Building a basketball-playing robot may sound like the possible premise of a summer popcorn flick directed by Michael Bay, but for the newly formed Harding Academy robotics team, constructing a robotic rebounder is anything but a sci-fi fantasy.
Team director Brian Jones, a math and science teacher and Harding alum, said he and two volunteer engineering majors from Harding are currently leading the first Wildcat robotics team in their task of creating a working, basketball-shooting robot to contend in a nationwide competition called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
Jones said he was asked to start the robotics program at Harding Academy last year after directing a FIRST-based program in Mississippi for two years. The program offers a unique academic-based competition.
“You can tell by all the students that are here that this was a need,” Jones said. “A lot of people wanted an academic challenge like this, an academic sport.”
Jones said a long-term goal for the program is to help raise interest in the field of engineering and prepare secondary students for the challenges they will face while studying the subject in college, especially at Harding.
“We had noticed that a lot of Harding Academy students, and students from everywhere, were dropping out of engineering their first year at Harding and going to something else,” Jones said. “So we’re hoping that with this program, we’ll be able to bridge that gap that’s been formed between us and our engineering department and give these students a better chance to be productive in that field and encourage them in that field.”
According to junior Shawn Batten, a volunteer mentor, the team is currently in the fifth week of a six-week “building season,” in which they collaborate to design and construct the separate pieces of the robot. After the building period ends, the team and the robot will compete in regional meets. As a part of the competition, the robot must shoot foam balls into a basketball goal, hence the name of the game: Rebound Rumble.
Junior David Bell, another mentor, said that if the team performs well enough, it will have the chance to participate in the national competition held in St. Louis.
Both volunteers said they spend several hours every week helping mentor the team. Bell said he has been involved with FIRST in the past and said he wanted to share that experience with other students.
“It’s tough, but I love it,” Bell said. “The tournaments are very exciting when you compete with teams from all over the country. I just love sharing my passion for engineering and building robots.”
Batten said he has enjoyed creating relationships with the students.
“The most rewarding thing has probably been working with the kids,” Batten said. “It’s tough to be really social in an engineering setting, so I’ve really enjoyed working with the kids and getting to know them.”
