Archived Arts & Entertainment

HCC goes high-tech for the holidays

At Haywood Community College’s Regional High Technology Center, students created a Christmas tree like no other — a high-tech tree.

All the programs in the Advanced Technology Department made decorations for the tree, which uses LED energy efficient lights. The tree is decorated with everything from roofing tacks strung as garland to machined ornaments, stars cut from wood and eight “tinny” reindeer.

As part of an assignment, the students built Santa driving a sled led by a reindeer. Using Lego building blocks to construct the bodies, students also programmed the ‘robots’ to detect when someone is within two feet. Then, the reindeer and Santa move the sleigh.

“While it seems very simple, it is really a complex example of programming,” said electronic engineering student Robert Staggs. “We learned several aspects of robotics to complete this. We used a combination of sensors, timers and moving parts to get the end result.”

828.627.4631.

Smokey Mountain News Logo
SUPPORT THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AND
INDEPENDENT, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISM
Go to top
Payment Information

/

At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

The Smoky Mountain News is a wholly private corporation. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. Your support of SMN does not constitute a charitable donation. If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us.