Video: Let the robot games begin

The pressure is on for the members of the two Robotics teams at Churchville-Chili Senior High School.

On Jan. 5, the Churchville-Chili rookie and veteran teams - a little over 40 students in all - received a kit consisting of motors, batteries, a control system and other automation components necessary to build a robot. So did 1,500 other teams from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and United States.

The clincher: the robot kit doesn't come with instructions.

That's where teamwork, mentoring, brainstorming and technical knowledge aspects of the FIRST Robotics program comes in.

"I want to be an aerospace engineer and I know that has a lot to do with mechanical engineering," said junior Laura Serio, vice president of the veterans team. "I've learned more in robotics building things than anyone could teach me in a classroom."

This year's challenge, the 17th annual, is FIRST Overdrive. Teams must design a robot that can race around a track knocking down 40-inch inflated Trackballs, moving them around the track and either passing them under or over a 6-foot tall overpass. Extra points can be scored by robots positioning the Trackballs back on the overpass before the two minute and fifteen second match ends.

"That ball is huge," said Serio. "It's definitely going to be hard to keep it with your robot at all times and to find a ways to pick that thing up. It's so big and it's very heavy to lift."

If the Churchville-Chili teams are successful at the regional competition at Rochester Institute of Technology in March, they move on to the 2008 FIRST Championship April 17 through 19 in Atlanta. The teams meet three times a week. As the competition nears, they'll put in as much time as is required to get the robot working right, technology teacher and Robotics advisor Jason Rees said.

"Last year we spent three straight nights at the school," he said. "We came in Sunday at noon and left Tuesday at 5 p.m.."

Due to popularity in robotics, this year Churchville-Chili broke up into two teams. Newbies are on the rookie team and those who've been in Robotics before are on the veteran team. Freshman Alex Bischoping, 14, thinks that's a good idea.

src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nbh9CTZJoqsrel=1" width="425" height="355" scale="ShowAll" loop="loop" menu="menu" wmode="transparent" quality="1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> "If there was one team, the rookies would be standing by watching," he said. "With two teams, the rookies get to do stuff." Right now they are brainstorming. "Sometimes we take more than a week to brainstorm which is bad because we want to get that robot done and we need to get it to the programmers," Serio said. "Waiting until the last minute means your here late nights." At a meeting on Jan. 10, using prototypes made out of plastic piping and other materials kicking around the technology wing at the Senior High School, the students conducted experiments to test some theories. Mentors from all over Rochester volunteer to help the teams. Rees said there's about 20 in all. All teams must have their robots ready to be shipped by Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. The teams won't see their robots again until the weekend of the first competition. Bausch & Lomb sponsors the Churchville-Chili teams. Rees estimates it costs around $50,000 for both teams to participate in the program. That includes $6,000 to register each team in the competition, two robot kits at about $4,000 each, and if the teams get to go to Atlanta, there's more registration fees on top of the cost of their stay. The competition is about more than winning though. Robotics students are eligible for over $9 million in scholarships and, in Churchville-Chili, team members are required to complete a minimum number of community service hours to qualify to go to the competition in Atlanta Community service is required of team members. "Because we're lucky enough to be sponsored by Bausch & Lomb, they give us a great deal of money to do this, so rather than having to fund raise, I ask the students to do something for somebody else," said Rees. Team members conduct about 20 demonstrations for community groups and events throughout the year. They rang bells for the Salvation Army, collected gifts for the Golisano Children's Hosptial and church groups, collected food for baskets and helped serve breakfast at the Ronald McDonald House over winter break. Serio said she's not sure what she would do without robots in her life. "The first year it was overwhelming," she said. "I had no idea what to expect, and now, since being on the team, I bought my own robot kit. I've built many versions of it. It's so addicting. Once your in it, you can't stop." <em>Amy Cavalier can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 243, or at acavalier@mpnewspapers.com.