Waterford Today

The Millennium Middle School Robo Toasters visited officials of the South Lyon Community School District at the district's Feb. 7 board meeting.

The students—both the blue and orange teams—presented their programs and each team’s success to the board. Among the highlights of the presentation were robot presentations by both squads, along with the point that so many students were interested in participating in the robotics team that it had to be divided.

Superintendent Steven Archibald noted that parents of the students should be extremely proud.

“I did the math real quick and most of you should still be in school by the time I retire,” Archibald said in the meeting. “So, I don't have to worry about job competition there. But I tell you, what I heard was teamwork, what I heard was critical thinking, what I heard was problem solving. The answers to the questions which you had no idea were coming based on what was going to happen today, were so thorough and well thought out and grounded is just absolutely phenomenal. I'll tell you, you thanked a lot of people and we thank you because you make us incredibly proud. It's an honor for us to have you representing the district any time you're out in a competition or involvement there. So absolutely amazing and thank you.”

In December, the blue team won the Southeast Michigan League tournament and went to the state competition. The biggest issue with their robot was installing new belts on the machine, having to moved the engines around to do so. Jack, the blue team's only returning member, helped instruct his teammates and members of the orange team in coding their robots.

The orange team also shared their robot, which won the winning alliance at Hartland Robotics qualifier and thereby gained eligibility for the state championship. Among the issues they faced was finding the right dynamics to make their robot more agile.