Killingly HS Robotics Team crowned champions in Japan

In addition to designing and building a competitive robot, the team produced an incredibly detailed and sophisticated notebook of the entire process, which Polselli feels had a lot to do with the team winning the award.

Dr. Robert Poselli (better known as Dr. Po), began the robotics program at Killingly High School just three years ago.

Since then, despite COVID throwing a wrench into the works for the entire world, the program has grown to include approximately 120 kids, working on more than a dozen different robots.

Polselli’s classes fill up quickly (he is the robotics coach and engineering/robotics teacher), and there are hopes to expand the program to include elementary-level kids in the future.

“The administration has been phenomenally supportive,” said Polselli.

A testament to the success of the program, and to the hard work and dedication of the students involved, are the results of a trip to Japan that some of the Killingly students were able to take earlier this year.

Polselli had traveled to New Zealand to compete with some of the students from his previous teaching position in 2020.

“It was such a life-changing experience for the kids, that when I came to Killingly three years ago, I proposed a trip to Japan,” he said.

The Killingly administration was supportive of the idea. And so, earlier this year, Poselli traveled with a cadre of Killingly students, and their robots and tools, to Tokyo, Japan, where they competed for two full days at the American School.

Members of the Killingly Robotics senor team were recognized as the Engineering Design Champions at the event.

“They ended up winning the engineering design award, which wasn’t supposed to happen,” said Polselli, explaining that technically, since the kids were competing out of their region, they weren’t eligible for an award, and were in fact the only team not from Japan to win one.

“Japan is the epicenter of technology,” said Polselli, noting that to hear the competition announcer say that teams outside of Japan were beginning to be competitive was extremely gratifying for the kids.

“I saw it as recognizing our efforts in that we were one of those teams that were beginning to compete at a higher level,” said team member, Joshua Torre.

In addition to designing and building a competitive robot, the team produced an incredibly detailed and sophisticated notebook of the entire process, which Polselli feels had a lot to do with the team winning the award.

“I think the judges were very impressed with the notebook, and very appreciative of the hard work the kids put into it,” he said.

In total, the students spent nine days in Japan, and filled their time with many different activities.

“We crammed a ton into that trip,” said Polselli.

Among the highlights of the trip was a chance to see a particle accelerator up close. There were numerous other technology-focused trips, as well as a chance for the kids to make and eat their own sushi.

What was the students’ favorite thing about Japan?

“The food,” said team member Moss Souksanti.

Other team members agreed that the food on the trip was delicious.

“I loved the miso soup,” said Carley DiMartino. “I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

The students were awed by the particle accelerator, and enjoyed a trip to Cyberdyne Systems, a robotic and technology company, where they were able to experience an amazing robotic arm. They appreciated the cleanliness of Tokoyo, and the warmth with which they were greeted by Japanese citizens.

The team will be honored with a citation from the Connecticut House of Representatives later in March in Hartford, and took no time off as they prepared to host the First Annual Killingly Robotics CT State qualifier only three days after returning from Japan.

Senior Aila Gutierrez, also a member of the senior robotics team, worked with Polselli while he was in Japan to coordinate volunteers and donations for the event and managed all resources to ensure the event was successful.

With more than 70 volunteers, Killingly Robotics hosted a successful event drawing 36 teams from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

As they head off into their futures, all of the seniors plan to attend a four-year college, and most plan to prepare for a career in engineering of some type. But they noted that their involvement in the robotics team at Killingly has prepared them with much more than technological skills.

“I think this class has helped me become more confident in my skills as a woman in STEM,” said Aila Gutierrez.

Team member Matthew Sprouse noted that their experiences have involved working as a team, computer programming, learning to speak publicly, and developing many other important skillsets.

“The skills we’re developing aren’t just limited to this,” he said, gesturing toward the team’s current robot.

And thanks to local company Spirol International (specializing in fastening, joining, and assembly), future robotics team members will also have the opportunity to travel and show off their skills. Spirol helped sponsor the trip to Japan, and has committed to supporting Killingly Robotics for the next three years.

The senior team at Killingly Robotics is composed of students DiMartino, Alexander Potapskiy, Ryan Rattray, Souksanti, Sprouse, Torre and Gutierrez.

This is the third year in a row that the team has won Engineering Design at the international level (World Engineering Design Awards 2021 and 2022), with Sprouse and Potapskiy on all three Killingly teams.

Killingly’s junior team, represented by Darin and Devin Exarhulias, also did quite well in Tokyo and ended up finishing in fourth place, while Killingly Robotics freshman Wesley Sprouse and juniors Dimitrius Thornton and Colin Ericson finished 12th in the qualification rounds.