Daily Archives: April 19, 2017

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DAVENPORT-- Davenport West is sending two teams to the World Robotics Competition, one a veteran and the other a rookie.

The Combustible Lemons and Disruptive Innovation are heading to St. Louis to compete against other teams from across the globe.

"We're really just excited to go because that's been our goal this year. The senior's on this team have never been to World's," says senior and robotics team member Kailey Fellner.

The teams have been competing on the local level since September and practicing up to 20 hours a week before a competition.

"It's normally a stressful time because nothing breaks until that week and then everything breaks at once, but once we get it fixed and get to the competition it's so much fun...we forget about all that," says Fellner.

"They've definitely put a lot of dedication into what we're doing. We're with them enough that they're like a second family," says robotics coach Greg Smith.

Senior Kaigan Johnson says it was a surreal moment when they found out rookie team Disruptive Innovation wasgoing World Championships after their regional division match.

"We were on the edge of our seats, and once it happened I couldn't believe it. It was crazy," says Johnson.

Both teams are heading to St. Louis next week and focusing on competition but also fun.

"We're really just going to go and have fun and enjoy the trip to St. Louis. It's like our celebration now that we've made it this far," says Fellner.

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Two local robotics teams heading to World Championship robotics competition - WQAD.com

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DANBURY -- A robotics team in Danbury is on the move -- or they hope to be.

They have been invited to the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics championships later this month in St. Louis but because they are a community team they have to find significant funds on their own to make the trip.

The ten member team, made up of middle and high school students, call themselves The League Of Extraordinary Roboticists.

"This is a team that truly represents our community," said Ellen Bell the coach. "We are trying to raise $20,000so we can get our team members to the championships in St. Louis."

The team, officially known as FTC Team 8699, has been tweaking their robot, known as "The Goat" in hopes of making it to the competition. The team is also intent of including all types for their team.

"Everyone should be able to do robotics," said Kay Bell, a 7th grader on the team and Ellen's daughter.

"A lot of minorities think they can't do robotics and robotics is for everyone."

The completion in St. Louis draws teams from all over the country and the world, with hundreds of teams involved. It begins on April 26th.

"I really hope to get there, I'm excited," said Caleb Huizinga, another 7th grader on the team.

To find out more about FTC Team 8699 click here.

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Danbury robotics team set sights on competition in St. Louis | FOX 61 - FOX 61

The Zanesville High School robotics team is headed to the world competition this weekend. Chris Crook/Times Recorder

Alex Pinson, left, and Christian Sheline are two members of the Zanesville High School robotics team taking Devil Bot 6.x to the world competition in Louisville this weekend.(Photo: Chris Crook/Times Recorder)Buy Photo

ZANESVILLE -The Zanesville High School robotics team has qualified for the world competition for the sixth consecutive year.

Rick Mohler, the robotics coach, said Zanesville has qualified for the world competition every year the school has had a team. However, he added more area schools now have robotics teamsso he is proud of the continued success Zanesville has experienced.

The team will be competing at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky from Thursday to Saturday. Mohler said there will be about 500 teams in the competition.

The team is made up of six students and each student has a specific job. Senior Christian Shelineis a builder, sophomore Alex Pinson is a builder, designer and driver, senior Christopher Sheline is a builder, senior Rory Gamble is the head scout, sophomore Alec Mealick is a scout, and sophomore Austin McCoy is the head programmer.

"We want to win an award and do our best to represent the school and the community," Christian said.

The Devil Bot 6.x demonstrates its bean bag throwing ability.(Photo: Chris Crook/Times Recorder)

The team and Devil Bot 6.X, their robot, will be competing in the game Starstruck. There is arobot on each side of the field with 24stars and four cubes on the playing field. The goal is to throw the objects on the other side of the field to earn points.

Being involved in the robotics program has shaped what some of the team members wantto do after high school.

While Christian is a senior, this was his first year on the robotics team. He said he wanted to get involved because he's attending Ohio University for mechanical engineering in the fall.

