The Coral Gables High School Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program has embraced a new chapter of education with the reintroduction of Robotics Competitions. Robotics is returning to the JROTC curriculum, teaching cadets a new way to use their leadership and technical skills.
JROTC is a government-funded program available in high schools across the U.S., aimed at teaching students leadership, citizenship and military history, ultimately promoting maturity to its members. Although it has a military focus, its main goal is to prepare students for success in any career.
“JROTC has always been about making students better citizens, giving them the right tools and leadership skills to make them a better person, so they can go out in the community and they can function as a good citizen,” said JROTC sponsor Michael Gibson.
This year, the JROTC program is returning to its roots and reintroducing its robotics program, this time, with the addition of drone technology. The curriculum will include drone races and programming challenges, preparing cadets for both campus and county competitions.
The return of the robotics program has faced challenges in the past year due to limited resources, primarily because there has only been one instructor available to manage the program. However, the introduction of another instructor this year will help facilitate the job and further prepare the students. The robotics branch of JROTC in Gables was cut previously due to a lack of funding and student interest. For years, the school didn’t have enough resources or cadets involved to keep it going. However, last year’s students pushed to bring it back, showing their enthusiasm for the program and hands-on learning. Thanks to their efforts, this year the JROTC program finally reinstated robotics.
This year, the focus will include drone races and robotics programming challenges. The drone competitions will mostly feature races, where participants must navigate drones through various courses. On the robotics side, the VEX robotics competitions will emphasize programming, autonomous mode and obstacle navigation. VEX Robotics is a renowned educational and competitive robotics program designed to inspire students to engage with science, technology, engineering and math through hands-on learning and teamwork. The robots will complete tasks like placing donut shaped objects onto racks for points, while also climbing a central bar structure for higher scores.
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In addition to competing, the JROTC team will host a VEX robotics competition at Gables, adding to the excitement and competitiveness found in the program. Preparation for these events involves training in both drone handling and robot programming, as the teams aim to succeed in this year’s competitions.
“The only requirement for the robotics program is that you have to be a JROTC student. You could do multiple teams per school, I think the minimum is like 2 or 3, but we are looking for one team as of right now,” junior Matthew Castano said.
Collaboration with the school’s engineering club has been vital. The engineering teacher has allowed students to extend their practice sessions after school, giving them more time to work on their robots. The team has already secured the necessary equipment, including robots, their parts and competition arenas, but the main obstacle remains finding enough time to practice.
“Our goal this year is to try and compete in as many competitions as we can, so we can at least make the state competition; ideally, we would love to compete in the national competition out in Dallas,” said JROTC sponsor Michael Gibson.
Despite the challenges they have faced, the team is making progress in preparing for upcoming competitions. Starting on Sept. 27, the robotics team will be convening every day after school to continue practicing and programming their robots to perform as needed. The extra time and dedication are crucial for tuning the robots’ movements and ensuring they can successfully complete the competition tasks.
“During our period 7, we also work on the robots in the JROTC robotics lab, and we get more time to work together and figure out the strengths of each member in the team,” junior Matthew Castano said.
Looking ahead, the JROTC robotics program aims to become a permanent part of Gables. Over the next few years, the team plans to strengthen its foundation and improve on their skills and strategies to compete at higher levels. As part of their preparation, the team is focusing on refining their techniques and strategies for the upcoming meet in Tennessee. They are dedicating extra practice time to ensure they are well-prepared to showcase their hard work and skills at the competition.
