The Robotics Club is a decent-sized club run by Carlos McDonald. The club just started back up last year, due to the school being shut down during COVID-19. Since the club has only just started again, there are only so many kids as of now compared to how many there used to be. In the club, there are 3 main components that they follow, one being all the planning they do on how to build the robots, the second being all of the building they do to make the robots, and the third being the extensive programming so that the robots know what to do.
The main purpose of the Robotics Club is to compete in a game or competition each year with the club’s robots against other schools. They have to build a new robot each year to compete with. Each kid in the club is in charge of something different, for example, Makaiah Blackstock is in charge of the 3D printer for the robot. Wolfe Beckley and Blackstock both joined last year, and they had both joined for something different. Beckley joined because he thought it would be useful for him in college, and Blackstock joined because he liked all the programming. When programming in Robotics they have to use the “control theory”, which is the mathematics of controlling robots.
Both Beckley and Blackstock believe that Robotics will be useful in the future, Blackstock stated “I think it will be useful in the future for tasks that humans don’t want to do and will give more strength to jobs to lift heavy things”. The Robotics Club wants more people to join because they believe that it will be easier to build the robots, and easier to program. There are only a small number of students interested in robotics, resulting in the club being very small. The members of the club want people to join who will participate and work on the robots. Last year when the club started again, a lot of kids joined but didn’t do any work, instead playing around with their friends the whole time.
Many challenging factors go into building and programming a robot. Beckley stated, “The most challenging part is the problem-solving because there are kids at all different levels, so it’s stressful sometimes.”. Blackstock had an opposite opinion, “The most challenging part is all the building we do”. They are a new team so they don’t know much information, making it more challenging. Because of this, they don’t want people to join unless they are interested in robotics and are willing to do work. If not, they will all be at different levels and it will be harder to build the robots. The Pahrump Valley Robotics Club is an extraordinary club to join if you are interested in all the different things that they do. The club has devoted members who are willing to assist newcomers and a club advisor who is devoted to the club. They are looking for a few more new people to join that will do the work. If you consider joining this club, they suggest that you are interested in robotics and are willing to pay attention so that you can get useful information and experience out of the club. Make sure to talk to Carlos McDonald to see if you are interested in the club!
