Mar 30, 2017
The Woodlawn High Robotics Team, Panthrobotics, competed at the Bayou Regional in New Orleans this past weekend. After spending the first day of the competition ranked fifth or higher, their robot, Chaos, ended the second day of Qualification Matches with a 5-3 record and ranked 21 out of sixty teams overall. They were selected by the eighth ranked alliance to play in the Quarterfinals but lost in a two and out battle against the first ranked alliance.
The 2016-2017 Robot at the Bayou Regional.
The drive-team, made up of Brennan Burleigh, Alisa Webb, Grayson Kring, Nick Nienaber, and drive-coach Jason Lejeune were complimented by many teams because of their strategic analysis and ability to score high-point games even against strong opponents. Also on the field was teacher and coach, Mr. Eiland who was asked to act as the Emcee for the entire event.
While the team is done for the season, they’ve already been invited to participate in an upcoming Robotics Day at the State Capital and will continue to work on improving their skills for next year.
Mar 6, 2017
Ashley Martin, ’17
EBR recently hosted their first annual “Float Your Boat” challenge. The premise of the challenge was to create a boat strictly out of cardboard and packing tape to float two people for one minute. Spending around a week designing and building, Woodlawn created about six boats for the challenge.
Upon arrival to the LSU campus’ dock, Woodlawn immediately began unloading their boats and checking for any damage that may have occurred during the ride. Each team met with the judges of the event and proceeded to place their boat in the water.
Most boats were able to hold two people for one minute, leading to the second part of the challenge. Now each boat was to hold three people for one minute and add another person to be held for an extra minute until the boat sank. Woodlawn was the school that created the boat that held the most people for the longest- ten people for an extra 10.79 seconds. At the end of the event, Woodlawn was designated the Performance Award for the boat holding that magnitude for such a length of time.
Feb 20, 2017
The Panthrobotics team has been working diligently to complete their competition robot for the past month and have one last week to complete the robot build process before going to their first competition March 9th through the 11th in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Panthrobotics work on building their competition robot for the 2017 season.
Panthrobotics will then complete in New Orleans at the Bayou Regional Competition at the end of March. If the robotics team place at either regional competition, they will travel to Houston, Texas to play for the First Robotics World Championship in April.
The competition robot must shoot whiffle balls into two goals of differing heights, deliver a gear to a gear drive train, and climb a 6 foot rope from the floor to score points. The robot must be designed and built from scratch by student team members. The team has been busy fabricating a robot that can outscore teams from not only the country, but also the world. Mr. Eiland and Mr. Frazier and the Panthrobotics team are preparing for an incredibly exciting competition season.
Panthrobotics team members will continue to meet every evening from 4 pm until 7 pm to complete the Robot build process.
Jan 20, 2017
Madisyn McAlister ’18, Staff Reporter
On January 7, 2017, Woodlawn High School’s Panthrobotics team gathered at LSU’s Baton Rouge campus for the reveal of the FIRST Robotics Competition new game.
Christopher Duong works during build season.
The school’s robotics team hosted what is called a Kickoff event at Louisiana State University’s Digital Media Center where the team and many other teams throughout the area could watch the world wide release of FIRST’s new FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) game for the 2017 season. The game for this year is titled “STEAMWORKS” and is heavily based on Steampunk. In addition to Steampunk, the game this year pushes the idea of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) representing FIRST more than the idea of S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). This annual event was hosted by Panthrobotics, the LSU STEP program, Center for Computation and Technology, and Louisiana State University.
Earl Walker at a Panthrobotics meeting.
Once the reveal was over, Panthrobotics members helped pass out the FIRST provided kit of parts to the other teams. When all the teams had left, Panthrobotics went to eat lunch at Newk’s for a short break. After eating members rushed back to the Digital Media Center and started reading. The team separated into small groups and went to reading and analyzing the STEAMWORKS game manual. After reading and discussing in their small groups, the team came back together to compare notes and ideas. Once the team agreed on their top priorities, they left for home, excited for build season to start that upcoming Monday.
Build season is the six weeks given to FIRST Robotics Competition teams to build a robot that will complete the tasks of this year’s “STEAMWORKS” game. Panthrobotics first official day of build was Monday January 9th. The robotics team build site is the school’s ag room. Panthrobotics team members are building after school 4pm-7pm Monday through Thursday, 5pm-9pm Friday, and 10am-7pm Saturdays, the team gets Sundays off.
Dec 12, 2016
by Madisyn McAlister, Staff Reporter
Woodlawn High School’s robotics team, Panthrobotics, traveled to Intralox in New Orleans on November 17th to help recruit more mentors for FIRST Robotics.
A small group consisting of Panthrobotics members took a field trip to Intralox located in New Orleans. Intralox is a manufacturer that “offers comprehensive conveyance solutions including conveyor belting, conveyor equipment, and services to help you optimize your plant.” Intralox has been a continuous supporter of FIRST Robotics. Intralox asked Panthrobotics to assist with a presentation for inspiring those who work at Intralox to become a FIRST Robotics mentor.
The small group included: Mr. Eiland (Coach), Mr. Jason Lejeune (Assistant Coach, volunteer mentor), Christian Lejeune (Build Captain), Madisyn McAlsiter (Outreach Coordinator), and Kohl Cleveland (Rookie). This group represented Woodlawn High School and the organization FIRST Robotics at the mentor recruitment presentation. Mr. Eiland, acting as his position of FIRST Senior Mentor of Louisiana, was one of the few speakers for the event and was in charge of describing FIRST Robotics and all of its little details to those attending the presentation. The students assisted with the presentation by demonstrating the team’s robot and talking one on one with those attending the event about FIRST, mentors, and Panthrobotics.
“It should be a really interesting experience.” said Christian Lejeune before attending the actual event, and it seems that his assumptions were correct.
