Bits and pieces of metal lay across tables or assembled in drawers. Sturdy robots oversee the room, and among them, in the process of being built, is a large can-crushing robot for the purpose of recycling — a specific criterion of a $5,000 grant that the Robotics Team received from aluminum production companies Ball and Novelis.
The team receives money from Lab to sponsor their robot building, but according to mechanical lead Jay Molony, the amount is not enough to compete at the level they want, so they have also applied for and received grants for the upcoming season in January.
“This was a large chunk of money we could apply for, and now that we have it, funding the season will be a lot easier,” Jay said.
The $5,000 grant will be used to build a robot that promotes recycling.
“We received the $5,000 grant to create what they’re calling the Can-Bot, which is basically some sort of interactive robot that is able to take in and hold up to 100 aluminum cans for recycling collection,” said robotics coach Darren Fuller.
Construction of this can-crushing robot is already underway, and the robotics team hopes to finish it in the next month. They also plan to involve the lower school in the construction.
“We’re going to ask lower school students to imagine what a recycling robot would look like and then draw a picture and write about what it will do,” Mr. Fuller said.
The robotics team will then pick winners from each class, and as a reward their homeroom will get demonstrations of the team’s robots and a tour of the robotics classroom.
Mr. Fuller noted that the robot will be noncompetitive, but the team still plans to get a lot of use out of it.
Mr. Fuller said, “We’ll take it to competitions, have it around the school and take it into the community as a tool to promote recycling.”