Pleasant Grove robotics team shows robot, eyes state and world competitions

Members of Pleasant Grove’s independent robotics team, Team 8641 (the Masters), presented their robot and program to the council on Tuesday and described plans to compete at regional and state tournaments and potentially at First Tech Challenge Worlds in Houston.

Team members said the club is independent of the school district, runs as a club with seven core members this season, and has qualified among Utah teams to attend World Championship events in prior years. Presenters described a robot built largely from scratch using custom side plates and 3D-printed parts, with off-the-shelf motors and iterative redesigns; the team noted this season’s intake and scoring mechanism weighs about 33 pounds.

The team outlined their competition schedule (events in Provo, Sandy and Park City) and said they hope to advance from state to Worlds, which they described as being held in Houston, Texas. They also explained the judging categories that can advance a team: performance in the robot game and an overall team award that evaluates outreach, documentation and program development.

Students and coaches explained roles on the team: programming, CAD, build, community outreach and judging materials. The presenters said team members are primarily juniors and seniors with a few sophomores and that alumni have gone into a variety of college majors and careers, including computer science, mechanical engineering and other fields.

Council members asked technical and program questions and were invited to drive the robot. The group brought the robot to demonstrate drive and explained they have redesigned the machine multiple times since September.

The presentation was informational; no vote or formal council action was taken.