Osky Robotics Teams Participate In League Play

Robotics competition was held at the Musco Technology Center on Saturday. The event was sponsored by the William Penn Computer Club.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Technology was on full display on Saturday at the Musco Technology Center on the campus of William Penn University.

The Oskaloosa Robotics teams, The Sock Monkeys and the Ninjaneers, both call Oskaloosa High School home, and both took part in the event sponsored by the William Penn Computer Club.

Steve Dixon may be a coach, but he loves watching students learn from the experience that comes from robotics competition. Dixon has worked with the team since 2010, and he helps the students with his guidance, which comes from the experience gained during competitions and years of seeing the program develop.

Every year the students build a new robot that is based upon what the specifications of game play will be that year. This year, one of those tasks was for the robots to pick up small cubes. There were several different approaches by the various teams on how best to accomplish that task; from your traditional shovel mechanisms, to a device similar to a combine that would fling the cubes into a holding bin.

Saturday was the second in a series of league plays, with one league event remaining.

League championships will be taking place in January, and is important to help teams advance to the next round of competition, on their way to potential stops at super regional or worlds competitions.

Oskaloosa robotics team ‘The Sock Monkeys’ have enjoyed success the past two years, reaching ‘Worlds’ both of those years.

On Saturday, the underclassmen were having to take leadership roles during competition, as the seniors of the group were taking their ACT tests. “They are doing well,” Dixon said of the underclassmen effort.

Robotics is different when it comes to competition. Your opponent in one round may be your ally in the next, as the game play is built upon alliances. It makes for interesting dynamics among the teams, as each hopes to score the most they can in order to advance, but yet may need to hold back some sensitive information because in the next round, that same team may be your opponent.

“We have five matches today, and in every match, we have a different alliance partner,” explained Dixon.

The alliance situations are put in place to help develop gracious professionalism traits among the participants. “You learn more by working together than against each other,” explained Dixon. “It seems odd to a lot of people that you might help your opponent, to help them function; because they will function for you later.”

The hope is also to prevent a battle bot type of play. “Some days it gets pretty tough, but the goal is not to be battle bots,” said Dixon.

Dixon said that one of the best learning experiences is “giving them [students] the chance to fail to where they can learn from it. You learn more by something not working than it working every time. There is no direct path.”

To learn more about Oskaloosa robotics teams, you can visit them on their website – HERE