24 teams compete in 20th NEOREP Robotics Competition at YSU

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Nathan Conley, 18, of LaBrae High School in Leavittsburg, has had a passion for tearing apart and building equipment since he was young.

He would actively seek to rebuild old computers, bicycles and cars before getting involved in his school’s robotics program in eighth grade.

Now a senior, Conley is excited for what the future holds for him as well as helping his younger teammates win at their regional competition.

“It’s been a really good experience,” Conley said. “I’ve learned leadership, problem-solving, cooperation and teamwork.”

Conley and LaBrae Robotics are among 14 schools and 24 teams that competed Wednesday in the 20th NEOREP Robotics Competition at Youngstown State University.

Director Arlene Floyd said the event was created to give any student that is interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) a competition in robotics. It gives more chances for students to compete, instead of trying to make it into huge, selective, national competitions.

She also said that the event is meant to be a challenging, but not an overwhelming educational experience for students and for them to use more skills than just programming.

“We wanted to branch it out, use a different set of skills,” Floyd said.

The competition is broken down into two levels, middle school and high school. The teams were asked to build a robotic vehicle that can traverse a set path or maze.

There were five events that the teams competed in – vehicle inspection and design, a journal that contains all of the technical programming, a five-minute presentation and two floor games. The two floor games were navigating along a track and going through a maze.

Aadam Zocolo, 17, of the Boardman High School’s Robotics Club, said they spent more than three months going over three concepts to get their final design up and ready for competition. He said that events such as this are a great way for students such as himself to push forward to learn and think of solving a particular problem.

“It drives us to work towards a goal,” Zocolo said.

Sara Reichard, director of the Valley Christian Lewis Center in Youngstown, said while she doesn’t expect her students to grow up to become engineers, she expects them to be problem solvers. She said that her program competing in events such as this helps her students strive towards that goal.

“They learned a lot from this program,” Reichard said. “It’s a very well-rounded competition.”

Joe Slifka, coach of LaBrae Robotics, whose team won the competition last year, said the process from start to finish of creating the robot tested his students’ limits and forced them to work together to accomplish their overall goal.

“It’s kind of a glorified trial and error,” Slifka said.

He said overall he encourages his students to brainstorm and look for ways to solve a problem from a wide variety of angles, a full 360 degrees. Above all, he also wants them to have fun.

“That’s the most important part,” Slifka said.