Brandon Twp.- Robotics is back.
After years without a robotics team in the district, the school board approved Truck Town Thunder Robotics as the official Brandon/Holly team.
‘I’m excited about this team,? said Andrew Spiece, Brandon High School technology teacher and co-coach of TTTR, along with Tony Ceccacci. ‘Brandon needs something like this. It attracts more people to come to Brandon if you have a national competing team… We hope to keep up our winning ways.?
Years ago, Brandon had a robotics team, but it was disbanded due to a lack of a corporate sponsor to provide financial support. Truck Town Thunder Robotics was formed 12 years ago by General Motors and operated out of the GM Structural Lab in Pontiac. Last year, the building closed due to GM’s financial woes and the team’s leaders called Brandon administrators, looking for a new home.
The district agreed to provide that? and the team will be located at the high school, with use of the metal shop and technology lab. GM is continuing financial support for the team, which has qualified for national competition through the FIRST robotics league every year and was runner-up to the national champion last year.
Just by moving to Brandon High School, the size of the team has doubled. There will be 13 Brandon students and 10 Holly students on the team when the robotics season kicks off today with the FIRST organization giving teams a design challenge.
TTTR will have six weeks to build a robot and will meet three days a week from January through April, and compete in district and state competition. The national competition, which is actually a world event with other countries also participating, is planned for April. Spiece notes that team members learn a lot about engineering and technology.
‘It’s a sporting event for geeks,? he said. ‘It’s a place for that kid that never fit in. Now he has a team. We have a wide variety of students? ones that do the programming and ones that just want to build stuff.?
Maurice Nolin, a BHS junior who has been on the TTTR team for three years, welded 85 percent of the robot last year.
‘I’m a mechanical kind of guy,? he said. ‘I like everything about it, but the main thing I like is the competitions. They’re a blast? you get to travel and it’s a great time.?