A Plum High School’s robotics team recently took home the gold in the Southwestern Pennsylvania BotsIQ regional competition.

Senior Michael Schorr drove Polaris, a bot built for battle, to first place in the gladiator-style contest at the Commonwealth Charter Academy’s TechWorks in Homestead.

Plum competed against nine other schools May 11.

“Their part of it was against some of the heaviest hitters,” said BotsIQ Executive Director Michel Conklin. “Some of our traditional grand champions and first-place teams were on that day. The toughest competition was on that day.”

BotsIQ is a program of the Pittsburgh Chapter National Tooling & Machining Foundation. Its mission is to provide hands-on learning experiences that introduce students to manufacturing careers.

It hosted three other days of competitions with other schools in May, one more in Homestead and two at Robert Morris University. Overall, 36 teams from 28 schools competed.

Conklin said the contest was broken up that way instead of its traditional larger and all-inclusive competition due to the pandemic. There are 15 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania involved in BotsIQ.

Each day of this year’s competition had a winner. A grand champion will be determined in June. It will be based on their overall score of the battle and the required written documentation.

Conklin said there will be no national contest due to covid, but they are pleased to provide the students with something after having to cancel everything last year.

Plum also had a second team in the contest. Junior Dylan Piel drove Dojo, which came in seventh overall.

Schools that were defeated include Bedford Area, East Allegheny, Frazier, Hempfield Area, Pine-Richland and Southmoreland high schools.

Pros help kids’ effort

Alexandra Robert, Plum teacher and BotsIQ advisor, said part of the experience involves students learning from professionals during the robot development process.

Mat Resnick, a computer numerical control programmer from Innovative Controls Inc., helped Plum make parts for Polaris’ frame. Jennison Manufacturing made the beater bar weapon for the bot.

Send Cut Send, an online laser and CNC cutting service provided the team with a sponsorship discount, which helped them manufacture the parts needed for Dojo.

Plum also received the MasterCam Design Challenge grant from the National Robotics League and was awarded $1,000 toward bot building this season.

Robert worked with teacher and fellow BotsIQ advisor Jodi Schorr to guide Plum’s 13 robotics students.

Overcoming adversity

Work began in September, and they faced some challenges along the way to victory.

“The kids worked extremely hard, and we are very proud of them,” Robert said. “We were kind of the underdogs in some sense. This is the first year that Mrs. Schorr and I ran this club together. Our CNC was and still is not working. We had a smaller budget than normal. We could not have as many in-person meetings as usual and more.

“This is a student-run club, so when we encountered these issues, instead of us (advisors) jumping in and solving the problems for the students, we were open with the students and we had the students work as a team to take initiative and work through each issue. In the real world, no one is going to jump in and solve your issues. You need to slow down, look at the issue(s), make a plan, and problem-solve your way through it.

“Yes, a winning bot is what we strive for. But the real goal is to teach these students valuable lessons that they can take with them outside the classroom and into their day-to-day life.”

Bedford Area High School’s second team won the May 17 contest. Greene County Homeschoolers won on May 25 and Punxsutawney Area High School won on the final day, May 27.

Go to BotsIQPA.org for more information.

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