The competition, which takes place March 26-29 in Hartford, Connecticut, will feature hundreds of teams competing against each other for the chance to advance to the final championship round in St. Louis, Missouri.
The team got their “assignment” for the competition at the beginning of January: a kit of parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, a PC and a mix of automation components—with no instructions.
After six weeks of assembling their own robots, teams will arrive in Connecticut for the final challenge: The Ultimate Ascent. The game is played between two alliances of three teams each. Each alliance competes by trying to score as many flying discs into their goals as possible during the two-minute and 15-second match. Discs scored in higher goals score alliances more points. Matches end with robots attempting to climb up pyramids located near the middle of the field.
2,550 teams will compete in The Ultimate Ascent at different locations around the nation, but only 400 winners will advance to the national championship in St. Louis in late April.
“I think the students are both nervous and excited,” said Steve Besler, technology teacher at Saratoga Springs High School. “It came down to the wire this year—we were working up to midnight on the night of our deadline. It was pretty crazy.”
A young club only in its second year, Besler said the robotics club was able to learn a lot from its first season, making for a much smoother ride this year.
“The first season was a learning experience and it was pretty hectic,” Besler said. “This year went pretty well—we spent about 20 hours a week for six weeks working on it, and we split the group into programming, build team and officers, so it was a little smoother than last year.”
This year, the Saratoga Springs High School students were joined by students from the Burnt-Hills Ballston Lake High School, who don’t yet have a robotics team of their own.
“We ended up combining the two teams and they had a few kids come up on a daily basis and join our team,” Besler said. “The last week [before deadline], we actually worked in their facilities because our high school couldn’t open the facilities for us, and it really helped us out big time because they have a really nice machine shop.”
Now that the robot is finished being built by the almost 30 students on the team, it’s time to relax until the competition later this month.
“It’s been a big time-commitment, but it’s been fun,” Besler said. “It was definitely a good time.”
For more information on the FIRST Robotics program, visit www.usfirst.org. For updates on the Saratoga Springs High School robotics club, visit www.saratogaschools.org.
