By Brenda Erdahl
When Grace Fritz was eight years old, she decided when she grew up, she was going to build Mars Rovers.
She was introduced to NASA for the first that year and the whole idea of space exploration and robots captured her imagination.
She’s a freshman now at Maple Lake High School, and though she’s not building Mars Rovers yet, as part of the district’s new robotics team, she’s coming pretty close.
The team’s robot, dubbed “the led sled” looks a bit like a rover in that it’s low to the ground and has wheels. It’s a prototype, advisor Hannah Kunde said. When it’s done it will have a ramp attached to it that will suck up dodgeballs and shoot them through the air, hopefully scoring the team points by finding one of two goals.
Robotics is in its second year at MLHS and it’s 12-member team has been working hard since the season started in early January. On March 4, they will head up to Duluth for the Lake Superior Regional Robotics Competition where their bot will be put to the test with a series of challenges. For Fritz and her teammates, the program is a great way to learn about robotics in a fun and competitive way.
The Robotics program at MLHS is part of a youth-serving, nonprofit called First whose goal is to advance STEM education. First calls the robotics competition “the ultimate sport for the mind.”
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