Special to the Southern Torch
FORT PAYNE, ALA.--Some might be wondering what a partnership between a robotics team and local law enforcement looks like. In a new endeavor for the Fort Payne High School Gigawatts team, they have taken on a challenge presented by the DeKalb County Sheriff Firing Range.
Ken Thomas, Shooting Range Manager, had an idea for free moving targets that would allow marksmen to practice their skills on unpredictable targets. After a couple of meetings, the team went to work designing a robot that could carry targets a hundred yards away and provide an enhanced element to target practice.
This past Thursday the robot was put to the test. The test was a great success and will now lead to the production of a fully capable final product.
Office Cagle said, “That was harder than anything I had to do in sniper training,” while also never missing the target.
Jamie McClung, coach of the Gigawatts, was excited about this opportunity. “As a teacher, this is an amazing opportunity. The team members are developing real-life entrepreneur skills while also expanding on their technical skills. We are extremely grateful to Ken Thomas, Jim Phillips, and Sheriff Nick Welden for coming to us with this opportunity.”
The Gigawatts are now preparing for their 2022 FIRST Robotics competitions. Fort Payne City Schools now has competitive robotics teams from 5th grade and up and offer robotics and computers science at each school in the system K-12.
