Emery Miyasaki
Students work on this year's robot model, which is build exclusively by students. They enter it in competitions where it must operate in an obstacle course independently, through programming, then by remote control, gaining points by completing the challenges.
If you were a kid who looked forward to STEM nights in elementary school, you may love Ratchet Rocket Robotics.
Ratchet Rocket Robotics, Team 1706, advertises hands on building and machining, computer aided design, programming, electrical working, 3D printing, graphic design, photography and videography, business, web development, social media, and communication.
Robotics has many different aspects, and creating the bot is broken into teams. If you are not into the mathematics of everything, you can join the business team. If neither of those things fit your interest, you may still join as media crew. Team 1706 is a welcoming atmosphere who are always looking for new recruits.
Once you join, you come in and watch as mentors show you the ropes. You’ll be shown how to operate machines, run the programs, and anything else you could be interested in. Ratchet Rockets loves questions and while you may join the team for just one area of robotics, you could end up finding and loving another area.
“You can try your hand at anything that looks interesting,” team sponsor, Hester Menier said.
Ratchet Rocket Robotics is a Wentzville high school program run through FIRST that introduces students to programming, engineering, and problem solving. The goal of the program is to create a robot that can complete the challenges given on an “obstacle course.” The robot must run the course independently, through programming, then by remote control, gaining points by completing the challenges. The harder the challenge, the more points. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the allotted time, wins and moves on to the next round.
The finalists from across the country travel to Houston, Texas to compete in worlds. If you would like to join, please visit the registration page to sign up. If you have any questions regarding the registration process please contact a mentor or email Team 1706 at info@team1706.com.