Mid-Ohio Valley robotics teams wired for West Virginia championship | News, Sports, Jobs

Both robots on demonstration at a presentation Wednesday were at work picking up things and operating on an obstacle course. The Dark Side Robotics team is competing in the 2022 VEX West Virginia State Championship-VRC High School Competition Saturday at Fairmont State University. (Photo by Larry Launstein Jr.)

PARKERSBURG — Robotics teams from the Mid-Ohio Valley region will participate in the 2022 VEX West Virginia State Championship-VRC High School Competition on Saturday at Fairmont State University.

Teams representing the Wood County Technical Center, Wood County Christian School, Ravenswood High School, and Ripley High School are in the competition, and will square off with other high schools in the state.

The Pre-Engineering/Dark Side Robotics team was among the qualifiers.

Jared Voldness, the teacher-coach, said, “The kids picked it up from robotics years ago. It was part of our First Robotics Competition team, and they kind of use the same stuff for both.”

The name Dark Side came from the other team, the one not in the competition.

One of the robots at the Wood County Technical Center has picked up an object. The Dark Side Robotics team from Parkersburg High School is participating in the 2022 VEX West Virginia State Championship-VRC High School Competition on Saturday at Fairmont State University. (Photo by Larry Launstein Jr.)

Students operate the robots using a device similar to a game controller, and the robots pick up various objects and set them down again. They also climb up over ramps.

The layout the students used Wednesday is similar to the layout being used in the competition, a 12-foot by 12-foot square area.

Voldness said the Dark Side team qualified due to their efforts on the skills and autonomous runs.

He also briefly explained how points are scored. Each team gets one minute each for the driver’s skills and the autonomous runs. Points are accumulated after both runs are completed. There are various objects that need to be picked up by the robot, and some ramps they have to climb, like a see-saw.

One of the people present at a robotics presentation at the technical center Wednesday was Lucian Baumgartner, an eleventh-grader who takes classes in creative engineering computer science at the technical center, but originally is from Parkersburg High School.

Lucian Baumgartner, a student at the Wood County Technical Center, will be competing in the 2022 VEX West Virginia State Championship-VRC High School Competition on Saturday at Fairmont State University. (Photo by Larry Launstein Jr.)

Baumgartner said about his getting interested in robotics, “I kind of find it interesting to take a bunch of pieces of metal and screw them and attach the motors to it, write a couple lines of code and then we have a working robot that can compete on the state level.

“I find that fun and fascinating just building things,” Baumgartner said.

He said he plans on going to college for computer science, and is considering West Virginia University, but wants to see what all his options are.

Another student in the robotics program, Philip Richmond, a senior, is in the engineering class at the technical center.

Richmond talked about getting into robotics, saying, “I’ve been into it for a while. I took an engineering class freshman year while I was in Kentucky. And so, when I had the same opportunity here I wanted to wanted to go out there again. I have always been interested in stuff like programming, coding, and robots in general.”

Philip Richmond, another student at the Wood County Technical Center, will be competing in the 2022 VEX West Virginia State Championship-VRC High School Competition Saturday at Fairmont State University. (Photo by Larry Launstein Jr.)

He also said, “Tech has always been part of my life. I was in a generation where everything was starting to get more and more advanced.

“I think my first introduction to robots was seeing Battle Bots on TV,” Richmond said. “And so, just after that, being able to take tech classes all throughout my high school career.”

He has been accepted into the University of Louisville, and wants to study mechanical engineering.

Larry Launstein Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

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Crucial Cogs in the Competitive Machine

The students who will be competing are:

* Lucian Baumgartner, Parkersburg High School

* Wyatt McCormick, PHS

* Philip Richmond, PHS

* Kyle Koch, Parkersburg South High School

* Braxton Leisure, PSHS

* William Meyer, PSHS

* William Morrison, PSHS

* Riley Street, PSHS

* Mason Westfall, Williamstown Middle/High School