Surprise teen gives back with robotics team – AZCentral.com

Andrea Galyean, Special for The Republic | azcentral.com 7:03 a.m. MT March 18, 2017

A group of West Valley teens built a device to compete in a nationwide robotics competition, all through the persistence of one Surprise teen's passion for science. Wochit

Joseph Goyer takes measurements to make a computer model of Goddard so the team can continue to work after the robot is sealed in a bag in accordance with FIRST rules.(Photo: Andrea Galyean/Special to The Republic)

It's a sunny Saturday in Peoria, but in a workroom inside Arizona Challenger Space Center, a cluster of teenagers and adults is leaning over laptops, scribbling on whiteboardsand crawling on the floor with a what is that exactly?

There's a beefy aluminum chassis outfitted with four white wheels, a belly full of circuit boards and motors, and a clear plastic canopy that gives it the look of a 100-pound dune buggy. It's a robot. And this group, known as Launch Team, is scrambling to get it ready for the Arizona West Regional FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which will be held April 6-8 at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

FIRST, a non-profit founded by inventor Dean Kamen to offer science and technology competitions for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, produces the FRC, in which teams of high school students and their adult mentors have six weeks to build and program robots that complete tasks while racing against the clock and other teams. Of the 778 teams across the U.S. including 42 in the Arizona West conference, most are organized by schools.

Launch Team, however, draws its members from West Valley students whose schools don't offer a team. The members don't have the convenience of after-school work sessions, and few of them had met before their first awkward get-together in November. But Launch Team has some advantages: It has free use of the Challenger Space Center; it has a cadre of adult mentors to offer technical advice, toolsand welding assistance; and it has Stephen Robertson.

Stephen, 17, is a senior in the CREST engineering program at Paradise Valley High School, but he lives in Surprise. He is also the founder of Launch Team.

When Stephenwas in grade school, he liked his science classes, but found them "kind of low-level," so his father, Steve Robertson, an engineer at Toyota's Arizona Proving Ground, did "extra stuff" with him at home. Stuff like free-body diagrams and the periodic table.

His mother, Lori Robertson, remembers the day Stephen offered to make dinner. "He was in and out between the kitchen and the backyard and he kept getting out all this aluminum foil and I didn't know what was happening," she said. He was making a solar oven.

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"He made a pizza!" Lori said, "I mean, he used bread and ketchup and cheese, but it worked! He figured it all out by himself."

He was 8.

When he was 12, Stephen overheard his sister's ballet instructor say ticket sales for an upcoming recital would be cash only. So he set up a Square account for the dance troupe and took credit cards using an iPad. Then he revised the group's website for search engine optimization.

When he was 13, his parents asked what he wanted for Christmas: an X-box or a 3-D printer.

"I chose the printer," Stephen said. "And that was the better option."

It was better because Stephen used it to invent things, like a tool to separate electrical connectors. It's a handy gadgetand the subject of one of two patent applications he wrote before he turned 17.

As a young technophile living in the West Valley, Stephen had attended space camps and other programs at the Challenger Space Center.

So last summer, when he was looking for an internship to fulfill a school requirement, he thought of the Challenger. And he thought of an assignment for himself.

"I'll never forget his proposal," said Beverly Swayman, the Challenger's executive director. "He said, 'I really want to work here as an intern, and I'm going to get you a 3-D printer.'"

I'll never forget his proposal. He said, 'I really want to work here as an intern, and I'm going to get you a 3-D printer.'

Swayman described her "amazing" intern to her board of directors and one of them, in turn, called Jason Yocum, CEO of Gilbert-based STAX 3D, who offered to donate a printer.

When Yocum arrived with the machine, Stephen was waiting at the door.

"It was clear he couldn't wait to get his hands on it," Yocum said. "He already had plans for it, and he started printing prototypes of his designs right away."

Right away, Stephen impressed Yocum.

"He's really humble," Yocum said, "but you could immediately tell that he has a lot going on. He has the skills, the entrepreneurial mindset, the self-starting. I had to ask: 'How old are you? And will you come work with me?'"

Joseph Goyer and Stephen Robertson work on Goddard on the last "build day" allowed under the rules of the FIRST robotics competition.(Photo: Andrea Galyean/Special to the Republic)

Although Yocum remains serious about the job offer, Stephen has been busy with another lifelong passion: robots.

He was barely past kindergarten when he was captivated by a PBS program about a FIRST competition. His father bought a Lego robotics kit, which they built and programmed together, but they couldn't find any teams to join.

When Stephen was in fifth grade, however, one of his teachers organized a FIRST Lego League (FLL) team and "my old dream came true." He loved competing and working with others to solve practical problems.

