By Khalida Sarwari
For the last few weeks, Chico has been hanging out in a storage room on the Prospect High School campus. But come April, he will be going head to head with others of his kind in a competition that will determine the robot that’s most adept at stacking containers.
More importantly, the 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition, slated for April 1-4 at San Jose State University, will determine the strongest robotics team in the South Bay, as teams from Saratoga, Westmont, Prospect and Lynbrook high schools compete for more than $20 million in scholarships.
Chico belongs to 17-year-old Kiet Duong, a junior at Prospect, and his team of about 30 other robotics enthusiasts. He and his team spent two weeks designing the robot using 3D designing software and the next four weeks assembling Chico. They then began making a replica to practice with.
The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition kicked off in January when the teams were informed of the details of this year’s competition and provided a kit containing motors, batteries, a control system and a mix of automation components with limited instructions for their robot design. They had six weeks to plan, design and build their robots for the game in April.
This year’s game, titled “Recycle Rush,” is a recycling-themed activity performed by two alliances of three robots each. The robots score points by stacking plastic containers on scoring platforms, capping those stacks with garbage containers and properly disposing of pool noodles, representing litter. In keeping with the recycling theme of the game, all game pieces used are reusable or recyclable. Teams are awarded points on such factors as design, engineering and collaboration.
The engineering aspect aside, students also use this time to write grants and get sponsors, market their teams and design web pages and T-shirts, according to Joel Cheng, a senior at Westmont. Joel, 17, and his teammates completed their robot–which has yet to be named–in mid-February and stored it in a garage. They are now brainstorming ways to make their robot better.
The Westmont team has 25 students and began participating in the FIRST competition four years ago, Joel said. While they have yet to win, they have tried to improve every year, he added.
“I do think we have a solid robot and I think we can finish maybe above average or average,” Joel said. “I think we have a pretty good chance of doing well.”
As for Joel, who plans on pursuing an engineering degree in college, he’ll be immersed in the field long after the competitions end, but he’s still learning.
“I think last year it was my first year so I didn’t know that much,” he said. “This year I kind of wanted to do more and be part of the design process, the fundraising process and helping manage the team and seeing how the team functions behind the scenes.”
Prior to the April competition, Westmont will be competing in a regional tournament in Madera and the Prospect team will be participating in a tournament in Utah next month.
Prospect has been involved in the FIRST competition since 2009. In the team’s first and second year, Prospect finished as finalists. Last year they made it to the semifinals.
Kiet said he feels good about his team’s chances this year.
“I haven’t seen the other schools’ robots but I’m confident that we’ll do well,” he said. “Our robot is rigid and very sturdy. I have great confidence that our robot will perform well this year.”
This is Kiet’s second year participating in the competition. He said he’d be back next year.
“It’s fun, and I like engineering,” he said. “This is my greatest achievement in high school so far. I’m proud of our team and I’m proud of what we’re doing and I hope we can continue this for as long as we can.”
On Feb. 19, Kiet and Joel, along with their teams, were invited to display their robot designs at the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Awards Banquet held at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose. The teams had booths at the event, where they had information about their team and played videos of last year’s competition.
