Related Photos

Robotics competition gives students chance to work with technology

out of 39 teams.  Then it was immediately sent to a warehouse in Worcester, Mass., before arriving in New Haven, and will be packed right after the competition and sent to EPCOT.

Creativity and money are the boundaries.  And the reward isn't who wins or loses.  Let's put it this way: If John DiBiasi, the senior working the remote controls for Shelton this weekend, is worried, he isn't showing it.

"The focus isn't the competition." he said. "lt's the experience of working with robots and teachers. The competition is supposed to be a secondary thing."

In fact, Robotics is also a little like pro football, in a sportsmanlike way.  National Football league teams are required to trade game tapes with opposing teams, though practices are closed.  Robotics teams scout the opposition and freely trade videos, and there will be no secrets come game day.

'"The term we use is 'generous professionalism, "' said Lou Schmecker, a physics teacher and one of the five Shelton coaches.  "Battlebots are made to destroy each other.  The object (here) is to do something constructive.  And if it gets destroyed in the process, so be it."

Still, every team approaches the event differently.

The Gaelhawks, in their fourth year, spent ,000 to ,000, said tech ed teacher and coach John Niski.  That includes entry fees for three events, building the competition robot, building a prototype, packing, traveling and lodging.

They've had some big sponsors - Sikorsky Aircraft, the Perkin-Elmer Co. and OEM Controls - help defray the costs, as well as several fund-raisers.  Sikorsky also supplied engineers.  Whatever the cost, it's been valuable to Kevin Lundberg:   he and fellow seniors Charlie Baugh and Chris Bertucio have been involved all four years of the Gaelhawks' existence.

"It's helped me finalize my major in college (computer science)," he said. "Being on the team has helped me learn things about today's technology (as well as) the whole teamwork concept, how to be organized.  You can apply a lot of what you learn to real life."

Cheshire High team founder/ co-coach Terri Brennan said her squad spent ,000 for this, its inaugural competition.  There wasn't room or construction equipment for the robot - named Igor Kickbot Sikosky – at the school this year, so Brennan, a math and computer science teacher, and co-coach Diane Bergin, a physics teacher, and their students relied on the generosity of others.

"We had to rely on parents bringing supplies," Brennan said.  "Anything (metal) that had to be cut, we sent to Sikorsky," which provided financial and technical help.  Also, Fazzone & Zima Realty let the team use a room in the Watch Factory building.

And the students, mostly underclassmen, tinkered as they had never done before.  Sophomores Mike Stavrakas and Kyle Pasciutti are used to putting things together – Mike said he made a motorcycle from a Weed Whacker and a bicycle - but this was new territory because of the teamwork.

"If it were just Kyle and me, it would've been easier." Mike said.  “But it wouldn’t turn out as well.  There are 25 different people with 25 different ideas."

"It's gonna be fun, no matter what happens," he added.  "If we lose, it will be funny.  If we win, it will be completely awesome."

New Haven's public schools team – a joint effort of Hill Regional Career High School and Common Ground Charter School, with help from past and present United Illuminating engineers – is in its second year and hoping for a much better showing.  Sponsor University is letting the team use its Mechanical Instrumentation Lab.

Jim Crowe, a retired UI engineer working with the team again this year, said they’re ready to go alter a trying experience last year – culminated by having to rehaul the robot the day of the competition.

"We want to make a really good showing, score some points and really push the limits with the robot after what happened last year," he said.

But if Cheshire needs a first year role model, it's Milford’s Platt Regional Vocational Technical School. The PT Panthers and their creation, Paradox, took top rookie honors three weeks ago at the NASA Langley Regional Competition in Richmond, Va.

"We took the advice of FIRST:  Keep it simple and build it strong," said Dave Tuttle, a Platt Tech coach and manufacturing teacher.  (The Panthers won’t be competing in New Haven due to financial constraints.)

But more importantly, “The fact that they were able to build a functional robot.  That, in itself, was a success,” he said

Robotics rules

·         Each school pays a,000 entry fee, which includes a standardized kit to make a basic robot.   Any additional parts are paid for by the teams.  The ,000 includes entry into one tournament; each additional tournament costs S4,000.

·         Teams cannot use parts from previous robots.

·         Teams work on the robots for six weeks.  For the New Haven regional, teams received their kits Jan. 5 and the shipping day was Feb.22.  The robots were shipped to a warehouse in Worcester, Mass. (or, for teams competing in other regional tournaments in the interim, to the next tourney site).  The teams in New Haven didn’t see their robots again until Thursday.

·         There are no limits to the number of students, teachers or volunteer professional engineers who are allowed to work on the robot.

·         All robots must weigh 130 pounds or less; the maximum dimensions are 36 inches by 30 inches by 60 inches.

·         The competition changes each year, This year, two teams, consisting of a robot (run by a remote control by a team member) take their places on a 48-foot-by-24-foot field divided into five zones.  ln addition to the person operating the remote control, another human teammate stands behind the Plexiglas walls.  Three goals, made of two hexagonal wooden platforms, metal and tall plastic poles, weighing 180 pounds each, sit on casters at the center of the field.  Teams don't know who their opponents will be until just before the heat.

·         Along the sides of the field are 40 soccer balls that can be picked up by the robots themselves and placed in the goals, and at each end are 20 more balls that can be thrown into the goals by the human teammates.

·         Heats last 2 minutes.  Teamr try to grab the goals, push them forward one zone for 1 0 points and get back to their home areas.  Teams get 10 additional points for each goal they bring back to their starting zones, plus 1 point for each ball inside the goal.

·         The teams have to work with each other as well as against each other.  The winning team gets triple the losers' score and the losers wind up with whatever their own total is.  If the final score is 30-29 for example, the winners end up with 87 points and the losers 29.  If the final score is 30-0, neither team gets any points.

·         Teams have pit areas (10 feet by 10 feet) where they can work on the robots between heats.

·         Today, there will be eight to 10 qualifying rounds.  The top eight teams, according to point totals, will compete in Saturday's elimination round.

·         While today's round consists of singles matches, Saturday's final rounds are doubles matches.  The top eight teams choose two other teams – a partner team and a backup -- and form an alliance. The backup teams must appear in at least every other match.

·         Elimination matches are best-of-three heats.  All three teams in the winning alliance are declared the winners of the tournament.