Robotics competition gets students interested in math, science

By: ANDREA MOSS - Staff Writer | Sunday, March 25, 2007 10:21 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- The rock music throbbed and onlookers cheered wildly, while those behind the remote controls remained intensely focused on the target. And when the buzzer sounded, the robots began scrambling.
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Some of the machines ran smoothly, while others lurched erratically or careened into each other as the crowd roared. Regardless of how they ran, all the robots had the same goal: to pick up and hang as many red or blue plastic inner tubes on a swinging metal rack as possible.

Controlled chaos reigned as that game played out over and over again during a regional robotics competition Saturday at the iPayOne Sports Arena.

The inaugural one of its kind in San Diego, the event was sponsored by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (or FIRST).

Founded in 1989 by Dean Kamon, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, the nonprofit, New Hampshire-based program is designed to get students interested in math and science and encourage them to consider careers in engineering or technology.

The San Diego competition drew 46 robots created by high school students from around the country. Four North County schools ---- Poway and Abraxas high schools, San Dieguito Academy high school in Encinitas, and Ramona's Sun Valley Charter School ---- were represented at the high-energy event. Winners will go on to a national one in Atlanta.

The competition actually kicked off in January, when 356 teams across the United States received $6,000 worth of standardized parts, including motors, sensors and control systems. Challenged to turn the pieces into remote-controlled robots capable of solving specific problems, the teams were given height and weight restrictions but no machine-building instructions.

That left students more or less on their own when it came to design and construction of the robots.

The robotics teams did have a lifeline. Professionals from NASA, Qualcomm, BAE Systems and other high-tech companies serve as mentors who work with the program's participants.

Poway High's Team Spyder lost its president, 17-year-old Tony Shafer, to a fatal car crash shortly after the team received its parts kit. Team member Emma Dunford, 16, said Sunday that the death hit the group hard.

"We had a loss of motivation and inspiration to keep going," she said. "We're still suffering, but we're getting along. It's something we have to do for Tony."

The team's robot, No. 1622, was one of the sleeker or more smooth-running ones in the competition and featured a long, retractable arm with two clawlike grasping mechanisms on its end. With 17-year-old Matt Howard at the controls, the robot managed to hang enough plastic tubes on the metal rack to earn a place in Saturday's quarterfinal rounds.

Team Spyder continued that trend early Saturday afternoon, when it was partnered with two other robot teams. Unfortunately for the Poway High team, its partners were unable to score many points, and the three-way alliance was knocked out of the game by about 2 p.m.

Team members said they slightly disappointed but had enjoyed the competition all the same.

"It's rewarding, especially when you do well," said Conor Pawley, 17. "And the hard work pays off."

Sun Valley Charter High's cheerleading squad came out to cheer on the school's Falcons robotics team at the event. Although the group's Robot No. 2029 was eliminated from the competition and back in its shipping crate early on, the team stuck around to root for other competitors.

"(Whether) you win or lose, you always go away with something new and with new friends," team member Shayne Jensen, 16, said. "And the main thing you learn here is teamwork."

He and members of other robotics teams at the event said the program had taught them a wide range of valuable engineering, computer programming, marketing and other skills that will serve them well in the future. Addressing volunteers and mentors at a luncheon midway through Sunday's finals, Abraxas High teacher Dave MacLeod said the program had opened new doors for his students, many of whom he described as struggling academically.

"Instead of just hoping they're going to graduate, they have options now," MacLeod said.

An alliance comprised of robotics teams from Hope Chapel Academy in Hermosa Beach, Clark Magnet High School in La Crescenta, and Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Mich. won the regional competition.

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.

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