Webster robot will compete in nationals
Team from Schroeder, Thomas schools will be traveling to Atlanta.
Ben Loudon
Staff writer
(April 19, 2006) — WEBSTER — Like a NASCAR crew huddled in the shop, racing to get their machine ready for the next race, a team of Webster high school students and their coaches have been hustling to prepare for a national robotics competition later this month.
SparX, a team of 34 students from Thomas and Schroeder high schools in the Webster Central School District, won a regional robotics competition at Rochester Institute of Technology in Henrietta on March 11.
They'll head to Atlanta for the national FIRST robotics competition against more than 70 other teams from April 27-29.
FIRST — For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — was started by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway scooter.
"The whole premise is to get students active in the science and technology areas," said Bob Schlegel, Webster's co-coordinator of technology and a coach for the team.
"Pop culture has done an injustice by putting too much emphasis on the sports, celebrities, entertainment heroes, and not enough on the scientists and engineers that are really helping people," Schlegel said.
In January, the Webster team, and more than 1,100 other teams of students in the United States and elsewhere, received identical robot kits and had a six-week time limit to design and build their robots.
In competition, the robots score points by throwing a ball in a goal about 8½ feet off the ground, or others at floor level.
The Webster robot uses: a camera that locks onto a green light above the goals, a computer device that calculates the distance and trajectory, a turret that aims, and a wheel that spins at just the right speed to fire the ball into the goal.
The robots competing in the nationals are already impounded in Atlanta. The robots were taken from the teams after the competition at RIT, but teams have a limited amount of time to make new and spare components and to plan adjustments that can be implemented at the contest.
Xerox Corp., Webster's sponsor, paid the $5,000 fee for the basic kit and the regional competition, plus $4,000 to enter the national contest. Xerox also is paying for the team to make the trip to Atlanta. Students participating in the competition who intend to pursue a career in engineering are eligible to apply for scholarships at several colleges.
Last month, students worked to improve the strength of the robot frame, while others updated software to adjust the robot transmission. And others built spare camera mounts.
"At the nationals, if something breaks, we won't have enough time to make a new one," said Jordan Hunter, a senior.
"I love it. It's tons of fun. It gives me a chance to learn how to work with all the tools, like lathes, and also we get a chance to work as a team," Hunter said.
"I just love working with my hands, getting down and dirty and working with metal and stuff like that," said Hunter, who is planning to study mechanical engineering in college.
BLOUDON@DemocratandChronicle.com
Just remember to be as transparent and inclusive as you can. - DonRotolo [more] 
19-04-2006, 18:15
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