Raising the Game: FIRST Robotics
Raising the Game: FIRST Robotics
By Cassandra Nelson
When students from 49 high schools in and around Boston filled the stands at BU's Agganis Arena for the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition in March, the atmosphere had more in common with a rock concert than a science fair. In front of an enormous screen surrounded by flashing lights lay the competition area. Referees watched and students cheered as two rotating teams of three robots apiece scrambled to hang as many colored, donut-shaped balloons as possible—preferably in a row, for scoring purposes—onto a giant metal structure with three levels of hooks. Behind the scenes in “the pit,” where teams tweaked and repaired robots between matches, a rowdy camaraderie prevailed.
Brandon Mensing leans over the controllers used to direct RoboRhett's movements while BU Academy student Benjamin Wilsker (foreground), BU Academy alumnus and MIT undergraduate Samuel Duffley, and BU Academy student Charles Waite look on.
The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) gives each school only six weeks to design, prototype, test, and construct a robot. Students learn as much about teamwork in that brief period as they do about science and engineering. Twenty-seven Boston University Academy students and five BU undergrad mentors comprised Team 246 this year, with additional guidance from two BU Academy teachers, Gary Garber and Nicholas Dent, as well as manufacturing engineer Michael Gevelber and computer integrated manufacturing (CIMLAB) specialist Robert Sjostrom, both of the University's Department of Manufacturing Engineering. Some BU Academy students worked on publicity, fundraising, and banner and T-shirt design. Others worked on the robot itself, named RoboRhett after BU's mascot, Rhett the Boston Terrier.
An aerial view of the colorful displays and uniforms in the pit, where team spirit and teamwork go hand in hand.
Brandon Mensing, a Boston University junior studying computer science, estimates that he devoted 200 hours to this year's competition. What makes RoboRhett unique, he says, is its lifting platform. Judges awarded bonus points at the end of each two-minute match to teams whose robot could support other robots 12 inches above the ground. “Most teams achieved this by building large ramps that fold out,” explains Brandon, but these can be difficult for other robots to maneuver. “RoboRhett actually lifts other robots. The lifter uses two gyroscopic sensors to detect if the platform is lifting unevenly and, if it is, to adjust the flow of pressure in the pneumatics to compensate.”
Three weeks into the competition, Michela Meister, a freshman at BU Academy, found that her hobby of making jewelry translated into a knack for electronics. By the end of the project, she'd learned to solder and use a drill press, applied concepts about electricity before she'd formally covered them in class, and even used her new skills to help the small, first-year team at William McKinley Preparatory School build and wire their robot when they needed an extra set of hands in the final week.
The BU Academy team, which participated in the FRC for the eighth time this year, has a strong tradition of mentoring rookie teams by offering workshops for teachers and hands-on help with projects. When McKinley Prep students won a spirit award on the first day of the competition, Team 246 gave them a standing ovation. Ultimately, scoring is secondary at the FRC-building lasting partnerships is what counts. “In the pit,” says Garber, “one school will make an announcement over the speaker system that they need a certain solenoid, and five teams will rush up with it.”
Most students who participate once are hooked, and many go on to serve as undergraduate mentors after graduating from high school.
Most students who participate once are hooked, and many of them, like Brandon Mensing, go on to serve as undergraduate mentors after graduating from high school. Dean Kamen, who founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989, attributes the competition's popularity to its inclusivity and its emphasis on gracious professionalism. “Every stakeholder is a winner,” he says, including students, teachers, mentors, and sponsors. “Everybody who touches FIRST gets more out of it than they put into it.”
When asked whether she would compete again next year, Michela Meister gives a typical response: “Definitely! That's not even a question.”
For more information, see www.burobotics.org.
