LEXINGTON – Students in Lexington County’s largest school district are getting hands-on robotics experience with funding from tire giant Michelin.
Michelin, which has a North American headquarters in Greenville, has pledged $30,000 in funding over three years for Lexington School District One’s VEX Robotics teams. That pledge follows an additional $30,000 the company provided in 2018 to support the district’s robotics teams.
Michelin’s most recent pledge, announced in October, will help fund robotics competition teams at Lexington One schools, including three high schools and four middle schools. Students meet after school and work together to plan, design, program and build a robot that will compete against other teams to complete certain tasks.
Layla Kennedy, a senior at Lexington High School, adds finishing touches to the logo for her VEX Robotics team at the Lexington Technology Center. Staff/Casey Darnell
At a practice on Nov. 16, the Lexington Technology Center’s two VEX teams were preparing for a Jan. 29 scrimmage where they’ll compete against other teams in the district. If they build their robot well enough, the team of about 20 students could compete in state, national and even international competitions.
In this year’s grade 6-12 competition, two robots will compete in a 12’ x 12’ field to lift rings into goals, with rings lifted into higher positions scoring more points. But the goals themselves are mobile, meaning another team’s robot can snatch it away to its territory and score more points. One portion is autonomous with the robots relying on programming to get an early advantage, then a driver will take over with a controller for the second portion.
“It’s problem solving from scratch, but then it’s always about improving,” said Patrick Martin, the VEX program adviser at Lexington Technology Center. “If you look at that from a Michelin point of view or any of our employers, those skills are unbelievable: teamwork, problem solving, constant innovation and improving.”
Costs add up quickly for the VEX team, with the robotics kits themselves costing from $600 to $1,000 and team registration plus a bus rental and gas could cost around $1,000 for a single competition, said Martin, who is the engineering design and electronics instructor at Lexington Technology Center.
Located next to Lexington High School, the Lexington Technology Center serves the hub for STEM vocational education for the district’s five high schools. Students from River Bluff High School about 20 minutes away, for example, can take specialized STEM classes at the center and also participate in the VEX team there.
In this year’s advanced competition, robots will compete in a 12’ x 12’ field to lift rings into …….