PAHS students compete in national robotics tournament | News
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Not too many students would enjoy doing math and science projects at their school until 2 a.m. on a Friday night, but the Weather Capital Robotics Team at Punxsutawney Area High School has certainly proven to be the exception.
Recently, the Punxsutawney Area High School’s robotics team competed in the two-day national tournament hosted by BotsIQ at Robert Morris University. Punxsutawney, among 33 other teams, met some of its toughest competition yet.
Punxsy’s robot, “Rider in Red,” had significant success in the arena leading up to this national competition –taking second place at Westmoreland County Community College’s preliminary competition and second place among 64 other teams at the regional competition at Penn West California University of Pennsylvania.
After a difficult first day, and despite winning the first bout, advisor Kevin Hughes said the students were at the school until 2 a.m. making repairs and troubleshooting their robot. On Saturday, day two of the competition, team members’ dedication and hard work paid off.
Punxsutawney placed fourth nationally; and while it may not have been the achievement they hoped for, Hughes noted that the students came back with a wealth of knowledge from the experience.
“Several of the students have already begun working on designs for next year and plan to develop ideas using AutoDesk Inventor over the summer” Hughes said. “For me, as a teacher, seeing the students react under pressure…this is a tremendous group of students.”
