Bot Building Battle

By Shannon Veerkamp

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[caption id="attachment_3946" align="alignleft" width="459" caption="Southport and Center Grove are in red shirts and Perry Meridian wears navy blue. - Submitted photo"][/caption] A packed gym of rambunctious fans stood on their feet, anxious to see where the ball landed. The ball, called a Super Cell, rested in a circular trailer attached to a 5-foot FRC (FIRST Robots Challenge) robot built by high school students and their mentors. “These are the gyms where Indiana basketball players play,” Tony Bennett, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Indiana, said. “The kids here now are the ones who will employ the ones playing sports.” [ad#single-post] Perry, Southport, and Center Grove High Schools all have a FIRST robotics team, which means “for inspiration in science and technology.” The students experiment with Legos in elementary school, small robots in middle school and large, complicated robots in high school. FIRST teams are increasing every year, with 30 in Indiana. Most teams have a two-to-one ratio of students to mentors. All mentors come from professional jobs. “In some schools, they run this like a class,” Jess Carrasquillo, President of Red Alert First Robotics team at Center Grove, said. “No two schools are alike. I met a guy from Kentucky; he’s a 70-year-old man and retired. They meet in his garage, and he raises all the money for it. He just loves engineering and does it for these kids. I ask him where his kids come from, and he says a 30-mile radius.” Building and designing the robots is only a small part of being on a robotics team. Members choose from a wide variety of positions: web design, public relations, electronics, animation, finance and other jobs. Most students use their experience to become engineers after graduation. Carrasquillo wrestled and played football in high school, but realizes the value of a robotics team. “FIRST is the only sport where every competitor can go pro,” Carrasquillo said. “They’re coming out with some good paying jobs because of this, and I came out with some injuries.” Levi Miller, a co-captain on Red Alert, will be on the team for his third year. When he was younger, he played with Legos. Miller thinks the team “just fits.” In his first year, he didn’t know how anything worked. Now, Miller can describe almost any part or function on the robot. He enjoys the process of building the robot because it’s a project one person could not do alone. Alyssa Inman, who is also on the team as the public relations caption, feels the same as Miller. “It gets in your blood and becomes a part of who you are,” Inman said. “It’s really cool to be part of a team like that, where you know you contributed.” Not only do students gain experience, they also have opportunities to get scholarships, make contacts and intern at a professional company. Furthermore, every team has community service projects. Competitions usually incorporate an auction, blood drive or another service to help others. The most prestigious award in the competition, the Chairman’s Award, challenges students to highlight their contributions to the community in front of judges. Some winners of this award have gone to the White House, according to Kelli Fultz, co-caption of Perry’s FIRST team. By helping with the 10-minute presentations, Fultz feels comfortable speaking in front of adults or a speech class. Perry emphasized their project at the Children’s Museum where they built a robot obstacle course. FIRST teams term January as the start of their “build season.” Working six or seven days a week, the teams prepare for competitions against teams from all over the country or farther. A typical match consists of six robots from six teams. The robots are split into two groups, a red and blue alliance. “They’re having a blast out there,” Carrasquillo said. “It’s between a final four tournament and a rock concert … they don’t even know they’re learning.” The robots perform different tasks every season, but their main goal is to put rubber balls called Moon Rocks or Super Cells in the opponent’s trailers, which are hitched to the back of every robot as they move. A human player from each of the two alliances can also throw balls into the trailers. The robots all perform the same tasks, but in different ways, according to Carrasquillo. “Last year, the robots had to pick up a 40-inch ball and launch it over a 6-foot rack,” Miller said. NASA donates $6,000 a year for the first two years of a FIRST team. Competitions can cost $4,000 or more. Many teams rely on sponsors, parent donations, and fundraisers for the budget. Last year, Red Alert needed $27,000. FIRST competitions are different from typical sports events because of “gracious professionalism,” according to Miller. “We ship our robots to competitions,” Miller said. “They messed up one team’s shipping, so other teams helped them rebuild their robot the night before the competition.”

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