Thirteen teams from  Central Minnesota descended upon Becker High School Saturday to experience this year’s robotics kickoff that revealed the game and challenge set forth for 2017.

 

Becker Head Coach Alex Jurek was the host and  after a quick meet-and-greet at 9 a.m., he assembled the teams in the Performing Arts Center to disburse information and to have the guests view music videos the schools produced for their programs.

 

Becker mentor Roger Niday spoke on the importance of each team having mentors and asked the students to “drag your parents in — get them involved.”

 

“Without mentors, the program suffers,” Niday said.

 

Onamia and Big Lake are rookie teams and they soaked up all they could during the open sessions, presentations and the reveal video. Delano Robotics put in some extra time creating the Steamworks field elements on the PAC stage that stayed hidden behind the black curtain until the end of the reveal video.

 

In the reveal video, Dean Kamen, the original founder and inventor of FIRST®  (For inspiration and recognition of science and technology) Robotics, spoke of the program and gave encouragement to the schools and teams. The video was acted out by FIRST directors and chairmen and women and featured a passage of time from present day to the days of the steam engine. 

 

Dr. Woodie Flowers, an executive with FIRST, appeared in the video and said to the robotics teams, “If your robot works, it probably means you have an understanding of the universe.”

 

Kamen commented, “The only difference between science and science fiction is timing.”

 

After several minutes of “acting” by the FIRST directors — the game and challenge was finally revealed to the students — and it, of course, revolves around the “steam” concept.

 

Robots will be required  to scoop up fuel cells (plastic balls) and toss them into a “steam engine” at either end of the floor to score points. Openings at the base of the engine and through the chimney stack are where the fuel cells get delivered to earn the points.

 

In the middle of the competition floor, pilots will be aboard towering airships directing the robots to find and pick up gears and deliver them to the pilots. The gears enable the tower to operate a rope pulley that descend to the floor, capturing the robot to be hauled up to the airship.

 

The team with the highest scores and quickest time will be the game’s winner.

 

Following the reveal video, Jurek directed the teams’ coaches and mentors to drive around the high school to pick up their kits and manuals for the game. He also dramatically counted down to zero and ordered an assistant to part the black curtain and reveal the field elements constructed of wood.

 

The teams now have  six weeks, starting from the first weekend of January, to build a functioning robot  they will use to compete in the season’s competition. 

 

After the build season, teams begin competing in March until early April in district, regional and state competitions in hopes of making it to the FIRST World Championships in late April. Every team organizes themselves in a different fashion, but all teams pursue a common goal.

 

FIRST was founded by Kamen to inspire young people’s interest in science and technology. Based in Manchester, NH, FIRST is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity providing robotics competition for Grades 9-12, tech challenges for Grades 7-12, a Lego® league for Grades 4-8 and a Lego league junior for Grades K-4.

 

FIRST robotics competition pairs high school students with adult mentors (primarily engineers, parents and teachers) to design and build robots that compete against one another in a high energy environment.