Bring on the bots: Something new is coming to Penns Valley Area High School

A robotics fighting competition is coming to Penns Valley Area High School for the first time, and a local teacher and his students are helping lead the charge.

Andrew Landis, the STEM teacher at Penns Valley Junior/Senior High School, said he has three teams of about five to six eighth graders from the Penns Valley area working on “battlebots” to take to a competition they are hosting, called “Rally in Penns Valley.” As a STEM teacher with a focus on robotics, Landis tried to get the event off the ground last year, “but we just didn’t quite get the bots done.”

“We figured we’d try it again this year,” he said.

On Dec. 15, about 20 robotics teams from high schools and universities all over the Northeast, including New Jersey and Ohio, will converge on Penns Valley Junior/Senior High School to fight until the best “battlebot” wins.

The “Rally in Penns Valley” is modeled off Bloomsburg Area High School’s annual “Rage in the Cage” competition, in which robots designed for battle face off against other robots in a double elimination-style tournament.

“Rage in the Cage,” which happens every year in the spring, is the qualifier for the eastern regional robotics tournament, said Landis. “Rally in Penns Valley” is designed to be more of a scrimmage, so that teams new to robotics can get a little experience and show off their “battlebot” designs.

As for Landis’ three teams, “the learning curve has been tremendous,” he said.

The 15-20 eighth graders from Penns Valley Junior/Senior High, he said, had to learn 3D modeling, metal-working, electronics and powertrain construction.

“And most of them are diving right in and going with it ... and I think they’re having fun doing it,” he said.

Hosting the “Rally in Penns Valley” is all about getting more students in this part of the state interested in robotics and engineering, Landis said.

“The community support has been great,” he said. “A lot of people have been giving us donations.”

The original date of the scrimmage was set for Nov. 17, but a mid-November snowstorm that hit central Pennsylvania two days before canceled the event.

“I’d like to do it annually here if possible ... who knew we would have 12 inches of snow in the middle of November?” Landis said.

“Rally in Penns Valley” will run from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 15 in the Penns Valley Junior/Senior High School Old Large Gym.