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By Piper Long, Morgan Bailey

and Kayleigh Johnston

Editor’s note: The Central High Robotics team put this story together, to talk about this year’s project and explain how their group works.

The 2023 Central High Robotics team is working hard to build the newest member of the Central High School family, Colt. Colt stands for Central of Lunenburg Technology. He is modeled after the Chargers’ mascot, a knight on a horse. This is the seventh robot the Robotics team has built since the beginning of the club back in 2016. Team members have many jobs to help Colt come to life. The builders are assembling Colt while the other members work to support them. The other jobs include: the captain, marketing, safety captain, programming and driving personnel.

The team involves several, equally-important roles, each of which helps to make our final product all the more effective. Let’s take a look at each one.

The captain of our team leads our team to success in the competitions. One of the ways the captain of the team leads is by instructing team members on what needs to be done. For example, most of the time the captain keeps the team on track, keeping a watchful eye on the schedule so that the team never falls behind. We call the captain the “executive” of the team because they tell the members everything they need to know.

The first team that we’ll mention is the marketing team. The marketing program makes sure that our fans have something public, that way everyone can keep tabs on Colt and the team’s escapades. It helps allow people all over the place to see what the team does and why. The marketing team makes websites, as well as buttons, cartoons, t-shirts and even Colt’s bumper. The marketing team is the artistic mind of the team.

The safety captain makes sure that everyone on the team is safe. Their jobs are to make sure that everyone is safe; keeping everyone on-track with safety regulations, preventing catastrophe and even getting things for the teammates when they get hurt. They organize the place the robot is built, so that way everyone knows where everything is. The safety captain is vitally important to our team.

Now onto the three stars of the show. Up first is the programmers. The programmers write the code that allows Colt to do everything he needs to do. The most important work involves programming autonomous mode. Autonomous mode is when the robot has to move by itself for about thirty seconds to a minute; one of the most important parts of any competition. The programmers also work to make the robot functional for our drive team; without both teams working closely together, Colt would never leave the shop.

The programmers also work closely with our build team, running diagnostics to make sure that all of the relevant equipment is functional; ensuring that the wheels are in their proper place, and even that the motor is functioning properly. They are the team that works the closest with everyone else.

The build team is the team that’s the most fun to watch because they build the robot itself. They start with the base, the foundation on which the rest of the robot is built, then work hard to install the wheels, frame, claw (if needed) and motor. The build team works hard because they have many other jobs than just the actual building; they have to design the robot from scratch, figure out ways that they’re able to make their design work and work closely with the programmers to bring those designs to life.

And last but not least we have the drive team. The drive team is in charge of taking control of the robot in the arena, driving it anywhere and everywhere that the robot needs to go (but mostly the arena). They’re the ones who manipulate the robot in competitions, steering us to victory and showing all of us the fruits of our labor. When we go off to competitions, the drive teams are the ones leading the charge, with the rest of us supporting them in every way possible.

This is our robotics team; what we do, how each component of the team works together in order to make sure the team has a working robot and to get the word out about the robot. The team loves working with Colt and hopes you’ll keep your eyes and ears open to hear all about Colt’s exploits as we steamroll the competition this year.