The triumphant close to The Thunder Stamps competitive season was worthy of a parade.
And that is exactly what took place last week at Parkside Collegiate Institute.
The team logged a semifinal finish at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship in Houston, Texas and crafted the only robot in the event that could jump.
Mentor Scott Whitlock of ETBO Tool & Die explains what goes into constructing the robot.
Team captain Sydney Stover says they named this year’s robot Darth Theta after the eighth letter in the Greek alphabet.
Stover admits the parade for Darth Theta through the school halls is not something that happens every day and made team members feel they were taking on rock star status.
It’s one thing to re-design your robot in just six weeks or so for the upcoming competition season. But for The Thunder Stamps to program their robot to actually jump, well that’s a leap of faith.
Third-year team member Julian DeVries describes the reaction they’ve savored at the events they’ve competed in this year.
DeVries adds although the team has competed at this level previously, this year with a robot that can jump “was unique in that we had a robot that stood out.”
Written by Ian McCallum
