Robotics is one of the many distinctive programs at St. Edward High School. Recently, the Robotics program has extended its outreach and has paired with St. Joseph Academy through STARs (Students Teaching About Robotics) to teach grade school students about robotics.

The plan of action calls for the students of St. Ed’s and St. Joe’s to help elementary students from Incarnate Word Academy and St. Christopher create mini soccer robots using Legos. The students will then participate in a soccer competition in early November at St. Joseph Academy. The students will have these “WeDo” Lego robots pre-programmed to fight it out to claim glory over their opponents, most likely in a penalty shootout format. The bots consist of a goalie, a kicker, and screaming fans, all of which will be built by the students.

Creating these mini Lego robots is only the skeletal future of this program. In a few years to come, STARs robotics may evolve into the creation of human sized robots controlled by the students in a constantly moving, realistic soccer match.

One of the many goals of STARs is to give younger students early exposure to engineering concepts and to spark their interests in robotics. It gives the students hands-on experience in engineering and hopefully will encourage them to pursue their studies in the field