teams begin meeting weekly to design, test, and code the robots to accomplish the year’s task. Brisco said this year is the most complex robot the team has fielded using pneumatics, chain drive power transfer, Java coding, multiple view cameras, and two-axis linear motion.
“The impact of this program is immeasurable from student engagement in the classroom and after school to increased scholarship opportunities, and exposure to top tier colleges and universities,” Brisco stated. “Partners like Ledwell Machinery, Mayo Manufacturing, Express Employment Professionals, Patterson Trokie, Digital Press, and the Russell family make a great difference in our ability to compete and win.”
