Two school years ago, Kingsley's former woodshop teacher retired, leaving the shop class empty and putting a gap in KHS' elective offerings. Dozens of former woodshop students were left without an outlet to work with their hands during the school day.
That's when KHS tech teacher, Mr. Dan Harbold, started Robotics.
The class teaches students how to build, design, operate, and fix RC robots that can drive and navigate specific obstacles. His students learn how to program their creations to pick things up, move them, and face off in engineering-based challenges.
"We started with just learning the driving part. We had to do a little obstacle courses and then we also learned how to program around a course with a chart," said Mr. Harbold.
In 2020, the class included an after-school opportunity for kids to compete with their robots.
"Last year, we registered 16 teams, and [due to COVID] we were allowed to compete here, against each other, at KHS. It was like an invitational, but we were the only ones invited. Each class competed and got a winner," he said.
This year, he hopes to have his Robotics students compete with other schools in the area.
"It’s a great opportunity for those kids who may not want to go off and do sports teams, but they want to compete," said Mr. Harbold.
“I took the class just because I was already kind of into building stuff in general in the first place, and then just seeing that I could build robots and stuff. It’s pretty fun, and it’s my favorite class."
-Ethan Lyon, Freshman (right)
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To learn more about Kingsley Robotics, email Mr. Dan Harbold at dharbold@kingsleyschools.org