Special to the LPJ
By Kristin Bryan
Bearcat Robotics has had a busy summer. Between improving our competition robot, training new team members to build and code, teaching elementary kids all about STEM, and traveling and competing, we have been hard at work all summer.
Bearcat Robotics participated in Kids Alley at the Louisiana Peach Festival to show off our robot and interact with the community and promote STEM to the next generation.
On Saturday, July 20, Bearcat Robotics traveled to Mandeville, La., for the off-season robotics competition Northshore Knockout. Our competition robot, which has gone through numerous improvements since earlier competitions this year, performed spectacularly. With no major robot breakdowns, our drive team was at its best every match.
Ranking in the top 5 teams for most of the competition, our rank qualified us to be an alliance captain for the first time in our short history. This allowed us to choose the members of our alliance in the playoffs. We led a motley crew of basic robots to beat several teams of competitively engineered robots and finish in 3rd place.
Bearcat Robotics also chose to bring a second drive team and our backup robot that we use for training bot for our new team members. “Kitbot” was assembled and programmed in only six weeks and proven to be a defensive genius and therefore chosen to be on the 1st place alliance and after stiff competition, ended up in second place overall. Both teams have spent the FRC off-season learning and improving and are making progress towards another great year.
As a NASA ASTRO CAMP® Community Partner, Bearcat Robotics is hosting STEM camps for children ages 5-11 over the summer. From building and coding LEGO robots to constructing water rockets and pool noodle airplanes, the kids leave every day excited by their newfound knowledge and experiences. Profits from the camps will go towards supporting competition and travel expenses for Bearcat Robotics.
We hope to inspire a love of and fascination for STEM in all of the kids and in our community as a whole while inspiring life-long learners for the future of science and technology in North Louisiana.
