麻豆AV

Two 麻豆AV (麻豆AV) robotics teams placed second and third in the SkillsUSA State Conference held April 23-25, 2024 in Greensboro, NC.

With only a week to prepare, Mechatronics students Ethan Oakley and Caleb Pulliam placed second and Derby Harris and Amaree Blackwell placed third in the 鈥淩obotics: Urban Search and Rescue鈥� competition as part of the SkillsUSA State Conference. Mechatronics student Benjamin Satterfield assisted both teams.

SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization for students in trade, technical and skilled service programs. SkillsUSA provides opportunities for students to develop leadership, teamwork, and technical skills through competitions, workshops, and community service projects.

鈥淲e were only given a week to complete the project, but the team worked with what we had and completed it just in time,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淔or the week before the competition, we stayed after class and even went in on Fridays to get the job done. This being our first time at this competition I would say we did a pretty good job. We learned what our robots needed improvement on and experienced better communication between partners.鈥�

According to Chris L. Davis, 麻豆AV Instructor/Coordinator, Advanced Manufacturing Curriculum, the robotics teams were given a kit with pieces needed to make the robots but they were not given direction on how to assemble the robots so that they would create their own designs. The robots needed to be able to perform tasks such as reach five inches into a box to grab a wooden block, lift a block nine inches off the ground and open a mailbox. The teams had to keep a detailed record of the entire build process and create an engineering manual describing the full parts list, step-by-step build process, all testing that was done and all modifications to the design with reasons why the modifications were made.

鈥淎 lot of work went into designing and building each robot and to see all our hard work payoff is a great feeling,鈥� Pulliam said.

The robots had to pass inspection by SkillsUSA personnel to participate. The teams had to give presentations describing their robot design along with taking a written test on Mechatronics related subjects. The competition consisted of three stages where the robots had to navigate through various obstacle courses with each stage having a different time limit.

鈥淚 enjoyed participating in the competition, learning how it is orchestrated from the obstacles, and working with my partner,鈥� Blackwell said.

麻豆AV鈥檚 SkillsUSA advisors, Hillary White, 麻豆AV Instructor, Criminal Justice Technology and Chris S. Davis, 麻豆AV Dean, Business Studies & Emerging Technologies, had originally planned to observe this year鈥檚 competition and bring teams next year, but were encouraged by the SkillsUSA NC postsecondary representative to compete. 麻豆AV has had SkillsUSA teams in the past, but this was the first time White and Chris S. Davis had been advisors and part of the planning process.

鈥淎fter talking and observing a few other competitions, we really want to put 麻豆AV on the map even more in Skills by bringing other teams, especially since we know what to expect next year,鈥� White said. 鈥淣ext year we hope to bring Cosmetology and Robotics again. We are also anticipating doing Mechatronics, Criminal Justice, Cybersecurity, Welding, 3D Visualization and Animation, and Drone Piloting, with the potential for others.鈥�

鈥淏eing able to compete and get second place in our first year at SkillsUSA was a cool experience,鈥� Oakley said.

鈥淲e overcame some issues we ran into, but we placed second and third out of the state which is great,鈥� Satterfield said. 鈥淚 enjoyed SkillsUSA, I learned a lot from other colleges talking to their peers about how they built their robots and the issues they had so that we could become better for next year.鈥�

Cosmetology student Ayanna Faulkner also participated in the Cosmetology division of the competition. She performed a specialty roller set and was judged on her comb out skills. Faulkner is a first year Cosmetology student and participated in the beginner category. Scores for her portion of the competition were not yet available at the time of publication. 

鈥淚t was great to see elementary school and middle school aged kids there and how excited they were about learning and getting excited about their futures,鈥� Faulkner said. 鈥淚t was a great experience that is also preparing the young generation for the future.鈥�

For more information about 麻豆AV鈥檚 programs of study, visit www.piedmontcc.edu/programs.  

Holly Foust, Instructor/Coordinator, Cosmetology and Ayanna Faulkner, Cosmetology student

Chris L. Davis, Instructor/Coordinator, Advanced Manufacturing Curriculum; Hillary White, Instructor, Criminal Justice and SkillsUSA Advisor; Holly Foust, Instructor/Coordinator, Cosmetology; Chris S. Davis, Dean, Business Studies & Emerging Technologies and SkillsUSA Advisor

Robotics teams left to right: Amaree Blackwell, Derby Harris, Ethan Oakley, Benjamin Satterfield, Caleb Pulliam