The Hopkins High School Tech Vikes robotics team placed first and won the Excellence in Engineering Award at a competition at East Kentwood March 7 and now is headed to Grand Valley State University March 20 and 21 for the next level.
Hopkins currently is ranked 12th out of 340 teams in the State of Michigan
The robotics team members started construction of their 2015 robot on Jan. 3. The challenge this year is to pickup and stack large plastic totes. Teams of three robots must stack the totes on a raised platform. Teams earn extra points if they can place a 32-gallon plastic barrel on top of the stack.
The team from Hopkins, made up of 24 high school students and five adults, had six weeks to conceive, design, build and program the robot.
Hopkins team members built a robot that not only can do all of the game elements under human control, but can also complete an autonomous program that no other robot can attempt. The very ambitious autonomous portion of the game is worth extra points and is the reason the team won the competition at Kentwood.
The top robotics teams in Michigan will compete at the Michigan Championship on April 9-11. From there, the top teams qualify for the World Championships in St. Louis Mo., April 22-25, 2015.
The Hopkins “Tech Vikes” robotics team members celebrate their first-place finish and special award at the competition at East Kentwood High School earlier this month. (Photo supplied)
