Using controllers to command their robots, South Carroll High School's robotics teams competed against other robotics teams from around the state. Mount St. Mary's University and STEMaction Inc. hosted 48 teams who competed in the 2017 Maryland FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge Championship Sunday in Emmitsburg.

A total of 107 teams from Maryland and Washington, D.C., went through six qualifying tournaments to determine which would attend the Maryland Championship. The top four teams will advance to the East Super Regional in Pennsylvania in March and from there to the FIRST Championships in St. Louis in April.

South Carroll High School teacher Sean Lee mentors FIRST Robotics teams 6284 RoboCavs Black and 10001 RoboCavs Silver. He explained that the teams each compete in five matches. During the two and a half minute matches, the teams create two-robot alliances who work together to shoot small balls into goals, claim infrared beacons and raise large balls.

"You have to accumulate as many wins as you can," Lee explained. "You have to learn to cooperate with your enemies. It's all about gracious professionalism. We encourage teamwork and cooperation as much as competition. We encourage the kids to go out and do their best."

The students build and program their robots throughout the school year. They continually update and modify the robots.

"It can take weeks or months to get the robots to do what you want," Lee said. "There's plenty of learning opportunities. We don't call them mistakes."

The students compete with two controllers and each button has a specific function.

"Each function is a design challenge that the kids have to work on," Lee said. "They have to decide what they want the robot to concentrate on."

The South Carroll High program is sponsored by Bechtel, Leidos and the W.R. Grace Foundation. Students also raise additional funds for the program through fundraisers and the tuition paid to attend a robotics summer camp.

Lee said the program started five years ago and only had eight students. Now 50 students are involved in it.

"They get real engineering experience," Lee said. "We've graduated 23 kids through the program. Twenty-one are in engineering or science related fields at major universities."

Lee said when the program began, there were no female students involved. The program now has 10 females who participate, and they have formed their own team, RoboCavs Silver.

"There's a friendly rivalry between the teams," Lee said. "The girls tend to be more focused on the engineering process, allowing them to produce a more reliable robot. The boys are more about thinking outside of the box. We hope to combine the two thought processes to make a great team next year."

South Carroll High School senior Lauren Bahnsen, of Mount Airy, said she joined the program because she wants to be an engineer.

"I'm learning to appreciate the difference between the physical and theoretical world," Bahnsen said. "Earlier this season, we wanted the robot to lift the ball, but when we were designing it we realized that it would be more difficult than we expected."

Bahnsen said they ended up "scrapping the whole idea and deciding to make a complimentary robot."

"We focused on doing things that other teams wouldn't think of," Bahnsen said. "We designed it to help our ally as much as possible by delivering balls and going after beacons."

Junior Chris Scalzi, of Westminster, said he "really liked the competition this year."

"It's neat to see the other robots. You see a lot of cool ideas," Scalzi said.

Senior Michael Shockey, of Mount Airy, said he joined the program because he was "into building things. I fell in love with it."

"It's an experience you don't usually get," Shockey said. "I love the challenge."

Shockey said the team members "really work together well and everyone put forth their best effort."

While neither of the teams were chosen for the finals, the RoboCavs Silver finished with 2 wins and 3 losses, and the RoboCavs Black finished with 1 win and 4 losses.

michel.elben@carrollcountytimes.com

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6284 RoboCavs Black

Scott Simpson, Sander Cochran, Chris Scalzi, Connor Gleason, Matt Dolecki, Alex Seidel, Jacob Sabonis, Zach Sweeney, Matt Graham, Cole Stricker, Michael Shockey, Jackson Foran, Jacob Wolff, Mat Erickson, Aidan Yeo

10001 RoboCavs Silver

Veronika Fermin, Joy Nunez, Sydney Arcuri, Lucia Hadsall, Chloe Kerwin, Lizzy Gabel, Allie King, Anna Plass, Madison Snyder, Lauren Bahnsen

Excerpt from:

South Carroll Robotics teams compete at Maryland State Robotics Competition - Carroll County Times