NASA Grant Makes Dreams Come True for Ramona High School Robotics Team

The Ramona High School robotics team will be taken to new heights this year thanks to a $5,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to expand design capabilities and competition opportunities for the school at large.

“This grant is a huge help to our program. We were awarded the $5,000 as a sustainability grant because, due to budget cuts in the corporate world, we lost several of our sponsors,” said team adviser and RHS mathematics teacher, Rick Waters.

Gary Groenwold, team vice president, added that the grant is extremely helpful and the entire funding for the team comes from fundraising and sponsorships. For a long time, they’ve been wishing to enter a second competition, but it wasn’t in the budget.

During the robotics season, the NASA grant will not only enable them to compete in two competitions instead of just one, but also give them the ability to build their robot.

Like any other sport, the competition season for robotics teams is known as the robotics season. Running for six weeks, the robotic season will kick-off January 5, 2013, culminating in regional competitions all over the country.

In March 2013, the San Diego Regional event will be held at the Viejas Arena, formerly the San Diego Sports Arena.

A basic kit consisting of a frame, motors, wheels and a bit of hardware, along with rules and parameters for building their robot, will be provided to each team when the season opens early January next year.

The robots must be designed to play some sort of game, and every year it’s different. Last year, the models were required to shoot baskets. Prior to that, they were required to build a robot that would pick up inflatable rings and place them on a peg board, as well as robot to kick a soccer ball into a net.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida. Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.