But, two years later, Stephen moved on to a middle school without a robotics team. He filled in the gap by volunteering as a referee and mentor for FLL competitions, but when he enrolled at Paradise Valley High School in 2013, he was thrilled to join the school's FRC club, Team Paradise.

In his sophomore year, Stephen was elected treasurer of Team Paradise, where he put his entrepreneurial skills to use by persuading community members to donate through the school tax credit. The team posted its best financial record ever, even as Stephen continued to mentor younger students in the FLL, as well as volunteer at other organizations and play first violin in the orchestra, too.

Taking note of Stephen's efforts, Team Paradise's faculty adviser, Robert Kabrich, nominated him for a Dean's List award in 2016, which recognizes students who promote the mission of FIRST. Stephen was selected as a finalist and went to the national competition in St. Louis, where he attended the awards luncheon in June.

At the ceremony, Stephen listened carefully to the speeches. He heard representatives from Yale and MITsay that the country needs more people studying science and technology. He heard how much more likely students were to enter those fields if they had participated in things like robotics competitions. And he heard Kamen himself urge the finalists to get more kids involved.

Stephen took it all to heart.

"When I got back home, I was thinking about what they'd said," he remembered. "And I started thinking about how much FIRST had given me, and I realized I needed to give back."

He remembered how he felt without a robotics team in middle school. His younger sister, who also loved FLL, was entering the same school and was about to face the same issues.

Inspired, Stephen put together a proposal for a middle school team and took it to the principal. A teacher volunteered to help, as did two of Stephen's Paradise teammates, and he applied for grants and sponsorships to cover the cost.

"We expected maybe five kids," Lori said, "but we ended up with 28!"

So they started two teams, both of which competed in the FIRST Technology Challenge in November.

Joseph Goyer (from left), Jonathan Kerr, and Stephen Robertson inspect the undercarriage of their robot.(Photo: Andrea galyean/Special to The Republic)

Suspecting that older kids would be just as eager, Stephen decided to start a community team for West Valley high school students.

And, recalling how much he enjoyed his time at the Challenger Space Center, he "realized it was a prime spot for a robotics team."

Swayman agreed and offered facilities free of charge. "Our goal is to find, inspireand excite students," she said, "so hosting the robotics team really fits with that mission."

Stephen wrote more grant applications and found more sponsors to secure the $6,000 needed for a startup FRC team.

Then he asked his father: "Do any of your co-workers at Toyota have kids who would be interested in this?"

The answer was yes. And those co-workers' kids had friends, too.

Riley O'Rear, 14, lives in Peoria and has always been interested in computers. He's programmed the robot to respond to a wireless joystick. Joseph Goyer, 17, also of Peoria, takes engineering classes at school and has created a 3-D model of the robot in SolidWorks, a computer-aided design program. Other kids come from Glendale, Surpriseand even Prescott. All of them have helped to design, buildand test their first robot.

And all of them have been supported by Steve and Lori Robertson and other adult mentors who came through the same word-of-mouth recruitment network as the kids.

Shannon O'Rear, a computer consultant and Riley's father credits Stephen with creating an experience that wouldn't otherwise exist: "Years ago, I sought out a robotics team for Riley, but there just wasn't anything out here. There are so many kids that would love this and would thrive in it; it's great to finally have this opportunity."

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The group dubbed themselves Launch Teamafter their home at Challengerand named their robot Goddard, after the inventor of the liquid-fueled rocket.

When Goddard drives into the arena on April 6, it will tackle two out of the three challenges posed by this year's FRC: collecting and delivering gears around the court, then climbing a rope. The third option, shooting balls into a hopper, seemed a bit advanced for the rookie team, most of whose members are just glad to be participating.

"Our robot is definitely on the simpler side," Riley acknowledged. "But it's super cool now that it's all coming together. And we'll know more for next time."

With its members planning ahead for 2018, Launch Team is now developing its own momentum, which it will need because its founder will be graduating in May.

As for where he'll be next year, Stephen isn't sure. He's applied to the colleges that were recruiting at the Dean's List awards, including Yale and Stanford.

But he's leaning toward ASU, for a very Stephen-type reason:

"I can't go so far away," he explained, "I've got to stay and help the teams."

The Arizona West Regional FIRST Robotics Competition will be held April 6-8 at Grand Canyon University Arena, 3300 W. Camelback Road in Phoenix. Attendance is free for spectators. For details, visit: firstinspires.org.For more information about Arizona Challenger Space Center, visit: azchallenger.org.

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Surprise teen gives back with robotics team - AZCentral.com