Students of Hopewell Valley Central High School are currently gearing up for the annual For Inspiration & Recognition of Science &Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition in Pennsylvania.
The event is scheduled to take place in Hatboro-Horsham during the weekend of March 2.
Students Participating In Killer Engineering (SPIKE) is what the Hopewell Valley students refer to themselves as, while they toil away in their workshop planning a new robot for this year’s competition, hoping it will make it through each trial and last until championship weekend at the end of April in Detroit.
“This is a collaborative community,” said Ed Petrillo, the head technical mentor for the team. “This is definitely a different type of learning these students get from in the classroom. There is no answer in the back of the book. It is possible to run into a mechanical challenge that no one knows the answer to. Students might be facing something like that for the first time in their lives.”
The FIRST competitions began in 1989 as a non-profit with the goal of inspiring youth interest in science and technology. Hopewell Valley has been participating in the competitions since 1997.
Students participating in the annual FIRST competitions are under strict rules, limited resources and only allowed a six-week time frame to complete their robot. Each year, the student teams are given a theme and a challenge where they must create a robot to complete certain tasks.
This year’s theme is called “Destination: Deep Space.”
The challenge presented for the teams in this year’s competition has several different aspects. Each team is presented with a cargo ship, a space station (also known as a habitation module or HAB) and two rockets.
Student teams must create a robot to descend from the HAB station, secure the rockets and fill the cargo ship with them. Following that, the robot must climb back into the HAB station.
All of the sequences and actions performed by the robot will earn points for the teams and each competition will also include time limits.
SPIKE is currently halfway into its six-week building period where team members work seven days a week modifying and perfecting their robot. SPIKE members say their robot will be about seven feet tall when it is fully built.
“This year we are incredibly far along for three weeks,” said Alex Scott, a sophomore who is one of SPIKE’s team leaders and who is participating in his second competition. “Last year we had a bit of a struggle starting off. I think what we have left to do is some final fabrication and final assembly.”
SPIKE has three groups as part of its team all working on different sectors. One works on the design, another on the functional capabilities and the last works on the computer programming. Each group is in constant communication with one another to make sure everything is running smoothly. Currently SPIKE’s robot has already undergone a few trials.
“We have done some testing to make sure the claw works, and it is working well,” Alex said. “We have done some testing also with the elevator, the elevator raises the claw up and down. We are also about to produce the drive train, which delivers power to the driving wheels.”
Along with the engineering and robot skills that the students learn when participating in the competition, Alex said they also learn some real-life skills as well.
“The soft skills mainly, which would be being able to communicate with other people, and also being able to build relationships in our community,” he said.
SPIKE members said they are much more confident in this year’s robot than they were with last year’s, but Petrillo said the final three weeks of building could become harrowing.
“What makes it intense is that no one has built this type of robot before, you do not know what is likely to happen,” Petrillo said. “What takes all the time is the false starts and mistakes you make. You have to use your time and resources wisely in order to get the robot done.”
Petrillo, who has been involved with the program for 19 years, said the most enjoyable part of the program is seeing the students use their creativity to solve unconventional problems.
The first round of the For Inspiration & Recognition of Science &Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition will be held at Hatboro-Horsham High School in Hatboro-Horsham, Pennsylvania, from Friday, March 1, through Sunday, March 3. For more information, visit www.midatlanticrobotics.com.
