East Longmeadow robotics team to compete in World Championship
Date: 3/7/2013
By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.comEAST LONGMEADOW — Members of the East Longmeadow High School robotics team will put their technological creations to the test against others from around the world this April.
Three teams for East Longmeadow will to take part in the VEX Robotics High School World Championship April 17 to 20.
At the championship, the robots will have to prove their ability to score by picking up beanbags and place them into goals while at the same time "de-scoring" their opponents by removing beanbags from their goals. All the while, senior Joe Zemba, one of the team captains, explained, judges are evaluating different aspects of each robot.
"Your robot is judged on certain criteria," he said. "Your robot is judged on programming, which is when your robot moves by itself with very little human interaction, then there is the driver's challenge where you have to control your robot."
Sophomore Mike Hampton, another team captain, said that all teams start with an even playing field in terms of materials, but from there, each team's designs and innovations will differ.
"We're all given the same metal and part opportunities and we're trying to use that to the best of our abilities within the rules that are given," he said, explaining that one rule states that while it can expand, the robot must start out at 18 square inches.
While the goal is ultimately the same, teams utilize different strategies in building their robots through all stages, including the very beginning when developing a plan.
For example, Hampton and junior Conner Harper, the third team captain, said that their teams used a trial and error method in determining how to go about completing the task while Zemba said his team did extensive research and development including looking at what worked in past years' robots, even if they had different tasks to complete.
All three team captains said that their teams started working on their robots in the summer of 2012.
While ultimately teams are competing against each other, Peter Van Buren, a physics teacher and advisor to the club, said members of each team within the club have made a point to help each other and collaborated in the design and building of the robots.
"I can say that this year in particular I've been extremely impressed by the teamwork. I've really tried to emphasize that even though we have five robots, we're one team," he said. "I've been very impressed with how the experienced teams will stop working on their robots and help the freshmen. The freshmen will tell you they have received a ton of help and support from the experienced teams."
Zemba said a key to keeping the club going and allowing participants to compete in events such as the VEX world championships is the fiscal support for the community through donations and fundraising efforts.
"It is expensive. We need a lot of money to do what we do," he said. "If I were to gauge how much our robots cost, I would say it's somewhere around $800 each because the cortex alone is $400."
Hampton added that the expense is worth it because of the wealth of knowledge gained through the hands-on experience.
"It's a really good club. You learn a lot about teamwork, about mechanics, about engineering and the whole design process," he said.
Van Buren concurred that the community support has been the thing that has kept the club up and running. He explained that when he was hired by former Principal Richard Freccero, he stated it was his intention to start such a club and it was the East Longmeadow Educational Endowment Fund (ELEEF) that gave him the first $1,000 to get the project off the ground, then gave the club a $3,000 grant the following year.
Since then, a number of local corporate sponsors have helped the cause.
"Obviously the help is crucial. When I wanted to start this club, we had no money and this stuff is very, very expensive. [ELEEF] really provided us with the seed money to get us going," he said. "To sustain it, we have an annual budget of between $6,000 and $10,000 a year. We do some fundraising, but we get most of our money from corporate sponsors and it's great to see them get involved in our program because it's creating future engineers and future scientists. They're really helping to develop that."
