Matthew Bradbury found his desire for Robotics around eighth grade. Standing outside the ring is Bradbury holding his controller. Under the bright light you can see Bradbury controlling his bot for his team, using his codes that he created for his team’s robot to succeed.
Bradbury started with the coding behind the engineering aspect of the Bots, where he then found his true passion for Robotics. From the easiest steps to the hardest he loved every bit of it, with the help of his team he was able to become more skilled with the building process.
Bradbury’s freshman year was his first year on the robotics team. “I found it even more interesting.” Bradbury said “I started to focus more of my time to get better at helping my team on what needed to be done.”
Now, Bradbury is a junior with his commitment to robotics even stronger than before. “Nate Poduska really was the one who got me interested in Robotics back in eighth grade.” Bradbury said. The interest in Robotics from his friend pushed him to get better at what his role on the team is today. Helping with the coding aspect that controls the robot is a key aspect in order for the team to be successful.
“I am able to make the bots move by opening and closing components that are on the robots,” Bradbury said. “I like the engineering aspect where I get to build the robot, and create the design of how it will look.” Bradbury and his team have gone to many competitions such as Council Bluffs, Nebraska, and Michigan. On these competition days the team usually stays there for three or more days to compete.
Bradbury has been with the Robotics team for three years and has spent many long hours fixing the mistakes that some of the robots have had. “If you want to join the team you need to be invested,” Bradbury said. “There are times where robots don’t work and it gets frustrating, you then have to figure out what’s wrong with them and that takes time.”
Building robots can be a tedious and time consuming project, but with the help of a company called “Vex” Bradbury and his team is able to be supplied with the resources that are needed. Bolts, Sheet metal, Motors, and Tires, are what it takes to build the physical structure of the Robots.
“We use a company called Vex who provides my team with sheet metal so we can then bolt more sheet metal to other sheet metal,” Bradbury said. “We then bend it to create the Robots frame. We then have to add more components such as, Motors, Wires, and Tires.” After Bradbury’s team has created the structure it then comes down to the coding.
“We use a company called New Madic’s that provides linear motion to open certain things.” Bradbury said, “We also have to add lots of sensors to help the Robots to function on their own.” With Bradbury’s skills with coding it comes a lot more “helpful” to code the more challenging parts of the robots features.
In July, the Bradburys team’s signature event, Bradbury’s team had to build a robot in an entire week which would take his team months to do. “When we got to this competition we ended up placing 10th out of 64 teams” Bradbury said “These teams are a very high end and top 100 teams around, it was just really nice to see a robot working really well for only having one week to build a robot.”
Looking forward, Bradbury said, “I can’t wait to see where these next few years take me, and I hope I get to succeed with my friends along the way.”
