ANN ARBOR, MI – Students were buzzing around in organized chaos Saturday during the annual Washtenaw Area Pick-Up Robotics competition.
WAPUR hosted a low-stakes competition so students could practice for their upcoming regular season. Participating high school teams included Skyline, Saline, Huron, Pioneer, Community, Whitmore Lake, Father Gabriel Richard and Rudoff Steiner.
The competition took place in an empty warehouse owned by the Ann Arbor District Library, 265 Parkland Plaza, on Dec. 17.
“The library has been involved with WAPUR for many years,” AADL Facilities Manager Len Lemorie said. We’ve had events at the downtown library, and since we acquired this building, we decided to have it out here.”
During each match, pairs of robots battled by moving mop buckets into their corner of the field. Collecting dodgeballs into the scoring positions gave teams extra points.
Younger children from the audience volunteered to throw tennis balls onto the field. More points were added if the robots could collect the tennis balls.
Although some students have been competing in robotics for many years, the goal of the competition is to train newer robotics teams members so they know what to expect in later FIRST Robotics competitions, said Pioneer student Valentina Carcassi.
Skyline faculty adviser Laura Shaffer has been involved in robotics for more than 20 years.
“Sometimes robotics can be intimidating for the younger members to jump in and feel like they have a place, so this is their big chance to make mistakes and feel more confident when the season starts in January,” Shaffer said.
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