HONEOYE — The Honeoye Robotics 4-H Club is a group of young people ages 13-19 who build robots for competition. This year, they had the privilege of competing with their robot in their FIRST robotics competition March 13-15.
FIRST is For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. It is a global organization, and the competition was held at Rochester Institute of Technology.
This is not your average “meet once a month” youth club. During their build season from January until March, the club meets four times weekly: two evenings, all day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. Watching these 11 students and their four mentors work together to build a complex robot is impressive.
This year’s club members are Chloe Brunk, Nicholas Connor, Avalynn Hoffman, Lucas Mastin, Chelsie Odenbach, Bradley Richardson, Daniel Richardson, Zachary Struble, Lily Temple, Cassie Zanche, and Jason Zanche.
This year’s club mentors are Mike Shaughnessy, Richard Langkamp, and Keith Richardson.
These students design, assemble, and program their robot. They use technology such as a 3D printer to create parts and CAD software to learn how to program the robot to move. They have to gain an understanding of how to use tools, understand engineering, and problem-solve.
Through FIRST, Each year a different task is put before teams. This year’s competition is entitled “Dive,” where robots had to pick up balls and put them into baskets of varying shapes and heights.
The local 4-H team goes by the competition name of SUITS, which stands for Students Utilizing Ingenuity, Technology, and Science. Because of a successful performance in the preliminary rounds at RIT, they advanced to the second day of competition where they ended up 22nd out of 54 teams. Some teams came from as far away as West Virginia.
Through this project, youth not only learn important science and engineering skills, but also persistence, problem solving, and teamwork. Additionally, they develop positive adult relationships with their engineering mentors. Whether this project sparks and interest in engineering or science, or instills positive workforce development soft skills, youths benefit from being part of the club.
The team is open to any youth ages 13-18, and they are always looking for new members. If you are interested in joining or learning more, email Michael Shaughnessy at HoneoyeRobotics@yahoo.com.
4-H is available to any youth between 5-19 years of age and includes a variety of project areas including animal science, visual arts, food and nutrition, leadership, and much more. If you would like to learn more, reach out to our 4-H educators, Sarah Wilhelm and Amy Pyra, by calling 585-394-3977.
