BFHS Robotic Team Ready to Take on the Competition

The Badgers Robotics Team is at it again with a new challenge: To build a programmable robot designed to perform a specific task, and to compete in the western regional FIRST Robotics Competition in February.

FIRST is a national organization with the goal of providing young people the opportunity to experience the power, excitement and fun of science, technology, engineering and math. The FIRST Robotics Competition has been called "a unique varsity sport of the mind."

Bonners Ferry High School Robotics Team And Mentors Gear Up For Spring Competition.

"This is comparable to an athletic team," said Ed Katz, BFHS science teacher, who has sponsored the team for the last three years. "Robotics gives kids an experience with technology, science and engineering where they have to produce a product. They have a timeline for completion, a budget to work within and all the real-world considerations that go along with that."

Senior Molly McClintock, spokeswoman for the team, said the team is geared toward getting students interested in science, technology and engineering.

"Robotics brings together kids from every social class in the high school," McClintock said. "It's not just a geek squad. We have athletes, FFA members, theater students, artists and student council representatives. Students from every single club are in robotics."

McClintock added the team will compete in a week-long competition in Portland, Ore., pitting their robot against 50 - 60 teams from the western United States.

The robot will be programmed by the students to run autonomously. It must follow a series of commands via previous computer programming for a 15-second time period. For the final two minutes of the competition, it is controlled by a series of drivers at a control panel.

The only requirement for the robot is size: It can be no larger than 26 inches by 32 inches by 60 inches.

Students, advisors and mentors are only allowed to work on the robot for six weeks. Beginning the first week of January, they spent nearly every night after school and many long hours on weekends working on the robot. They will continue until the end of February.

"Long hours, large reward," she said.

McClintock said that in the initial planning stages, the whole team comes up with the idea of how to get the robot to perform the task. Then the team splits into three sub-sections.

Students in the business section find sponsors, work on securing hotel accommodations as well as chartering a bus. They maintain the Robotics Team website, write press releases, thank you notes and communications with the school. They also prepare for the prestigious Chairman's Award, which is an interviewing and writing competition.

Students in the computer section focus on electronics programming, working with CAD design and Inventor to come up with a program that will allow the robot to perform the required task. They also document the building process on video tape. Lastly, they create an animated video about a safety issue that is entered into the animation competition.

Finally, the build-team takes the specifications designed by the computer section and completes the physical nuts and bolts building of the actual robot.

Katz said that the team is financed through sponsorships and grants. He wrote a grant proposal three years ago and received a NASA grant for the first two years. He said local sponsors - such as downtown businesses - have been instrumental in funding the team, which receives no funding from the school system. It is only allowed to use a school bus to travel to Coeur d'Alene to visit and mentor five newly formed robotics teams.

Katz said that one of the values of this program is that students work directly with professional computer programmers and engineers.

"The students get to be surrounded by professionals from their own community as well as top professionals from the engineering and technology fields in the United States," he said. "We have had great support from local mentors, particularly Albert Solt of E.L. Automation and Jim Hubbell. This is a competition that promotes gracious professionalism."

Team member Colton Gibbons said he joined the team for the chance to engineer a robot to complete a task.

"I get to see what other teams have come up with to do the same task and see how well our design compares to theirs," he said. "It's a lot of fun."

Katz said that many scholarships have been given to students who have been Robotics Team members. Last year, the BFHS team went to the quarter finals in the national competition.

"Hopefully, this year we will do the same," said McClintock, "but we have to get the robot built first. You never know until you get there."

Dylan Sweeney, co-captain, has been on the team since its inception three years ago.

"The first year we did okay, the second year we got in the quarterfinals, and this year we'll get in the semi-finals or the finals. We have a lot of smart kids."