Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010
Robo-Cats
High schools combine robotics teams to compete
Emily Jarrett, Journal Staff
Julie Scheidegger, the Journal
Blue Springs High School student Neha Kunwar works on batteries for the Blue Springs United Robocats robot's power supply. The Blue Springs and Blue Springs South robotics teams combined this year due to financial constraints.
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closeTechnically, they should be enemies.
Rivals at least.
But Alicia Clark, a senior from Blue Springs High School, and Steven Lowrimore, a senior at Blue Springs South, are friends. Through robotics, students from the cross-town rival high schools have been working together for the past six weeks to create a robot worthy of being in competition.
Not that they were excited about working together in the first place.
“I thought, ‘Oh no, this isn’t going to work. I don’t want to work with them,’” Clark said with a laugh.
“I was thinking this was going to be horrible,’” Lowrimore added. “We’re supposed to be rivals. How could we work together?”
Lowrimore and Clark are co-captains for the Blue Springs School District’s robotics team.
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology or FIRST, encourages high school students in mechanics and engineering. In 1992, a FIRST robotics competition was held during which students had to design and create their own robot. Today, teams from across the world compete in FIRST robotics competitions, working together to design, manufacture, build and advertise their robot.
During competition the robots play a game, showing off the design and technology that went into its creation.
This year, the teams are playing “Breakaway,” where the robot must shoot six soccer balls into a goal within a time frame. To add to the difficulty, there are bumps within the field of play the robot must go over or under. Students are only given six weeks to create the robot and a budget of $3,000.
In the end, it was the budget constraints that pulled the two Blue Springs high school teams together.
“It’s been a tough year economically,” said Michele Cole, lead coach for the team. “A lot of sponsors decided not to donate this year and the funds were especially low.”
Cole said it takes around $15,000 to run a team, with travel accommodations to competitions taking the bulk of their funds. The district does not fund the teams either. Students must secure donations on their own.
“In addition to that, the coach at Blue Springs High School retired last year from teaching and starting from scratch is very hard, especially with the financial issues,” Cole added. “(Deputy superintendent) Annette Seago and the activities directors at both high schools spoke to me about possibly combining the teams.” Cole said she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the arrangement. She was worried about what her students would think.
“They weren’t happy,” she said. “In August I spoke with them about the idea because they had been hearing all these rumors. It took them a while to come around, but really, once the teams started working together, it was not a big deal.”
Cole said her only stipulation was the teams would use the shop room at Blue Springs South since it was more updated and the students would have room to work.
“Now you wouldn’t believe these kids are from rival schools,” she said. “They go to breakfast and will have lunch together on days off. They’re friends now.”
This week the team was putting the final touches on their robot. Next week, regional competition begins in Kansas City and the students wanted to make sure their robot is as perfect as it possibly could be.
“It’s been pretty hectic,” Lowrimore said. “We’ve been working for the past six weeks, almost non-stop. I added it up and I’ve been working on the robot for 160 hours, and that’s on top of school hours.”
When they spoke to the Journal on Monday, the team was in school on a snow day, still working. Cole said many times the students have worked on days off or half-days and on weekends.
“I told them, no work on Sundays,” she said with a laugh. “But they would just pick up the robot and take it to someone’s garage to work on. They’re pretty determined.”
“We’ve been working a lot but it’s going to be worth it in the end,” Clark said.
Both Lowrimore and Clark said combining the teams allowed them to start fresh. They renamed themselves the Blue Springs United Robocats, Team 1785 and came up with a new mascot and colors.
“It was a little like team-building exercise,” Clark said. “We had to combine, but that also allowed us to really make the Robocats our team.”
“We all got together to watch the video that explains this year’s game and the rules in January,” Lowrimore said. “And from then on, we’ve been working together. There are conflicts sure, but we just talk them out.
“A great thing about robotics is that our coaches are pretty hands-off. They really let us figure out the robot and the teams on our own.”
Lowrimore added the biggest misconception about the robotics team is that they build “battle bots,” which are designed to destroy other robots in competition.
“It’s nothing like that,” Clark said. “FIRST is all about teamwork and the spirit of competition, not only with the other teams, but competing with yourself. Seeing the robot you created do what it’s designed to do is pretty rewarding.”
The Robocats will compete in Kansas City and Dallas this year. And if they do well in regionals, they’ll travel to Atlanta to compete in the championship round.
Clark thinks her team has a shot at making it to Atlanta.
“I think we’ll have a good season” she said. “We’ve overcome so much as a team and our robot is ready. I can’t wait until competition starts.”
To learn more about the Robocats, go to www.bluespringsunitedrobotics.net.
To reach Journal reporter Emily Jarrett, call 816-282-7018 or e-mail ejarrett@bluespringsjournal.com.
