The computer science program has been doing the Robotics unit for multiple years, but after a brief stop to the unit due to limited hardware access, the program had strayed away from the robotics unit.

According to freshmen Garrett Keenan the class has been working on programming the robots to accomplish certain tasks.

“We’ve been working with some recent coding software with the EV3 robots and we’ve been just seeing if we are able to get them to do certain tasks in the most efficient way we can think of,” Kennan said.

Although Kennan has not been in the class for long, he plans to continue the Computer Science pathways as an elective for his coming years in high school.

“I’m greatly considering it, it’s been a fun class so far,” Kennan said, “it’s been teaching me some good stuff and I think I’d like to continue it.”

Kennan feels that he enjoys the robotics unit, but there are some problems that can go along with the coding process.

“The most challenging part is probably just figuring out how all the code works with each other,” Kennan said, “because everything has to flow smoothly and if there’s one little mistake it can mess up the entire program so just having to look through and just fix all those mistakes and just finding them, in general, can get pretty challenging.”

Keenan believes that the most rewarding part of Robotics is when you’re finally able to make everything work and come together.

“It’s just a nice scene of pride and accomplishment because of how annoying it can be and time-consuming but once it’s working and you see it working it’s a good feeling,” Kennan said.

According to Zachary Minear, Though the robots at times can be quite inconsistent, working on perfecting the code can help get the job done.

“Occasionally If you perfect the code then you run it twice It’ll do slightly different things but it’s pretty easy to adjust to,” Minear said.

Minear has done coding with different programs in the past, but this is his first time using the Lego EV3 Bricks.

“In the past, I’ve done something called sphero, it’s the same kind of code, just a different robot.” Minear said.”

Keenan sees the class as a great way to obtain many important problem-solving skills in a fun and engaging way.

“I think that it’s a good program and I think more students should take it because the skills you need and the skills you have to practice for it can be very helpful in life,” Kennan said.