A-P robotics club spreads its wings in third year

Some of the members of the Aplington- Parkersburg Robotics Club love building, some love video games, some love coding and some were just looking for a new activity to participate in.

But they all love robots, and they’re turning that passion into results at a host of area competitions against other schools.

“I liked Legos as a kid and still do, and I also liked to play video games. So this is kind of like a combination of the two,” freshman Matthew Birch said.

“It’s like a video game, but it’s real life—and you actually have to build it.”

At its most recent meet, the First Tech Challenge (FTC) team won first place, and coach Nancy Flanigan is proud of the progress the group has made in such a short timespan. They’ve constructed an 18-inch tall bot that weighs around 25 pounds and per forms commands through remote control, and it runs on a 12-volt 3,000 mAH nickel melt hydride battery pack. Base instructions are included, but the boys have plenty of discretion to put the aluminum pieces together as they see fit.

Read the full story in the December 20 edition.