Toro awards Robotics Grant to PHS Students
The Robotics program at Perry High School is gearing up to begin designing, testing and building robots for upcoming contests.
Materials, tools, resources, and equipment to construct these types of machines come with sizeable expenses, so the program instructor, Mr. Zagar and his students sought out funding. They were connected with local Toro employee, Melanie McGuire, who informed them about a grant opportunity through the Toro Foundation that specifically supports robotics programs in Toro’s local company communities. Toro has built a legacy of giving back to the communities where their employees live and work.
Perry High School was granted $7,000 from the Toro Foundation to help with their project expenses.
The Robotics class plans to build an AI robot and a VEX robot. “I want students to learn the process of designing and building a robot that requires working with my CAD class to draw the robot to specs and having to 3D print parts,” says Zagar. “The CAD class is a different hour so communication is important when a process like this is going on.”
The students will compete in the Oklahoma Technology Student Association’s VEX Robotics Competition (VRC). VRC enables students to challenge themselves in a fun and interactive game setting while engaging in a thought-provoking, multidisciplinary, STEM activity. Each year, an engineering challenge is presented in the form of a game where participants build innovative robots to compete. Students will operate the robot to play the game, which will be similar to soccer, then they must program the robot to run autonomously for a certain amount of time.
This class will teach students to be creative, think outside the box, research parts, design, assemble, and work together as a team. In the process, they’ll get a taste of electrical engineering, hardwiring, software programs and other skills that will benefit them after high school.