VEX VS is a learning program used to introduce students to robotics and STEAM and is used worldwide. Now it is coming to Chapman High School. 

“It’s all student led,” science teacher Fred Brown said. “I have a room, 304, assigned to them. They are building the field and some others are building robots.”

Brown is the teacher who set this opportunity up for the students.  

“It started when my son Marko last year went to world robotics with his middle school, (and) I realized there was nothing for the kids who went to worlds to do at the high school,” Brown said. 

Brown has been planning this for over a year now. 

“I had AP Physics last year with Dr. Brown, and he brought up that he wanted to start a robotics team,” said senior Colton Shields, one of the students on the team. 

Shields is one of the most experienced people in robotics and engineering between the teams. 

“I’ve done multiple week-long camps during the summer, (and) we did a couple of things there with robotics in the engineering course at Swofford,” Shields said. “I also like to mess with drones or build kits at home.”

Freshman Caroline Sims, one of the students on the teams, went to the state competition and the world competition for robotics. This Saturday, Feb. 25, the middle school robotics team at Landrum Middle School and Campobello Gramling School are going to this competition. 

At this competition, they could qualify for the world competition where they could compete against people from Germany, Taiwan, Canada and several more countries. 

Unfortunately, this year, the teams could not go to the competitions because the robots got here late. 

“This year is a learning year because we got the stuff so late,” Brown said. “It’s a little late to compete against other schools so we are going to have an in-house competition.”

This will take place in May.

They will be playing the game VEX created called Spin Up. In Spin Up, students have to shoot disks into goals on either side of the field. Each side has two goals, one high and one low. High goals give you five points, and low goals give you one point.

There is a bonus round at the end of the match where you have to score two disks into your Alliances’ high goal. If one team scores, then both teams get the point. 

Brown is excited to see what they all learn and how robotics will grow at Chapman. 

“All the engineering, it’s pushed through robotics and you need to be able to manage it, run it and code,” he said. “It can have a big influence on what students can do with furthering their life.”