This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Robots go Head to Head for Saturday Competition

The Cheshire High Robotics team has several competitions leading up to the national event in St. Louis in April.

The CRASH robotics team at Cheshire High School has 15 members who build robots for competitions throughout the year. 

“I like building something, a complex machine that you can see work and your accomplishments,” team senior captain Derek Cobbe said.  He has been a team member for three years. 

CRASH stands for "Cheshire Robotics and Sikorsky Helicopters," which was founded nine years ago at the high school.

Find out what's happening in Cheshirewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Matt Michaud, a senior and four-year team member, likes the idea that cooperation and competition are equally important. he calls it "coopertition.” Michaud said he also enjoys the people, kids, mentors and fun the competition brings.  

The team has been practicing for a challenge that requires robots to lift rings onto a 12 foot pole.  Each team is given two minutes for the robot to lift one ring onto the pole on the wall.  The team starts with the first 10 seconds in automatic mode, and if they are not successful, the robot is switched to manual mode.  In the last 10 seconds, the team is also given the opportunity to deploy a “mini-bot” onto the pole.  The first bot to reach the top of the pole tacks an extra four points onto their score.  The bot must also be able to come back down the pole to keep the points.

Find out what's happening in Cheshirewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Everyone on the team is a “builder,” who brainstorms ideas for the competition and then builds the robots. At the competitions, the team is divided into “drivers” and “operators.”  Many hours are devoted to the building of the robot and weekends are a crucial time for working on the projec.  Harvey Russell, a mentor for the past three years, put in a seven-hour day this past President’s Day.

 The sponsoring organization for the robotic team is called FIRST. It was founded by Segway inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 and is based in Manchester, N.H. The organization expanded into Connecticut in 1995. 

The CHS team participates in two categories of FIRST competitions.  One is called FIRST Tech Challenge which allows students to design robots to compete against other robots using a sports model.  The second competition is the FIRST Robotics Competition which requires a robot  to perform tasks following specific rules, time limits, and limited resources.

Despite the drive to do well in the competition, the opposing teams also cooperate with one another. At a recent event, the CHS team forgot the cables they needed and another team let them borrow theirs.  All the teams are in an alliance together, members said and they chose to help each other out rather than promote rivalry.  Russell believes this prepares the students for the business world.

The CHS team is looking forward to two big competitions. The FIRST Regional Robotics Competition will be held at the  Convention Center in Hartford from March 31 - April 2.  This is the largest competition in New England.  The team’s robot has already been prepared for that event.  

The second event is the FIRST national championships which will take place in late April in St. Louis, Missouri.  Russell said the team is very excited about attending the national competition and is hoping to come home with a couple of trophies.

In February, the team scrimmaged the FIRST Robotics Suffield Shakedown.  Out of 25 teams, CRASH made it to the last three rounds, and ultimately came in first place.  In turn, they were given the “Design Award,” by the hosting team.

Their next competition is Saturday at The Kingsford-Oxford School in West Hartford.  This event is the FIRST Tech Challenge a Connecticut state tournament which challenges teams to design, build and program their robots to compete head-to-head.  The competition is open to the public, and will start at 9 am.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?