FIRST Robotics Team 1829 attended the FIRST Robotics NASA/VCU Regional Competition in Richmond, VA last week. The team, comprised of high school students from Maryland and Virginia's Eastern Shore, was awarded the Xerox Creativity Award for their outstanding carbon-fiber robot design and the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award for effectively inspiring students and exposing them to professional engineers and engineering principals. The Engineering Inspiration Award is the second highest award given at the regional level and qualifies the team for the FIRST Robotics Championship held in Atlanta, GA on 16-18 April. This will be the first time that a FIRST Robotics team from Maryland and Virginia's Eastern Shore has advanced to the world championship level!
FIRST is an acronym that stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" and is the name of a non-profit organization that organizes an international robotics competition to inspire our next generation of technical professionals. Students that participate in FIRST Robotics Competitions gain valuable technical experience, learn directly from professional engineers and scientists, and earn eligibility for over $9 million in scholarship funds - they're learning and they're loving it!
Team 1829 was originally formed by Arcadia High School in Hallwood, VA but grew substantially late last December under the guidance of Navy's Surface Combat Systems Center (SCSC) in Wallops Island, VA. SCSC joined the team when they decided to pursue FIRST Robotics as a way to inspire local students to pursue higher education in various technical fields.Early this year, the team formed a non-profit organization called Eastern Shore Robotics, recruited over 40 students from Maryland and Virginia, and began seeking sponsorship from local businesses, colleges and organizations in order to fund their participation in the 2009competition. The coalition team has expanded to include students from Arcadia High School, Pocomoke High School, Worcester Technical High School, Bennett High School and even a few home-schooled students. The team's current sponsors include Surface Combat Systems Center, Hawk Institute for Space Sciences, Eastern Shore Community College, Eastern Shore Defense Alliance, American Society of Naval Engineers - Wallops Island Chapter, Northrop Grumman's NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract, Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services,Buddy's Electronics, and NASA Federal Credit Union. The team's success is due in large part to the funding, resources, and mentor ship provided by its sponsors. Eastern Shore Robotics is currently seeking additional partners and sponsors to help fund the $10,000 required for the team's participation in the Championship. If you would like to help, contact the team by email: ESR@ESRobot.org to learn more.
2 comments:
Looks like fun, but they're not robots. Robots have a computer "brain". These are more like RC vehicles.
They actually do--for the first 20 seconds of the matches they run autonomously. Even manual aiming is supplemented by a camera tracking system for higher accuracy. The entire drive system is also programmed by the team and uploaded to a Texas Instruments CRio controller. Following the first 20 seconds, the robot is controlled by two joysticks and a drive station that communicates with the CRio via a wireless N network.
-Chip, UMES Engineering Student and one of the mentors for the team.
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