Servo - October 2013

humans from pylons, taking them through the course to safety. It was after these competitions that Chad decided to keep building because he “… had so much fun.” Since then, Chad has competed in several competitions. Chad — who loves to learn — believes that being the youngest competitor has given him an advantage that others may not be so fortunate to have. Chad recalls the first year he came to HORD, “My robot didn’t do so well. Mr. [David] Graham let me drive one of his robots and showed me a lot of stuff. I like to listen and talk to the other people so that I can learn from their experience.” Chad’s love of learning and passion for robotics has become a family affair. “We build them together and it’s something my whole family can work on. Dad helps me with a lot of the stuff and testing. We have time set aside that we work each week. He enjoys the time we spend together doing it.” Robotics has also helped Chad to develop a supportive and growing fan base. According to his mother, “We have friends who have helped us with learning and finding access to design systems; given us access to their machinery to design parts; have built parts for us; helped us with scrap material and parts; helped Chad with ideas and set up other learning experiences for him. We even have one who builds us duplicates of the play fields for some of his competitions like the huge maze and gravel pit that sits in our basement.” “It’s not just us that encourages him. He has way more than your average support group, and we are extremely grateful to all of them for being a part of his life. The rides home are always filled with phone calls and texts to many people about how the competition went. One of our friends even makes coconut cream pies and cookies to celebrate the wins.

They all have different talents and have been willing to share them with Chad. His dad works for Precision Machine Controls, and they have also been very supportive of Chad and helped with various things including some of our manufacturing and machining Chad’s love for robotics has so inspired his parents that they are currently raising funds and looking for space to start a children’s robotics group in their community.

Chad encourages kids who think they might be interested in robotics to “…. do some research, take chances, and explore your options. Unless you try it, you won’t know if you like it.” SV