Building a brighter future

November 23, 2009
Greenville Herald Banner

By Amber Pompa
Herald-Banner Staff

GREENVILLE -- Since its inception in 1992, the Robowranglers -- a VEX robotics team at Greenville High School -- have been inspiring students to lean toward more academic extra-curricular activities, and now a younger generation is doing just that.

This is the inaugural year for the robotics program at Greenville Middle School, and although there are still some bugs to work out, the program is off to a fantastic start.

"VEX has done extremely well in high schools across the nation," said Tony Norman, president and CEO of Innovation First International.  "So, we began trying to design a program that was more scalable for middle school, with John V-Neun, our lead mechanical engineer, serving as the architect for the program."

This program was made possible by a donation from Innovation First International, who donated an 8-foot by 8-foot arena, all the balls that go with the arena and five robotics kits -- each worth approximately $1,000.  If anything breaks or doesn't work, all Billy Shiflet, instructor for the robotics class, has to do is pick up the phone and call V-Neun and he'll take care of everything.

Without Innovation First this program could never have gotten off the ground.  In fact, they were the ones to approach Vanessa Pope at the high school about starting a robotics program in the middle school, but were told with funding the way it was this was an impossibility.  So, they decided to donate everything needed to get it started.  The only thing the middle school had to do was find a space that the kids could gather.

David Gish, principal at GMS is excited about the program and what it offers the students.

"I think it's a privilege to have these kids and this program here," said Gish.  "Innovation First has been very gracious to us and allowed us to get this started here.  All we had to do was find a room and some kids and that was the easy part.  The program has really taken off and the kids absolutely love it.  This program gives kids an avenue of success they might not be able to experience in other places."

The program, like the one at the high school, uses VEX robots.

"The robots are geared toward helping kids problem-solve in the classroom," said Shiflet.  "In the classroom, kids are given so much rote memorization.  You tell them the answer, they memorize it and then later they test it and if you can remember it, good for you."

Another difference in the program versus classroom learning is the correction of a wrong.

"If you get an answer wrong in the classroom the teacher automatically goes up to the kid and tells them 'that's wrong' and shows them what they need to do to fix it, but in the robotics class, if it doesn't work, they know it's wrong and they go back on their own and fix it," said Shiflet.  "I don't have to tell them anything, and by doing that they figure out what they did wrong, why it's wrong and how they can improve it."

According to Shiflet, the program is completely kid-driven.

"They do the whole thing," he said.  "They get out the kit and get to work and if they get stuck, I'm like the tow truck that unsticks them.  That's the main role I play."

Every robot is an individual as the team that creates them.

"Each kid in the group has put in something," said Shiflet.  "And because of that they take ownership of it."

All materials used to create the robots, such as wrenches and screwdrivers, are as far from dangerous as it is possible to get and still be able to construct a working machine.

"VEX robots are the best I've ever seen," said Shiflet.  "They're really top-of-the-line because they're kid-friendly.  The kids don't have to cut, weld or saw and the robots aren't bulky.  They're simple and work well for the kids."

So far, the program has held a driving competition, in addition to a few scrimmages to see how well the robots function.

"There's a lot of trial and error involved," said Shiflet.  "We're learning as we go.  There's also a lot of peer interaction."

Mason Smith, a student at GMS, is excited about being a part of this program.

"Robotics sure seems like a very interesting thing to do as you're working in multiple fields of electronics and mechanics," he said.  "My favorite thing is building the robots.  I can't wait till I get to high school so that I can joint he Robowranglers."

To see the excitement on the kids' faces as they get to work on their robots is a wondrous thing and lends hope for the continued success of the Robowranglers, as well as the country as a whole, what with all the problem solvers, engineers and inventors that are sure to come out of this program.