Jenison robotics 2021-2022

Grant Ginzer, Staff Writer|March 23, 2022

Overview of robotics

 
Last year Jenison robotics did very well even with changes due to COVID-19.
 
This year I’m talking to the team that went to the world competition. I want to see how things have changed for them and how they are competing this year. After a hectic year of guidelines and mandates, robotics has seen a change back to a more normal setting.
 
Jenison robotics has been around for a long time yet few students know much or anything about it. I’m asking last year’s world competitors about robotics. Robotics can be a great way to spend your time. It offers many learning experiences, a way to make friends, and you get to build a robot! Yet, this club may not be for you, but if you’re interested it’s worth a try.
 
Peyton Doolittle is a previous Jenison robotics member. He says, ”I left robotics because of my team members.” Peyton joined robotics because of an interest in engineering and coding. His team did little to help him and he ended up with a huge workload.
 
MinJae Koo was a world competitor in robotics last year. He mentions, ”Robotics is a great club for those interested in engineering or any other STEM related subjects. I had a strong debut with a strong team and made it to the world finals during my first year.“ MinJae has done great in robotics ever since joined in 2019. He was able to meet a team that he enjoyed being a part of.
 

Motivation

 
A motivation for many people in robotics is how robotics is a valued engineering extracurricular. Also, the competitions and building of the robot can be a lot of fun.
 
Another world competitor, Ian Zuber, says,”The building is pretty fun.” Ian has been in Jenison robotics for many years and has enjoyed his time spend building robots and competing in competitions.
 
Robotics is a lot of work. Many members put double digit hours into building, documenting, and testing their robot.
 
MinJae Koo explains, ”To compete with the best teams in your region, state, or even the world, time devotion to the club is a must. Usually, teams have 2 hours after every school day for practice; during this time, teams design, build, test, and document a robot. During the 2021~2022 season, our team built 2 distinct designs and had a 150+ page engineering notebook.” Robotics is a big commitment as explained by MinJae. This is the reason there is prestige behind the club.
 

How robotics has faced previous years

 
Robotics is better this year than last year. Competitions are almost completely back to normal. Our robotics team this year has struggled to make it to states. Unfortunately, the team that went to the world competition last year will not be returning.
 
Ian Zuber states, ” The covid restrictions last year limited a lot of communication and competition. This made it way worse than the years before. This year still has some drawbacks but is considerably better than last year.”
 
After speaking with people who have been in robotics, I find that robotics is not for everyone. Robotics competition is fierce this year.
 
This year robotics has recovered from the previous year.