Ian Mackey - The Man Behind the Machine

It was the Monday after Thanksgiving and I was returning back to work after being out with the birth of our daughter.  I walked into the North Moore Media Center and said good morning to Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Garner like any other Monday morning.  I checked my schedule and saw that we had a little less than 3 weeks before the Winter Warriors Robotics competition at Union Pines High School.  I walked into the North Moore Makerspace to see the progress that had been made to the robot since I left them with a pile of pieces 6 weeks earlier.  Much to my chagrin, the pieces were left almost exactly how I last seen them.  I began to panic until Mrs. Davis said she knew just the person I needed to get this robot built.

I found Ian Mackey at lunch that very day.  Ian is a Chevy truck loving, kayak paddling, robot building machine.  I showed Ian the Velocity Vortex video and he started almost immediately building our robot.  He was a leader on our team in the Engineering Design Process and led the North Moore Robotics team to a strong showing at both the in-county Union Pines Winter Warriors competition and the Regional Qualifier Competition at Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill.

He was a leader on our team in the Engineering Design Process and led the North Moore Robotics team to a strong showing at both the in-county Union Pines Winter Warriors competition and the Regional Qualifier Competition at Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill.  

Ian knew that we were behind other teams but that did not stop his creativity and positive attitude.  He led team meetings after school and on weekend build days.  Ian was always open to other ideas from team members.

Here is a short video of the warm-ups before the actual Winter Warriors event.  To get a true appreciation for how much work Ian did, the robot was a pile of pieces in a toolbox just 10 days earlier.  

I had a chance to sit down with Ian to ask him some questions about his time in the Robotics program.  This is what he had to say:

1.  What were the highlights of the Robotics season?  

I think the highlight of the season is at the end of the building stage when it turns into crunch time and you have to get a working robot.  I enjoy the pressure and tend to work well under it.  

2.  What would you have changed about the Robotics team?  

I would have like to have another builder as into it as I was to bounce some of my own ideas off of.  It would also have been nice if we could get some better materials to build with.  

3.  How did the Robotics team experience add to your skill-set as a student?  

I learned a lot about the programming and building the robot learned some good problem solving techniques.

4.  Tell me about your experiences in building, engineering, problem solving.  

I ran into a lot of problems in the building stage getting the motors to run without stripping the gears.  The claw on the end of the arm required a lot of guess and test.

5.  What kind of vision do you have for North Moore Robotics in the future?  

Well I hope they keep it going.  It's a good program and fun.  Not many clubs are as fun as the robotics.

6.  What are your plans for after high school? 
I plan to attend Randolph Community College for 2 years and complete a course for my future job.

7.  What was the most challenging thing about the Robotics program?
The most challenging part of building was the little bit of time I had to build a working robot.  We were in a big time crunch.  

8.  What was the easiest part of the Robotics season?
The easiest part of the season was the competition day it was more fun than anything.

9.  Anything else you want to mention....
I really recommend the robotics club if you like to build or tinker with stuff such as robots or machines.