Titans STEAM into robotics world championship event

A trip to the Vex Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas proved to the Triway High School robotics team that it can reach new heights.

Propelled by a strong desire to succeed and a generous grant, Wyatt Rohr, Jack Rohr and Andrew Wood qualified to compete against 820 teams from around the globe based on their success during the season and for ranking as one of the top 16 teams in Ohio.

While members missed the championship round in Dallas, placing 23rd out of 82 teams in their divisional round, Wyatt Rohr said they were pleased with the outcome. It was the first time a Triway robotics team has competed in the world championships.

Triway High School STEAM instructor and robotics coach Mindy Werstler spoke of team members’ dedication.

“We didn’t add up the hours, but they are here (in the lab) multiple times a day and after school,” she said. “The training is rigorous. A lot of time goes into being successful in robotics.”

Bolstering their efforts was a $20,000 grant awarded to the Triway STEAM program from the Wayne County Community Foundation Helen Sprowls Charitable Giving Fund. The grant was used to purchase needed equipment for building and storing robots and for instruction in STEAM classes. Items purchased included six 12-by-12-feet playing fields, special flooring with anti-static tiles, tool kits, controllers and robot storage boxes, allowing for safer transport of their robots.

“We were carrying the robots by hand to competitions,” Werstler said. “And if the bus turned a corner, sometimes the robot would fly out of the seat. Then we had a lot of rebuilding to do before we could even get inspected at the competitions.”

“Over the years it’s been hard to compete with what we had,” Wyatt Rohr said. The new equipment affords them more and better practice time.

For example, the new playing fields can be easily set up and torn down, so team members can take them home to practice. “We’ve never been able to do that before,” he said.

Building on their leadership skills, the team started the season with the end in mind, Wyatt Rohr said. “This year we knew where we wanted to end — at the world championships — and we achieved that, but we needed to figure out how we were going to get there.”

Using the design and engineering process, Jack Rohr explained, the team prepared for each contest by studying the rules, then building a robot to complete an objective. During the season the team continually tests its robot and works to improve it.

“There’s no such thing as good enough in robotics,” Wyatt Rohr said. “There’s always something to push forward to make it better.”

Communication is an important component of competition, and team members are constantly working to sharpen their interview skills.

“We have to understand how our robot works and explain it to the judges,” Jack Rohr said. “We also have to communicate with other teams to show them we are good alliance partners.”

Competitions pair teams together for different matches. At the world championship, the Triway robotics team had the opportunity to play alongside teams from Korea, China, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, Columbia, Canada and the United States during 10 qualifying matches.

During regular-season competition, the Triway robotics team earned a Sportsmanship Award for their interview skills and the completeness of their engineering notebook.

Werstler said the students learn from each other, and the older ones serve as mentors.

Sophomore Jack Rohr, who was encouraged to join the team by his brother Wyatt, has seen the possibilities in robotics and is excited for more. “It really has been a learning experience for me and what I can do with the opportunities,” he said.

Wood, also a sophomore, likes the troubleshooting aspect of robotics. “I’m a builder,” he said. “I like to see how things work.”

Senior Wyatt Rohr said he saw his role as helping younger students develop high-level thinking you see in STEAM.

By reaching the world championships, he said, “We’re showing Triway kids coming up that this is possible. We can go to great heights.”