"I have always liked science, math and engineering and I've always been interested in this but I didn't get involved until this year," Christian said. "I wanted to get my foot in the engineering field because I'm going on to do that in college and after that in a career field."

Pinson, who has been involved with the robotics program since he was in middle school, said the program has influenced him.

"I'm looking to do something in engineering after high school," Pinson said. "I help with the design process and it will be a stepping stone into the engineering and design field."

As previously reported in the TR, the John McIntire Elementary sixth-grade girls robotics team will also be competing on the world stage in the Vex IQ Challenge beginning April 23.

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Zanesville robotics team ready for world stage - Zanesville Times Recorder

Shelton will send two robotics teams to compete in the international championships in St. Louis, Mo., later this month.

Team 230, also known as the Gaelhawks, have extended their season all the way to the First Robotics Competition international championship, which will take place April 26 to 29.

The Gaelhawks are made up of the following SHS students: Lusitania Gallahar, Jacob Zamani, Chris Macdonald, Josh Wilson, Brian Sanfilippo, Jake Daxner, Victoria OMalley, Aravind Ravishankar, and Michael Kichar.

They will be accompanied by a younger robotics team composed of seventh grade students from the citys intermediate school.

Counting down to St. Louis

As the teams departure to St.Louis is just days away, they said, this is a surprisingly less busy time period for them.

Aside from packing their bags, team members said, theyre also preparing to ship their robot to meet them in St. Louis. With their 93-pound robot, Talon 19, packaged up, they dont have the ability to make modifications to it in the days before it will appear in competition against teams from all over the globe.

Fortunately for the Gaelhawks, they have a practice robot they have been tweaking in preparation for the international championship.

Having a practice robot is useful, because it allows the drive team to practice, and gives us time to create new strategies that we can use in competition, said Ravishankar, the teams safety captain. We should have it running perfect when its time to compete.

Ravishankar said the time the team is spending on making tweaks to its practice robot isnt nearly as intense as the six-week building period it was allotted to build Talon 19, but once team members land in St. Louis, the pressure will be back on. There, Ravishankar said, their next task will be to duplicate on Talon 19 the changes they made to the practice robot.

City support

Robotics is undeniably popular in Shelton.

The community supports all of its robotics teams to the fullest and it means the world to the team members.

Team 230s lead driver, Michael Kichar, said the community support has been an important instrument in the Gaelhawks success.

Being supported by the community allows us to do what we do, said Kichar. Without all of our sponsors or help from mentors, we wouldnt be able to build a robot as well as we do.

Kichar said being the teams driver can put a lot of pressure on him at times, but his teammates support makes all the difference.

Sometimes its as simple as doing exactly what youve spent hours practicing out of competition for the past few weeks. Other times its not, said Kichar. As long as you have your team behind you to support you, its a pretty easy job.

Earning the opportunity

The chance to travel to a different state for the opportunity to be crowned one of the worlds best robotics teams has been exciting for the Gaelhawks, but theyre maintaining their composure and taking it a step at a time.

One of the teams members in charge of social media and public outreach, Lusitania Gallahar, said this is her first year on a robotics team, and she was surprised to see the dedication of the Gaelhawks.

Just the fact that we have the opportunity to share our robot on an international scale is amazing, said Gallahar. I didnt know the hours were so long, but when I saw the rest of the team putting in the time and showing up, I was just amazed and started putting in the work, too.

Ravishankar explained that the teams work is divided into much more than just building the robot.

The building is the toughest part, but its not the only part, said Ravishankar. Its such a team effort and ecompasses so many different skills throughout the entire competition.

Team 230s season began with a six-week building period that consisted of team build sessions every weekday from 7 to 10 p.m. On weekends the sessions would last from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.

For some team members, that was their favorite part of the season.

My favorite part is working side by side with professionals that have done this for so many years, said Ravishankar. Were really thankful for the support weve received from all of our supporters, but especially our mentors, because their assistance will help us as we pursue futures in robotics or engineering.

