RPI hosts FIRST Robotics Competition
Hundreds of high school students participating in event at RPI
TROY >> Students on opposing red and blue teams have 2 minutes and 10 seconds to score as many points as they can using their own, homemade robots during the Tech Valley FIRST Robotics Competition which takes place today and Saturday on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus.
The 38 teams, made up of high school students, hail from across New York state, around the U.S. and other countries, including Canada and Turkey.
One of the original teams from when the robotics competitions started 23 years ago is still competing. When Shenendehowa High School, Team #20 in the FRCs, started with the program in the 1990s, it had five members on their team. Now, it has nearly 120 students.
Some of the original members of the Shen team will be at the games this weekend, organizers said.
Dom Falzo, a current senior at Shen, said he was first introduced to building robots in middle school. Now he’s a veteran FRCer working with the Shen Rocketeers team on its robot called Eclipse, which has six wheel drive and a catapult to throw the competition’s balls into the designated goals.
Last year, the Shen team was ranked 14th in the world for their robot’s offensive power rating.
In the main arena, six teams play against each other in a 3-on-3 format. Their objective is to throw either their large blue or red balls into or over certain areas.
Referees, and more than 100 volunteers, including about 35 from GlobalFoundries, will assist during the two-day event.
While only high school students are allowed to compete, alumni sometimes mentor the next generation.
Chris Wolff is a technology teacher and mentor for the Troy High School team, which is competing in the games for the first time this year. Wolff competed in FRCs for all of his four years of high school at Colonie Central High School. He said this had a big impact on what he did after high school.
“I probably wouldn’t be a tech teacher today if it weren’t for these competitions. I’d probably be a history teacher,” he said.
The Troy High team, #5149, started meeting in October and started building its robot in January. The team’s strategy was to build a robot that could efficiently hit the high goal in the arena, since that carries the most points.
“It’s a lot of work,” said Sean Dory, a junior at Troy High, referring to the sometimes 10-hour blocks of time that the students spent on the robot. “But it’s a lot of fun, too.”
His teammate, Albert Lo, a senior, plans to attend a technology college next year, possibly RPI, for software engineering.
“To help out with the programming for the robot and see it come to life and move — that was incredibly cool,” said Lo.
Competitions will take place today from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Teams in the New York Tech Valley FIRST Robotics Competition will vie for regional awards and a spot at the FIRST Championship to be held April 23-26, at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Mo.