Where do robots come from? While many might envision the dark lair of a mad scientist or a gleaming, high-tech clean room, members of the Ballston Spa High School Robotics Club are hard at work on their own mechanized creation in the school’s technology rooms.
They will be entering their finished product in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition in March. It’s the first time the district has fielded a team, though teams from Albany, Colonie and Shenendehowa are frequent competitors. Though the school has long been aware of the contest, the $6,000 registration and materials fee had proved to be a formidable barrier.
It’s something that we’ve wanted to do for a while, said district Science Coordinator Diane Irwin. `A $6,000 gift from Ballston Spa National Bank made it possible this year.`
Additional sponsorships have been received from other area companies, including Informz, CS Arch, TCT Federal Credit Union and Specialty Silicone Products. The team is still looking for additional sponsorships in order to secure lodging and pay for transportation to the competition.
The contest started in 1989 with just 27 teams. The 2009 FIRST Robotics Competition will feature almost 1,700 high school teams from all over the world competing in a unique challenge, taking six weeks to build robots from a kit of common parts provided by FIRST. The challenge and rules change every year.
`It’s considered the varsity sport of the mind,` said Greg Roberts, a Ballston Spa technology and pre-engineering teacher and official advisor to the Robotics Club.
This year’s event is called `Lunacy,` and is designed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic moon landing. Teams must construct a robot capable of picking up and placing moon rocks (9-inch balls) in a trailer behind their opponent’s robot. Whoever can score more points in a 2 minute, 15 second match, wins.
To make the robot, which will eventually stand at about 5 feet tall, team members will have to use a variety of disciplines, from woodworking to welding, design to computer programming. Eighteen students are spending hours on their nights and weekends working on the project, assisted by volunteer mentors skilled in engineering, programming and mechanics.
The multidisciplinary approach challenges students to go beyond their boundaries. For example, freshman Mike Dame joined the team to design the Web site (www.ballstonsparoboticsclub.org), but at a recent meeting found himself with screwdriver in hand, assembling a wheel.
When it’s time to program the robot, Dame will be using LabVIEW software, a real-world application and an experience that will come in handy if he chooses to pursue a future in computer programming.
Junior Kelly Burghart said she hadn’t even considered a future in engineering before her Robotics Club experience. Now, she’s examining new possibilities.
`I had no interest in technology prior to doing this,` she said. `Now, I’m addicted to it. I like this work.`
Robotics team members will be working hard until Feb. 19, when they must ship their robot to Rochester for the March 5 to 7 competition at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The district has hopes of expanding the robotics program to middle and elementary schools as part of its efforts to provide forward-thinking education to its students and also teach teamwork and problem solving skills in a hands-on way.
`The district is starting to infuse more robotics, because it’s a fun way to teach these values,` said Roberts.
`It’s working into the STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] theme of preparing kids for high-tech careers,` said Irwin, noting that engineering is one profession that the ongoing recession hasn’t negatively affected. `They’re predicting that we’ll have a significant shortage of engineers in the future.`
That will hold especially true in Saratoga County.
Upperclassmen in Ballston Spa could theoretically be some of the first hires at the Foundry Company microchip
manufacturing facility in Malta, slated for a 2012 opening. It is expected to employ 1,465, mostly in high-tech-trained positions.
`With nanotechnology and the Foundry Company coming in, we want kids to become skilled in practicable problem solving using technology,` said Roberts.“