Claremore Students To Compete In Robot Competition

Joshua Brakhage, News On 6

CLAREMORE, Oklahoma -- Some Green Country teenagers are behind a world-class robot.

The Claremore High School students are learning math, engineering, and sometimes, foreign languages. But this isn't class. This is cut-throat competition.

"Right now the boys are working on the 'bot that we're taking to the world competition, Jill," Denise Kimblern, Pre-Engineering teacher, said.

Their creation is The Vex 5197B, or Jill.

It's a follow up from their first robot Jack and is built with some of Jack's parts. Jill's performance in preliminary competitions earned the team a spot in worlds.

"I think we'll do pretty well," Cody West, a student, said. "I mean, we've got a great system design and she's fast and that will be to our advantage."

Jill is driven both by remote control, and by computer programming. Students have to tell the robot what to do and give it a strategy before the competition ever begins.

"It's kinda like playing a video game," Ryan Billings, a student, said. "It's all adrenaline, it's pretty thrilling, it's a blast."

The team works two to three days a week, three hours a day, on top of baseball, soccer, after-school jobs and homework.  All building a gizmo that's part RC car, part that claw game from the arcade and 100 percent world-class.

The team needs to raise $13,000 dollars for the trip to the world competition in Orlando next month.

If you would like to donate, you can send your donation to:

Claremore High School, Attn: Denise Kimblern
1910 N Florence Avenue
Claremore, OK 74017