Robotics Club takes toys to the next level

Members turn robots to life, connecting pieces and wires

In the Applied Technology building on the west side of campus, some of Pierce College’s brilliant minds have been busy working together in the field of robotics.

The Robotics Club has been busy in their lab, putting together impressive creations while giving its members a good foundation to build off of for science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.)-oriented students.

Although the main focus is to build and learn about robotics, some members take it to the next step and compete in robotics competitions.

One of the most prevalent competitions are the ones that involve VEX Robotics Design System.

“VEX is great because there is a low barrier for entry when you want start engineering and all the parts are available and it’s really easy to take concepts to reality,” said club president Eldon Schoop.

Electrical engineering student Ryan Collins likens VEX to building Legos.

“You put together the pieces but it’s not exactly challenging,” he said.

The team has done well in the recent college VEX competition, scrimmaging other local college teams, according to Schoop.

Club member Yiran “Yao” Tong, a mechanical engineering student, has been at the forefront as the lead engineer for the robots that have been used in the competitions.

Horses and humans alike welcome spring season

Students get ready to saddle up with 4-legged iends

Tim Toton/Roundup ttoton.roundupnews@gmail.com

Grab your hat, hone your hoot and get your boots down to the vast Pierce College Equestrian Center to see horse science ambassadors connect with the school’s roots.

“Pierce College was founded with the principle ‘learn by doing.’ Watching others do, seeing movies of others doing, reading about others doing [do] not prepare you for the real world. DOING prepares you for doing,” Leland S. Shapiro, chair of the Agriculture Department, said in an email.

“People don’t talk enough about conditioning show horses or conditioning riders. I felt it was a big need in the program. This was the time to do it. Everybody is beyond thrilled to have it.” a horse before so we have to have horses like that.

The Horse Science program at Pierce teaches hands-on: how to condition horses, proper mechanics and equipment of riding, nutrition and husbandry, training and veterinary first aid.

We can’t have high dollar, high power show horses.”

Warner said.

Warner, who usually performs at Farm Walk, will perform a trick training dog and sheep show called “Anything you can do I can do better” with a student at Fiesta of the Spanish Horse charity show May 4 to 5 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

A new class offering, Horse Show Activities, Section AS616, Wednesday, 12:40 to 3:50 p.m., is an intermediate riding class which prepares students for professional level show performances.

Warner feels the new class melds riding, training, and equipment together in a way that will fill a need and benefit students.

“People don’t talk enough about conditioning show horses or conditioning riders. I felt it was a big need in the program. This was the time to do it. Everybody is beyond thrilled to have it.” Warner said.

Marieve Elliott, a 20-year-old equine veterinarian student arrived late in the semester but petitioned to join the class just to observe.

“[Warner] is very knowledgeable and I’m going to be able to apply everything that I learn here to my own work with horses.” Elliott said.

According to Tong and Collins, the members typically work on their own projects but for something like the competitions they work together to brainstorm designs that meet the criteria for the competition. The club is looking for large support from the school and outside funding from private companies to help them take on other projects in S.T.E.M. fields and move onto the next level.

Schoop said that they already have ambitious ideas brewing like working on autonomous drones, a go-cart that would run on renewable energy, and even starting their own college-level robotics competition.

One of the clubs most ambitious goals is to partake in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s yearly rover competition.

Club vice president Salamat Ali-Reza mentioned that if selected, the team will be funded by NASA to build the rover the club designed and run it through live simulations, controlling the robot from Pierce College through the Internet.

“Aside from [everything] we all try to make an effort to volunteer at high school-level competitions as well,” said Schoop.

The Robotics Club was featured in the Daily News as well as Mercury News earlier this year for hosting its first ever VEX tournament that helped introduce high school and middle school students to new career choices.

The club meets Thursdays from 6 to 10 p.m.

For more information, you may reach the club at their personal website, piercerobotics.com, or their Facebook page: Pierce Robotics Club.

Paddy Warner, assistant professor of Horse Science, is an energetic and giving expert in animal training who also advises the Boots and Saddles Club and puts on quality horse shows like the upcoming Farm Walk on April 28, Shapiro said.

“We are very fortunate to have her on our faculty,” he said.

There are 18 “beyond safe” trail horses from the Sierras that live at Pierce during the school year. They seem to enjoy the coddling students provide compared to the service the horses provide up North, according to Warner.

“We get a lot of students that have never even ridden

“I hope to transfer to Cal Poly or UC

The equine course teaches:

- How to sit and use your body

- How to condition a show horse

Aspiring horse breeder and veterinarian Janet Peña is taking five equine classes in her third semester at Pierce. She wants to operate a local, lowcost veterinary service when she completes her education.

- Describes all the show equipment

Davis,” Peña said. When asked what she likes best, “Riding with the horses and contact.”

For more information about the Horse Science program at Pierce, visit their website: piercecollege. edu/departments/agriculture/equine.asp.