Rocky Point Middle School Students Join New Robotics Club

The new Robotics Club at Rocky Point Middle School has been drawing student interest as a way to express their creativity.

The club, advised by teachers Dorothy Burns and Mark Moorman with the assistance of parent volunteer Dr. Chris Pinkenburg, is open to students in grades 6-8. The club meets twice a week to work on their robotic prototypes.

This December, the club made its inaugural debut at the Robotics League Practice Tournament at Farmingdale State College.

Breaking into two teams, the students competed against 38 other Long Island teams during four rounds of competition. Through the first three rounds, the school’s Radical Robotix team held onto first place, while the Robo Eagles sat securely in fifth place. After the final round of competition, both teams finished in the top 10 and were named second-and eighth-place winners, respectively.

To prepare for this contest and their first official competition in January, the students worked with their advisers to learn about the intricacies of building a Lego robot, how to program its corresponding computer chip and how to successfully navigate that robot through an obstacle course to complete a series of tasks.