Sports of the Mind: Hamden Hall Robotics Takes on Competition

Imagine a sport focused on innovation, design, engineering, and battling bots. The Upper School Robotics Program has now been elevated to a sport with the goal of competition against various schools.

“Robotics takes time, strategy, and countless hours of practice,” said Upper School Robotics advisor and math teacher Robert Link. “As with any athletic sport, building robots ready for competition takes teamwork and adapting under pressure. With the change in the program, I am excited to see the interest grow amongst students and the recognition of Robotics being an interscholastic sport.”

With the change in the program, the competition season takes place in both the fall and winter. The first competition of the season was scrimmage match against 12 other teams hosted at Greens Farms Academy on Saturday, October 26. The Hamden Hall Robotics Team 1 won the scrimmage match. The three official competitions will follow in November, December, and January. These competitions will allow for the team to prepare for the VEX Competition in the spring.

The students and Mr. Link began preparations for the upcoming season over the summer and mapped out the blueprint model for the two robots they are designing for the competition. The initial first step was to build out the competition field, which follows the same specs and dimension each competition season. Using the programming software Fusion 360 for modeling, the team finalized the design and worked on assembling the robots. As part of the construction, the students cut all the metal to length and even used 3D printing for some design aspects.

With the school year underway, the team meets three times a week for practice. The practices consist of programming the robots and the different driver controls, working through different testing errors, and making any necessary modifications.

While the transition presented a learning curve, Mr. Link noted that the students are ready and that the programming in Python allows the team to streamline its approach and to focus on the specific programming needed to be innovative and ready to compete at the highest level.

“The students have such an enthusiasm and passion for Robotics that is evident in practice,” said Mr. Link. “They not only enhance their learning of STEM and its practical applications, but critical thinking and problem-solving skills.”