March 19, 2008

High school teams race to victory at FIRST robotics competition

2008 FIRST Boilermaker Regional robotics competition
Download photo
caption below

FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, combines sports with science and technology. The 2008 game, called "FIRST Overdrive," measured the dexterity and skill of the robots in carrying, placing and knocking inflated red and blue balls off an overpass while dashing around a 54-by-24-foot oval track.

Robots where designed to capture the inflated balls, carry, hurl them over and finally place them on top of the two overpass racks, and points were awarded for each completed task. Points were earned for completing laps, as well. Each game started with a 15-second automation period  during which the robots were pre-programmed to circle the track and knock the balls off the overpass for points. After that, teams guided their robots by radio controls to accomplish that mission over a two-minute period.

In the preliminary rounds, alliances of three teams were randomly formed into the "Blue Alliance" and "Red Alliance," and the groups competed against each other. After nine matches, teams were seeded based on matches won and formed new alliances for the finals competition in a single-elimination tournament.

Amy Przybylinski, chairperson of the competition, said the high school teams not only have to work well with each other, but must also communicate well with other high school teams to win matches.

" I like being on a team because I like to see these kids learn, and they end up being so prepared for life and college," said Przybylinski, an engineer at Dephi Corp. in Kokomo and a 2000 mechanical engineering graduate of Purdue. "The competition is really exciting. They learn a lot of life skills, teamwork and business management."

The lessons proved valuable for the team at Northwood, whose school was heavily damaged in a tornado in August. The Northwood students are attending nearby Hatton High School. A lumberyard donated materials for the team to build a room so it could construct its robot three weeks into the six-week period that teams were given to prepare.

The Northwood and Hatton team, named the Thunder Robotics, combined with a team from Rolling Meadows and Wheeling high schools in suburban Chicago (the WildStangs) and a team from the Bernie K. McKenzie Career Center in Indianapolis (Kil-A-Bytes) to capture first place in the finals competition.

The alliance won the best-of-three final round 2-1 against a group made up of teams from West Lafayette High School (Westside Boiler Invasion), the Kokomo Center School Corp. (TechnoKats) and the South Bend School Corp. (SBOTZ) to automatically qualify for the international competition. The international FIRST robotics event is scheduled for April 17-19 in the Georgia Dome.

Ironically, the George Dome was damaged last weekend during the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament because of a tornado.

"We're pretty darn excited," said Mike Voglewede, a teacher at Northwood High School, near Hatton, N.D., who advised his team of students. "Qualifying for Atlanta is incredible. Coming from North Dakota, we don't have a lot of opportunities like this. To have something good like this  happen after a tornado destroyed our town is really special."

The West Lafayette team was seeded No. 2 after the preliminary round of competition with a 7-2 record. The Rolling Hills-Wheeling team was seeded No. 1 with an 8-1 record.

"The students get a real experience that so few kids get these days," said Raul Olivera, an engineer from Motorala, who has worked with the Rolling Meadows-Wheeling team for the past 13 years. "They get to see how real engineering works. They get to come to the companies and see how the design works. They learn teamwork and get a lot of leadership skills."

Melissa DeYoung, a senior at West Lafayette and captain of her robotics team, said the alliances make this competition different from others. She said teams have to develop working relationships with others they might have to eventually compete against if they want to succeed.

"You have to communicate and work well together and make sure everyone is on the same page," DeYoung said. "Everybody is trying to perform their roles, and without communication and teamwork, there's just too many things that can go wrong. FIRST is one of the best things I've done in my life."

The top award-winning teams from were:

Regional winners: Team No. 111, the WildStangs, from Schaumburg, Ill.; Team 1024, the Kil-A-Bytes, from Indianapolis; and Team No. 876, Thunder Robotics, from Hatton, N.D.

Regional finalists: Team No. 461, Westside Boiler Invasion, from West Lafayette; Team No. 45, TechnoKats, from Kokomo, Ind.; and Team No. 1327, SBOTZ from South Bend, Ind.

Regional Chairman's Award: Team 234, Cyber Blue, from Indianapolis.

General Motors Industrial Design Award: Team No. 45, the TechnoKats, from Kokomo, Ind.

Motorola Quality Award: Team No. 1741, the Red Alert, from Greenwood, Ind.

Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award: Team No.  829, Digital Goats, from Indianapolis.

Chrysler Team Spirit Award: Team No. 1018, the RoboDevils, from Indianapolis.

Judge's Award: Team No. 1529, the CyberCards, from Indianapolis.

Rookie Inspiration Award: Team No. 2360, the POWER-Storm, from Indianapolis.

Rookie All-Star Award: Team No. 2474, X-CEL, from Niles, Mich.

Highest Rookie Seed Award: Team No. 2368, the Braves, from Terre Haute, Ind.

Underwriters Laboratories Industrial Safety Award: Team No. 1501, Team THRUST, from Huntington, Ind.

Engineering Inspiration Award: Team 2081, Icarus, from Peoria, Ill.

Imagery Award: Team No. 1024, the Kil-A-Bytes, from Indianapolis.

Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award: Team No. 111, WildStang, from Schaumberg, Ill.

Xerox Creativity Award: Team No. 461, Westside Boiler Invasion, from West Lafayette.

Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award: Team No. 548, the Robostangs, from Northville, Mich.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award: Team No. 234, Cyber Blue, from Indianapolis,

Judge's Award-Persistence: Team No. 447, Team Roboto, from Anderson, Ind.

Website Award: Team No. 234, Cyber Blue, from Indianapolis.

Autodesk Animation Award: Team No. 868, the TechHOUNDS, from Carmel, Ind.

Woodie Flowers Award: David Smith, Team No. 868, the TechHOUNDS, from Carmel, Ind.

Outstanding Volunteers Award: Mary and Jim Stuart, of Anderson, Ind.

FIRST scholarship winners were:

Purdue University/BAE Systems Scholarship: Emily Towers, Team No. 1038, Lakota Robotics, from Liberty Township, Ohio.

Purdue University Scholarship: Andrew Douglas, Team No. 75, RoboRaiders, from Hillsborough, N.J.

IUPUI FIRST Robotics Senior Scholarship: Katie Decker, Team No. 1529, the CyberCards, from Indianapolis.

IUPUI FIRST Robotics Junior Scholarships: Sara Sears, Team No. 2360, POWER-Storm, from Indianapolis; Kortney Terry, Team No. 2360, POWER-Storm, from Indianapolis.

FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway human transporter. The program designs competitions to motivate students to pursue studies in science, technology and engineering.

Writer: Clyde Hughes, (765) 494-2073, jchughes@purdue.edu

Source: Amy E. Przybylinski (765) 451-9822, amyprib78@gmail.com

Carloyn Percifield, (765) 494-5343, carolynp@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:

Teams from Hatton, N.D. (left), and Rolling Meadows and Wheeling high schools in suburban Chicago, work together to guide their robots to move inflatable balls during the 2008 FIRST Boilermaker Regional robotics competition at the Purdue Armory last weekend. The three-team alliance of the Hatton and Rolling Meadows-Wheeling teams, and another team from Indianapolis, captured first place and qualified for the international competition next month in Atlanta. Forty teams from six states competed in the regional. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)

A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2008/FIRST-111vs876.jpg

To the News Service home page