THE CHATHAMS In only its second year, the advanced robotics class at Chatham High School is sending two teams to compete in a state championship tournament Sunday, Feb. 26.

The rookie team, //Cougars, and Chatham Cougars, which was formed last year, will go up against 46 other teams at the state level of the FIRST Tech Challenge. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, a nonprofit organization that runs several competitions and provides college scholarships.

Julianna Ryan, who teaches advanced robotics and coaches the teams, said about 160 teams competed statewide this year, compared with about 110 last year. Its growing immensely.

Winners of the state tournament will go on to a super-regional tournament in March, which will be followed by the world championship tournament in April in St. Louis.

Ryan said the class is set up like marching band and chorus, so students could take it as sophomores, juniors and seniors. Freshmen take introductory robotics. Students who cant fit the class into their schedule may stay involved as a club member, participating during their lunch break or after school.

The advanced robotics class is meant to be much more student-driven, Ryan said. Theyre brainstorming, working together, and Im ... micromanaging their time management, keeping them on task. Then when they run into errors, Im able to step in and we have discussions on whatever it might be.

Theyre all working on different things simultaneously to come together to build a really powerhouse team.

The teams build their robots from a bunch of aluminum parts, screws, and nuts and bolts without directions. While all the robots are the size of an 18-inch cube, teams design different parts to fold out to handle various tasks. The Chatham teams have benefited from use of a 3D printer that allows them to make parts for the robots as they design them.

Last year, our robot was rebuilt time and time again, Ryan said. It was a building year. We didnt really know what we were doing as a whole.

This year, there was a lot more planning in the beginning so students have made changes but have not broken the robots down entirely. This year, there has been a lot of growth in their design process.

Six students enrolled in advanced robotics in its inaugural year; 17 are taking the class this year, including three who took it last year. Teams can have no more than 15 members, so the class formed two teams.

The fall semester is dedicated to the FIRST Tech Challenge; in the spring, students will work with drones and other devices, including a prosthetic hand.

Tony Tesoriero, a junior from Chatham Township, called the advanced robotics class "awesome." "Before, there was nothing that combined all these awesome robotics stuff, almost every single type of engineering - mechanical, electrical, software - even management stuff. There's a lot of computer tasks too," such as computer-aided design, he said.

Catarina DeMatos, a senior from Chatham Township, said she has learned many skills besides programming and engineering in the class, including communication, presentation, technical writing and business skills.

"The class itself is a lot of fun because you learn different things every year because the game changes every year," said DeMatos, who also took advanced robotics as a junior and competed on an independent team as a sophomore.

Last year, the Chatham Cougars team was one place away from qualifying for the state tournament. They did really well, but this year, theres been immense growth, Ryan said.

During the fall, the teams attended three weekend meets called scrimmages where they were ranked. They also went to one or two qualifying tournaments; winners of those go to the state tournament. Some teams advance to states based on their scrimmage rankings.

Chatham Cougars qualified for the state tournament by being named second runnerup for the Inspire Award at the December qualifying tournament in Livingston. Winners and runnersup for the Inspire Award qualify for states, Ryan said.

The Inspire Award is the best thing you can get there. It says not only is your robot great but youre doing a really good job with your engineering notebook, with your problem-solving, with your connections to the community.

//Cougars qualified by winning the Northwest League Tournament, open to teams from Morris, Sussex and Warren counties, after just missing out at two qualifying tournaments. At the league tournament, the team was undefeated in nine matches and was first runnerup for the Inspire Award.

During a tournament, four teams compete at once in a match, with two teams as the red alliance and two as the blue alliance.

During a 30-second autonomous period, the robots complete a series of tasks, such as shooting a wiffle ball into a basket and pushing a button that matches the alliance color. Those tasks have been preprogrammed by the team.

The autonomous period is followed by two minutes when a team member drives the robot using a game controller. The robot works with its alliance partner to score as many points as possible.

At a tournament, teams compete in five matches, then the field is narrowed to semifinals, then finals.

Its very much like a sports team. Its just robots competing rather than people, Ryan said.

It actually gets very intense, with people cheering on the robots, she added.

Catarina, a member of the Chatham Cougars team, said she is excited about competing at states and is looking forward to seeing what other schools' teams have done with their robots.

Tony, who went to states last year with an independent team, said it was a scary experience. "It's huge. It's pretty much every single good team that you see at your previous matches all at one competition."

WhenCatarina tells other students about advanced robotics, she urges them to give it a try. "It's not just a bunch of nerds hunched over a computer ... it's fun," she said.

If students are not interested in the engineering and programming aspects, "there's so much more that goes into this competition," noting that she just created a video for states. Others are making posters or doing 3D modeling on computers.

In addition to building, programming and operating the robots, the teams compile an engineering notebook; do community service projects, such as providing tech help to senior citizens; and go out into the community to find financial sponsors and to promote robotics.

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Two high school robotics teams headed to statewide contest - New Jersey Hills