Council recognizes local homeschool robotics team

The Robot Rampagers robotics team was recognized at recent the city council meeting, where they also presented a project on hydrodynamics and water conservation. (Daniel Leon/Clovis Roundup)

A group of Clovis robotics students, labeled the Robot Rampagers, was honored at a recent council meeting where they presented their team’s project on hydrodynamics and water conservation.

Ryan Nelson, who works as a business workflow analyst for the City of Clovis, is one of the leaders of the student group that consists of area homeschoolers ages 9 to 14.

“This year, they looked at hydrodynamics and how we transport water and they did a research project specifically identifying Clovis and how we use water,” Nelson said before introducing students Peggy, Noah, Katherine, Evelynn, Katie and Timothy.

The bright group of students explained how they discovered that over 50 percent of residential water use can be attributed to outdoor uses such as landscaping. With that statistic in mind, the group focused on increasing awareness in the community to encourage residents to cut back on outdoor water use. An online survey conducted by the team showed that many residents were unaware of government programs that offset the cost of switching to artificial turf or otherwise drought-friendly landscaping. Other reasons they found for why people hadn’t made the switch to water wise landscaping were cost factors and aesthetics.

Focusing on the government programs that make the dry landscaping and turf more affordable, the team created brochures to pass out to community members informing them of the efficiency of the landscaping as well as cost savings options.