A programmer tightens the bolts and boots up the computer. Lists of programming codes stream across the screen. Another student takes hold of the controller. The robot sits motionless in the corner of the playing field, ready for activation. Colored cones strewn across the field wait patiently. The clock begins to count down. Tension rises within the teams of four. Around the world, robots compete with one another for one simple goal: stacking colored cones into a stable tower.

For the past three years, the Revere Robotics Team has competed in VEX Robotics Competitions with four teams: A, B, C and D. Along with sponsorship from NASA, VEX exists to connect students, mentors and schools all around the world to a variety of successful and engaging technology-based programs.

This year’s competition, In the Zone, requires robots to lift, carry and stack small yellow and big red and blue cones in certain sections on a 12’ by 12’ field. In a time of one minute and forty-five seconds, a robot controlled by computer programming and a small remote must stack and move cones for the most points possible. Students created coding through Robot C++, a basic programming system created by Carnegie Mellon. The different combinations of letters and symbols create formulas for the robot to follow and decipher into movements and actions. Competitions host on average sixty teams of students with one robot per team. Once teams arrive at the competition, check-in and robot inspection occurs, and if a robot does not pass a judge’s inspection, it does not compete. The teams then proceed to the qualification rounds, which can differ in number depending on the amount of teams participating. Only eight teams move onto quarter-finals, then semi-finals and eventually finals. Winners of competitions achieve a slot in the VEX state competitions, and if a team succeeds in states, then the task of winning the VEX World Championships stands in their way.

Robotics, digital design and photography teacher Joseph Silvestri worked with robotics for the past five years. In the first two years, robotics existed as a club but then it evolved into two classes, Robotics I and Robotics II. Silvestri explained the curriculum of the two classes.

“Robotics I is just an introductory class to robotics. [The class] gets VEX robotics kits, and what we bufild is called a square bot. . . . The point is to take it seriously but try to think outside the box and make something. . . . Along the way, [students] learn the basics of coding. . . . The whole objective [of Robotics II] is to build competition robots and go out and do VEX Robotics competitions,” Silvestri said.

Building robots also takes a lot of time. A basic square bot built in Robotics I took a week, but a more complicated competition bot took months due to constant testing, evaluating and adjusting. Senior Madison Stumbaugh participates in her second year of robotics. Stumbaugh ommented on the different capabilities of the robots, since the four robots have different functions.

“Three of our robots stack cones pretty well. Two of our robots use scissor jacks. Scissor jacks basically condense like how scissors open wide and it extends up [to grab cones.] We have another bot that also stacks cones that uses a six-bar lift. All the robots can stack except for one, [the Team B bot.] That robot can move the red and blue cones into the highest scoring zone that we have,” Stumbaugh said.

This year the teams participated in four competitions. For the last competition on February 16, Revere travelled to Lorain High School to compete against sixty-two teams from eighteen different schools, the largest competition this season. Senior and Team C captain Jason Shimek commented on his involvement with robotics and the competition’s results.

“What excites me most about robotics is the ability to freely build basically anything I want within reason. Friday’s competition went well for my team despite a mediocre final rank, [which was forty-fourth],” Shimek said.

Team C also included senior Joe Mangus. Team A, including junior captain Charlie Mickey, Stumbaugh and junior Corbin Stapinski, placed seventeenth. Team B, including senior captain Michael Scolaro, junior Bradley Garrison and sophomore Essa Essa, placed fifty-second. Team D, including captain Cameron Shaw, Devin Zeller, and Roger Mortimer, placed eleventh. Mickey elaborated on his experience in robotics.

“I enjoy the challenge and the freedom. When we face a problem, we can solve it in almost any way we want to, but we have to think of the solution using the materials we are given,” Mickey said.

Robotics, according to Silvestri, has not reached its high point in popularity at Revere, even though it flourishes in other parts of the world. Silvestri elaborated on robotics and its relatabilty.

“This is a big deal that lots of people in this district haven’t really realized. A few look beyond the borders of the district a little . . . It’s a good mash of brains and brawn. You’re just not out in the field, you’re just controlling it,” Silvestri said.

The robots stand still, waiting for the clock to start. In the minds of teammates, the VEX Championship sits on the line, just out of reach. As the buzzer sounded for the start of a qualifying round, Revere’s team strived for their cones to tower over their opponents’.