High School Robotics League

For many high school students, the end of the school day means a mental break. Some go home, and others begin physical exercise. The group of students I’m going to talk about are the few that participate in one of the hardest sports that a high school offers-- robotics: the sport of the mind.

Monday through Wednesday afternoons, students push their minds to the limit designing and building robots to compete in tournaments. Often they practice entire afternoons over the weekends. Whiteboards are strewn with math and figures. The buzz saw roars and sparks fly as these engineers craft parts and build pieces. The tables are coated in the powder of cut steel, where students run back and forth between robot and code. The robot moves, and the team cheers.

These eager roboticists are preparing robots of their own creation to compete in the big field. The FIRST (For inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge is the epicenter of the student’s mind, heart and soul. In a square field 12 by 12 feet, robots are lined up along the side walls for the start of the game. The starter commences- “On your mark!” “Get set!” and the bots take off, each racing in order to score the most points. For the first thirty seconds of the game, these robots are running all on their own.

For the great minds and innovators of Highland Park High School, robotics is viewed as “the varsity sport of the mind”. Hours of sweat and dedication give engineering a meaning of its own. From the words of Dean Kamen, inventor of FIRST, “...It’s like life. You never have enough information. You never have enough time. The kit of materials is what you have in the warehouse. There are always competing things and you must have a strategy. We’ve created a microcosm of the real engineering experience.”

The Highland Park Robotics teams are participating in the Northern Illinois robotics league this Saturday. The tournament begins at 9 AM at Lake Forest High School. Some of the teams from the Northern Illinois East Division include... Beastie Bots from Highland Park, Robot to the Knee from Highland Park, Vertigo from Highland Park, Dynamic Signals from Gurnee, Full Force! from Gurnee, Blue from Lake Forest, Newton Busters FTC from Wilmette, Lightning Strike from Chicago, Warbots Red from Deerfield, Evanston Robotics, Warbots Gray from Deerfield, NRP RoboKnights from Niles, BOT Spot Robots from Niles and The Fractals from Barrington.