By; Blake Graumann ’25

Today, the La Salle Robotics Club, or the Rambots, held their first information meeting. Around 15 people attended, with a few returning members from last year and a bunch of new members. Mr. Gray, the club Moderator and Physics Teacher, discussed the year-long agenda and expectations for the club. This year, we will be competing in two robotics competitions, with one held at Ponaganset High School here in RI and the other at the University of New Hampshire. We can foresee great competition at both events, with teams from across New England registering to compete. 

As for the expectations of the club, we are working to keep the robotics lab a safe and friendly environment. Before we start working on some basic projects, we dedicate one meeting for an overview of all the power tools and how to handle them safely to prevent injury especially for new members. Aside from safety, we also value communication, collaboration, and planning, to keep all members on board with the current ideas. At the start of the build season, which begins in January when we receive the initial challenge, we hope to get ideas from everyone on how to make our robot. So, when we have decided what we are going to build, the team can separate into groups to take on the different components of the robot. The groups, building, electronics, and pneumatics, communicate advances in their work with each other, so everyone is on the same page. When outside the robotics lab, we communicate via Slack, which is a professional messaging app, to share our research.

Even though there are adult supervisors, the Rambots are student lead, meaning the teachers step back and let the student members do all of the dirty work. When a problem arises, the team puts their heads together to solve instead of running to an adult. Since we are a LaSallian team, we value everyone’s ideas and suggestions, and we will never put each other down. We love to have a great time while building, and unwarranted negativity is not accepted. So, as we wait for the build season, we will prepare for the season ahead, and maybe, you could come to join us.