As late as 8 p.m. during the winter months, when nearly all else is quiet at Ledyard High School, a faint whirring sound can be heard echoing down the halls. Follow that sound to its source and you'll find the Ledyard High Cyber Colonels hard at work.
A competitive robotics team with high ambitions, this will be just the third year that Ledyard High has fielded a team. In their debut season, the Cyber Colonels won three awards, including the Inspirational Rookie Award and the Imagery Award. And while 2007 produced no awards, the team was still proud of its build.
"Last year's robot was entirely capable of doing the electric slide," Cyber Colonel and drive team operator Dan Pealer pointed out.
Looking to reclaim their previous glory, the Cyber Colonels have spent weeks brainstorming, designing, building, and programming an automated/remote-controlled robot capable of retrieving, lifting, and maneuvering a 40-inch ball, all while navigating a playing field with five other robots. But what drives these students to toil for hours, night after night, when most students are at home watching TV?
The FIRST Robotics Connecticut Regional Competition in Hartford, of course.
Founded in 1989 by scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur, Dean Kamen, FIRST is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization intended to encourage young people's interest and participation in science and technology. An emphatic advocate of science and technology, Kamen has received the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment in 1998, the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 2000, and the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002. Kamen is possibly best known as the inventor of both the Independence IBOT 4000 Mobility System, and the Segway Human Transporter among others, earning him entrance into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005. Yet, among all of his accomplishments, Kamen acknowledges founding FIRST to be his proudest achievement.
FIRST sponsors numerous
programs, but its most popular and recognizable by far is its flagship program, the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). The FRC began as a single competition in Massachusetts in 1992 with 28 teams competing in a high school gym, yet has grown to encompass more than 37,000 high school students on more than 1,500 teams in 41 regional competitions annually. The program became so successful that spin-off competitions, like the FIRST Lego League for 9- to 14-year-olds and Junior FIRST Lego League, for 6- to 9-year-olds, were created to accommodate the massive interest in such programs.
This year's FRC, titled "FIRST Overdrive," will feature a rectangular playing field with four large 40-inch and approximately 10-pound balls suspended on a rack 6 feet off the ground. Alliances (made up of three randomly chosen high school teams) receive points for accomplishing various tasks with their robots, such as crossing certain goal lines on the field, knocking balls off the rack, retrieving balls, placing balls back onto the rack, and even hurling balls over the rack. Once it receives its required tasks and obligatory rules and regulations, each high school then has about six weeks to design, build, and become familiar with their robot. More than 60 teams are expected to compete from all over Connecticut and neighboring states. After a very successful year in 2006, the Cyber Colonels, who are sponsored by Dominion, are excited with their 2008 creation and feel their chances of placing well in the regional competition in Hartford and moving on to the national event in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta are quite good.
"Some robots are designed to get points by only accomplishing certain tasks, like just making laps around the field," FIRST coach and Ledyard High teacher Polly McIntyre explained. "Last year, for instance, you had to place inner tubes on a series of racks. We focused on just getting them onto the lower rack, we didn't bother attempting to get them on the upper rack, but there were matches that we'd be the only team to even have tubes placed on any rack, so we were pretty successful with that...This year's robot is able to do all the tasks of the challenge."
McIntyre acknowledged that collectively choosing a design concept and engineering that design is one of the biggest challenges of the competition. With around a dozen
student members headed by team captain Jessica Houde, and about half a dozen adult mentors, including Sam Winograd of NUWC, Scott Horler of ASFT, and Greg Morea and Jay Pealer, both of EB, coming to one like mind isn't always a simple task. Yet for this year's challenge, the team has decided to go with something akin to a forklift-style design-a wheeled-robot with what is essentially an extendable ladder, which can be raised and lowered by a continuous pulley system. At the very top of the ladder are pitchfork-like tongs, each with a small controllable flapper that can be raised to keep the ball in place. Design regulations limit both the dimensions and the weight of the robot, something that almost became an issue for this year's build.
"You try to keep weight down as much as possible," McIntyre explained, "but while we were building this year we didn't have access to a scale. So one holiday weekend we went down and got the nurse's scale and put two-by-fours across it and weighed our robot like that. We ended up being about eight pounds under the limit, which was really just pure luck, because there was no way for us to tell beforehand."
But with all the requirements met and the work done, only the competition, which will take place at the Hartford Convention Center on March 13, 14, and 15, still remains for the Cyber Colonels season. And while McIntyre and all her students are confident in their robot, if no awards are earned, the season will certainly still be considered a success.
"I think it has provided a place for some kids to find a place to belong," McIntyre said. "There's music and a band and, of course, the wrestling team, but these kids are the same kind of kids. It's just that different kinds of things turn them on...Competing in Hartford is always a lot of fun...I think it would be a thrill just for the kids to even get there because we've never gotten there. I'd also love to see us win the Imagery Award again, but if all the kids come home happy and have had a good time, that's half the battle."