The FIRST Tech Challenge Dayton Qualifying Tournament drew 25 teams from as far as Baden, Pa., and Erlanger, Ky., who competed robots built from scratch to score points through teamwork.
Although Springfield High didn’t have a team, Rich Storrick pushed for the hosting slot to show what could be.
“We always place a significant value on athletics and we wanted to show there could be as much interest for these events,” said Storrick, an applied mathematics and cybersecurity teacher at Springfield High’s STEM Academy.
Storrick was also head referee. He said the goal is to show that building a robot can be a collaborative involving teamwork and ideas as opposed to somebody sitting in a basement.
“This isn’t just for kids who want to do engineering. It’s for someone who thinks robots are cool,” Storrick said.
Colorful team nicknames and uniforms added to the event as students from various schools were given eight weeks to build a robot that is placed in a small arena trying to earn points by scooping up blocks and balls into containers, or to climb a “mountain” for more points.
Two teams are assigned at random as an alliance and given two minutes and 30 seconds to collect as many points as they can. The team you are aligned with at one round could be your opponent the next.
While scoring in the arena counts, more points are earned through gracious professionalism and cooperation, two key components.
Springfield High STEM Academy Principal Teresa Dillon said Springfield High would like to have its own competitive robotics team next year and hosting this was a good showcase.
“I had no idea what a big production this is,” she said. “We want to build all of our programs.”
The STEM Academy offers classes in robotics as well as cybersecurity, gaming and engineering, among others. The emphasis is to get students an idea what is available to them and have them college- and career-ready.
Just as injuries play a part in sports teams’ game plans, so it is with tech challenge competitions.
The Baden, Pa., team traveled 3 1/2 hours to get here. The Thursday evening before the competition, the team’s robot’s servo, a mini motor, broke down, leading to a scramble to find a replacement.
After searching several states, as luck would have it, one was found in a Dayton toy store, which graciously worked out a way to get the part to the team.
“Yesterday was stressful. But you have to learn to make rapid changes,” said team mentor Gordon Walton.
Walton said about two-thirds of his team consists of students interested in STEM careers and the others are just interested in having fun.
“It’s about solving problems,” he said. “The fun is in overcoming the obstacles.”
Baden student team captain Adam Schueller said he wants to build robots in the future and gave up on athletics to do this. During one match he threw up his hands, which suddenly turned into clenched fists in despair when something went awry.
“I’m pretty emotionally invested,” he said. “I played lacrosse but this is way more intense.”
About a third of the teams move to state competition in Newark in January.
Waco Aerobotics of Troy was the only area team to qualify for the finals.
Results are available at www.powerstackersftc.weebly.com.
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