QV Physics Class Tests the Waters with Robotics Program

About a dozen enthusiastic physics students stood Thursday at the edge of the swimming pool at the , testing the underwater robotic vehicles they built in class.

juniors and seniors in Otto Tancraitor’s concept physics class were excited to reach this point after spending 12 class periods assembling the remotely-operated vehicles from scratch as part of a pilot program launched in the fall.

“The feedback we’ve heard has been mainly positive,” said Tancraitor, who teaches physics and math.

Marianne Cibulas, Quaker Valley’s career education coordinator, said the district, with Moon Area School District, launched pilot programs in September using a SeaPerch seed grant. SeaPerch is an educational robotics organization that the U.S. Office of Naval Research partly sponsors. The grant includes the costs of student and teacher training for the program.

Cibulas said QV and Moon teachers trained together before they built their own robots, a three-step process that consists of the frame, a motor, and waterproofing the connected wires. The teachers then competed against one another in the fall, she said. The 

Tancraitor said the robotics program involves using a combination of various disciplines, scientific methods, problem-solving, building, engineering and the chance to see how it works.

He said the students enjoyed building the body of the robot, though some struggled with building the computer and soldering computer chips.

“The kids enjoyed building it, but there were some parts they found frustrating,” he said.

Tancraitor and Cibulas said one senior in particular took the lead in helping his classmates. Skylar Roppa, 17, an auto tech student at Parkway Career and Technology Center, finished his robot early with his partner and helped other classmates with theirs. 

“He really helped out,” Tancraitor said.

Roppa said he works in an auto shop after school, maintains dirt bikes and helped build a boat motor before, so building the robots came naturally.

“I enjoy doing hands-on stuff, so it’s a class I enjoy,” Roppa said.

The pilot program will continue next term with another classroom of students.

Next school year, the program will expand into all physics classes, and an after-school robotics club will launch at the middle school.

Teaching the pilot class has helped Tancraitor shape the high school course for next year.

Tancraitor said he’ll tailor the class, tweaking out some of the parts students didn’t like and adding other parts, such as a lesson on motion in water.

In between assisting the enaged students, Tancraitor watched as they took turns guiding their robots with remote controls, hoping to capture one of several rings dropped at the bottom of the swimming pool.

“As you can see, they’re interested in it, which is awesome,” Tancraitor said.