Building a sense of community

Despite the sometimes high level of competition and intensity, the Gaelhawks said, theyve worked hard to build a sense of community, not only among themselves but with their opponents as well.

You have one of our biggest competition, which is a team from Southington, theyll come in and help. Or theres another team called the Techno-tics, and theyll come in and help. Its all about gracious professionalism, said Ravishankar while describing how a team could end up helping a team its competing against. Its not only about demonstrating sportsmanship on the field but also establishing that sense of community while out of competition.

The Gaelhawks also said they work closely and have actually opened up their workspace to the SIStematics to help build that sense of community among the students who will be at their level in years to come.

As soon as youre on a team, youre a part of the team, said one of the teams captains, Josh Wilson. To watch the international competition live, go to https://www.firstchampionship.org/watch-live.

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SHS robotics team advances to international championship - Shelton Herald

Littleton s Zach Miller turns a rotor at the FIRST Robotics Competition New England District Championships earlier this month.

LITTLETON -- When a group of high-school students in Littleton formed a robotics team last summer, expectations were contained for their first-ever competitive season. The members were new to the field, they did not have any test equipment to lean on from previous years, and failure was part of the process.

But just a few weeks after Littleton's Mechanical Advantage 6328 started its season in the FIRST Robotics Competition, the team has become one of the best in New England. After qualifying for this month's world championships, the group now has a shot at success on the global stage.

Sreenidhi Chalimadugu, a Littleton High School sophomore on the team, described the experience as "overwhelming."

"I personally never thought of even making it this far," she said. "We've all learned so much in such a short period of time, whether it's mechanical aspects of the robot or team-building skills involved. It's just a great experience and it's really surreal, too, to make it this far and come to worlds."

It became clear early on that the team had potential. In its first event, Mechanical Advantage finished fifth out of 39 teams, and it compiled enough points -- awarded for how successful its robot was in parts of the game such as transporting gears and firing wiffle balls into a large container -- over the season to qualify for the playoffs.

Mechanical Advantage made it to the quarterfinals of the New England District Championships.

Along the way, the team won the New England District "Rookie All Star" award, which also would have landed a spot at worlds had the team not already qualified by ranking.

"One of the things we all have in common is our love for what we do here," Chalimadugu said. "Being a part of that success is something we've all been lucky to go through.

Members of Littleton High School s Mechanical Advantage 6328 robotics team, right, compete in last month s FIRST Robotics Competition. PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRIAN MILLER

The team's "determination" has been the key to its success, according to 21-year-old Deanna Clark, one of the group's two mentors. Members gathered almost every day since kickoff in January to plan and build their robot. Most devoted a minimum of 30 hours per week, and before competitions, some would even stay until 2 a.m. fine-tuning details.

Clark recalled one anecdote that she described as the "essence of (the) team": in a match at district championships, the robot got a ball stuck in one of its pieces. Members drove the robot into the wall to try and jar the ball loose, but in the process, they sheared a key piece of the robot's interior.

The mentors and students frantically took the apparatus apart, but time until their next match continued to slip away. With seconds to go, Zac Temple, the other mentor, ordered his team to begin driving the robot to the arena with his hands still inside of it tightening screws.

After almost missing the entire match with a broken robot, Mechanical Advantage managed to pull out a victory. Most team members cried with joy, Clark said.

"I think that just really shows our team and what we're about," she said. "Most teams probably would have just said, 'oh, it's broken, we can't get to the match.' But we were getting to that match."

For Clark, success is an important part of helping the team grow its roots in Littleton.

"When your team doesn't do well, it's not fun, and you don't want to come back," she said. "It's really critical in the first year to be successful."

The team is still meeting several times per week to prepare for worlds and to perfect their strategies. They are also working to raise funds to support the trip to St. Louis. Those interested in donating can do so at littletonrobotics.org/donate.

Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisLisinski.

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Robotics team creates Mechanical Advantage - Lowell Sun