DANVILLE — William Samples Jr. holds a controller in his hand, with a robot in front of him. He pushes the left and right analog sticks, moving the Frankenstein robotic creation toward a lego-style tower holding plastic orange discs.
One of the robot’s two arms nestles under the tower’s lift, which holds around seven discs. Samples presses one of the several buttons on the controller, causing the robot’s arm to fling upward bringing the seven discs down onto the work surface.
Samples doesn’t smile in approval or shout in excitement; his eyes stay fixed on the robot, the goal of bringing every disc down onto the work surface.
Samples is one of several elementary students involved in Danville’s Elementary Robotics club, which started only two years ago.
In those two years, he is among five students James Malone, Kyler Sanders, Logan Joseph and Riley Malone, who won the state robotics competition, paving the way for a trip to the international robotics competition in Dallas, Texas from May 2 to 4.
The trip is estimated to cost around $77,000, coach and gifted teacher Shelley Langdon said. Fundraising for the trip is underway, with around a six weeks to go before the competition begins.
With fundraising already underway, Langdon is trying to raise between $10,000-12,000 for the trip.
As of Monday morning, $1,135 donated through credit card donations, according to Treasurer Tonya Mickley.
If the team members go to Dallas, they’ll be able to meet kids from around the world.
“One of the great things about it is when they go to a competition, they join up with another team so whatever school they’re from for the finals, they’re put with that team,” Langdon said. “So they have to learn who the team is and work together, (find out) what your robot can do, what mine can do.”
The club is growing in popularity with more kids wanting to join every year, Langdon said. It recently expanded to the middle school.
In future years, Langdon hopes there’s a high school robotics team built from elementary and middle school students who’ve gone through the ranks.
A typical day for the team is running tests on the robot, seeing if it’s operating properly, Samples said. The team’s latest robot took around three days to complete, with variations implemented throughout the season.
“There’s usually somebody over here working on something and we test the robot. Sometimes we program, then we come in after school during our meet days, which is on Thursday. Then we have time to work on it with our full team.”
The robotic club meets after school and in study hall, since it’s not a class, Langdon said.
“I have fourth, fifth and sixth graders who do this,” Langdon said. “You have to have a time when you can get them in all at the same time to work.”
The team has not only grown in sheer numbers but also in their competitive skills.
“They’re high achievers and this is really almost a Cinderella story for them,” Langdon said. “Last year was their first year and they struggled a lot.
“They were the little kids on the team and this year they struggled a bit in the first meet. Then their second meet, they just came out of nowhere.”
Langdon also sees her students as self-starters, learning how to program by using a block-coding program. It’s also a way for students to become friends and grow communication skills.
“The first year I joined to see what it was like,” Samples said. “I really enjoy it (the club) because I’m close with these guys and I just love driving it (the robot.)”
Danville Elementary robotics team going for world title
By Larry Gibbs, Knox Educational Service Center
DANVILLE – Fifth-grader Will Samples knows exactly why his Danville Elementary School robotics team – the Danville Potato Devils – is heading to Texas to compete for a world championship.
“We’re like a family,” he said. “We work together. If we have a problem, we solve it.”
The Potato Devils – which also includes James Malone, Logan Joseph, Kyler Sanders and Riley Malone – won the 2023 Ohio VEX IQ Slapshot Elementary State Championship March 10 in Marion. Next up is the VEX World Championships May 2 to 4 in Dallas. Eight hundred teams from across the United States and around the globe will compete.
VEX Robotics sells educational robotics equipment and programs to schools throughout the world. On its web site, VEX describes its products and skills competitions by proclaiming, “It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get.”
The Marion state competition involved teams of two schools, paired randomly, using their robots in teamwork fashion to score as many points as possible in 60-second rounds on a 6’ x 8’ field. The scoring objects were 45 orange, 2.5-inch diameter plastic discs which were stored in towers. The robots knocked the discs from the towers then maneuvered to slapshot them under a low bar to the other side of the field, which is marked with squares of varying point value.
“We were paired with a team from Monroeville, which also placed first,” said Potato Devils adviser Shelley Langdon. “The Potato Devils were fifth and the Monroeville team was sixth going into the finals. They had one chance – one 60-second round – to work together to score as high as they could. That is what got them the championship.”
The tower-like robots are provided by VEX but students determine how they perform.
“A lot depends on how we build our robot,” Kyler, a fifth-grader, said. “We can choose the ways we control it. We can change the gear ratios.”
“The robot’s main brain holds all of the information,” Will explained. “We can upload changes to the motors connected to the drivetrain and the spinners.”
James, a fifth-grader, said he became interested in robotics after watching the robotic combat of BattleBots on TV with his dad. His sister Riley also is on the Potato Devils team.
“I thought I would like to be like them,” James said of the BattleBots competitors.
Sixth-grader Logan, who said he watched BattleBots with his grandpa, already has a career in mind.
“I want to be an engineer,” he said.
Danville’s robotics program, only in its second year, includes five other elementary teams and two middle school teams which meet after school weekly.
The middle school coach is Marie Mosher.
Langdon has high praise for the Potato Devils.
“The thing about this group is that they are extremely motivated,” she said. “They come in to work on robotics during study halls or recess. They are very intelligent and very good at problem solving.”
The Danville Local Schools website notes that the team has worked hard at fundraising, but still needs $10,000 to $12,000 for the trip to Texas.
The team’s $1,200 Dallas registration fee will be paid from a $5,000 donation by Brian and Cindy Montgomery of Centerburg through America’s Farmers Grow Communities, a Bayer Fund program. The Montgomerys’ donation, channeled through the Knox Educational Service Center, also paid for the Potato Devils’ $800 registration fee for the VEX state qualifier in Pickerington. The remaining $3,000 will be used to purchase robotics equipment for Centerburg Local Schools.
Tax-deductible donations to help the Potato Devils pay for travel, hotel and other expenses may be sent to Shelley Langdon, Robotics Advisor, PO Box 30, Danville, Ohio 43014. Checks should be made payable to Danville Local Schools. More information is available on the Danville Local Schools website.
