Robotics Team Builds to Success
by Michael Trelease
April 23, 2006
It’s the dawn of a new year, and high school robotics participants, like James McCarson, and others around the world eagerly wait for a new season of competition to start in full bloom.
The date is Jan. 7, 2006, and after eight long months of mystery and speculation, robotics enthusiasts are about to get their first look at a new strategic game.
These are games that require teams to work together in stressful environments in order to achieve certain tasks. It is not a show like BattleBots, but more of a sport that engineers can play. The first Saturday in January, the Kickoff Event, marks the beginning of a new sport in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics.
During the Kickoff Event, students, teachers and mentors cluster around computers and television monitors, waiting with intense excitement for an overview of this year’s challenge.
Seconds later, the FIRST game committee finally announces to the world that students will have to build robots that can “aim high.” Suddenly, a wave of immense awe strikes the students as they ponder all the possibilities.
Almost immediately, students begin to sketch up crazy designs for a new machine. They gather tightly in corners, secretly discussing ways to go about building their own team’s robot.
As the students begin to tackle the problem of this year’s game more deeply, FIRST founder, Dean Kamen, leaves each team with one final note: “I hope you are ready, because this will be the hardest fun you will ever have.”
One Richmond area high school robotics team had already begun tackling the FIRST challenge long before the game was announced. With plans to build their robot Sparky already underway, the team gears up for another great season.
James McCarson, a senior of J.R. Tucker High School, has been with the robotics team for four years now. He is the team’s president and most devoted member. He also has the arduous task of driving Sparky.
“This is Tucker’s seventh year in the program, and before we can start the season off right, we must recruit new members,” said McCarson.
The technology department at the school highly encourages their students to be actively involved in the robotics program and to recruit new participants every year.
Mary Jackson, a Tucker junior, has been involved with the team for two years now. “I first heard about Tucker robotics through my photography teacher, Julie Norris. She advertised it through her class and I always wanted to be a part of a robotics team, but wasn’t sure what it was,” said Jackson.
To many at the high school, a robotics team was something that made them scratch their heads in confusion. This was why the school’s efforts to explain the program to new students became an important task.
Grayson Atkinson, a Tucker senior, is the team’s vice-president. Atkinson, like many others, were unaware that robotics had even existed at the school. “I heard about FIRST robotics from a friend of mine at school who was already a member of the team. He explained the design process and the concept behind building a robot and I was immediately interested. I started coming to meetings and became progressively more involved,” said Atkinson.
According to McCarson, being prepared before the season starts has made a major difference in the team’s success.
Jordan Lowell, a Tucker senior, has been with the team for two years now. He also believes that being prepared is a tremendous factor to triumph. “The design process started way before the game was announced. We were able to knock out the drive train first. This made it easier for us to concentrate on the more important parts of a winning robot,” said Lowell.
McCarson notes that this year’s game required teams to shoot small balls into seven foot high goals. A challenge that he believed was the most enduring.
According to Lowell, each team was given six weeks after the announcement of the new game to design and build a working robot.
“This year, our first two weeks were devoted to coming up with a design. The remainder of the time was used for manufacturing Sparky,” said Lowell.
While the boys were building the robot, Jackson and other female team members were working hard on award submissions for FIRST.
“We are working diligently to win the Chairman’s Award, which is FIRST’s most prestigious award. It is given to a team that spreads the program’s meaning to the community. In order to do this, our team mentors FLL (FIRST Lego League) teams and FIRST rookie teams,” said Jackson.
Jackson also explained about how their team holds robotics camps to try and get younger students more involved. On top of all this, the team visited local hospitals to teach disabled children about FIRST robotics in a program they call, careFIRST.
During the robotics season, the team’s participants experience high levels of stress due to time constraints. Students also have to focus on their schoolwork and other activities outside of the pressures of building the robot.
“Myself and other students on the team also have sports which we take part in every day after school. This makes it difficult to find time to build Sparky and arrange meetings. Our high school experimented with an early-bird robotics class so that we would have time to work on the robot during school,” said Lowell.
According to Lowell, the hopper and launcher design took the most time to prototype and finalize. “Almost 300 man hours were spent on our lexan hopper, which is our ball storing mechanism on top of Sparky.”
Not only were students participating in building Sparky, but parents and engineering mentors played a large role as well.
“My dad is a mentor on the team, and he has gotten to know a lot of my friends. So, aside from helping out the team, he is more involved in my social life. I have also gotten to know parents of other team members and have made connections with them in the business world,” said Atkinson.
After six long weeks of building and testing Sparky, the robot was finally ready for competition. Atkinson, who is a part of the drive team, played a major role in the team’s success at the VCU Regional Competition.
“Participating on the drive team is the most exciting aspect of FIRST robotics. When you control the machine you’ve spent six weeks building, and you’re able to push it to its limits and see it succeed, it is extremely rewarding,” said Atkinson.
McCarson, who is also a part of the drive team, experienced the most pressure during the competition. “Driving a robot involves many things. You have to watch for what other robots are doing, keep track of the time and live score, and adjust your strategy as the game unfolds. All of these elements collide quickly while you’re actually controlling the robot,” said McCarson
The team’s motivation to excel allowed them to capture three distinct awards at the competition. The Tucker robotics team took 2nd place and also won the most-anticipated Chairman’s award that they worked so hard for. As a result of their success, the team has been given the opportunity to compete in the Championship Event in Atlanta, Ga., which will take place Apr. 27-29, 2006.
“It has been a wonderful experience. I’ve made some life long friends and seen how hard work can turn into something great,” said Jackson.
“I believe that our team’s devotion has been the key to our success this year and in years past,” said Lowell.
Participation on the team has made students become more involved in the many aspects of engineering. Most of the senior students plan to attend technical colleges upon graduation to receive degrees in engineering where they can one day lead a successful life.
“It was truly the hardest fun I ever had,” said McCarson.
For more information about this team, please visit www.sparky384.com