OFA students participate in the 7th annual BCC Robotics Competition. Photo credit: OA Schools.
The Owego Free Academy (OFA) Robotics Team recently took part in the 7th annual BCC Robotics Competition. OFA’s team built three platforms: fork lift, swept away and line follower (the names of the competitions).
Team members from OFA included Alexa Gault, Frankie Budrow, Alex Tompkins and Austin Gorick. Their adviser is Mike Oddo, OFA technology teacher.
The competition consisted of five main events: the Swept Away Challenge, the Autonomous Task Challenge, Autonomous Line‐Following Challenge, the Remote Control Forklift Challenge and the Maze Programming Challenge. In each challenge the teams competed for points or best time. The team with the most points or the best time won.
OFA’s “forklift” placed second, while the “swept away” robot placed fifth out of 20. OFA finished fifth overall.
The annual competition is a regional showcase in which teams from schools across the Southern Tier build and design robots. The competition provided a STEM-focused (STEM: science, technology, engineering, math) event for local schools. Broome Community College provided some of the funding for the robotic kits through Project Lead the Way. Some schools also had corporate sponsors that helped to buy the robot kits and any other supplies.
Team members Alexa Gault, Frankie Budrow, Alex Tompkins, and Austin Gorick participated in the 7th annual BCC Robotics Competition. Photo credit: OA Schools.
Each school either has a robotic club or a robotic class of some sort. The types of robots varied among the schools. The intent of the competition was to provide a spotlight for students to showcase their ingenuity and talents in the STEM field. The main focus was on the students.
