Centerburg competes in regional robotics

CENTERBURG — The Centerburg Robotics Team, the Red Plague, will head to the Miami Valley Regional FIRST Robotics Competition this weekend, March 7-9, to compete against more than 50 teams.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a charity designed to get students excited about STEM subjects through mentor-based programs and competitions. Each year, FIRST develops a challenge and invites student teams across the globe to solve it with their own homemade robots.

Being a member of the Red Plague gives students a chance to learn skills like 3D modeling, programming and engineering and put them into practice.

“Kids are no longer taught shop and industrial arts in school and without hands-on experience, they miss a lot of the practical skills that you need in everyday life,” said team mentor Matthew Skelton.

The students and their team mentors spent the first few months of the school year honing their basic building and design skills with virtual and actual prototypes. However, the teams are only given six weeks to create their competition robot and practice operating it. ‘Build season’ began Jan. 5, when the mission and contest specifications were announced by FIRST.

This year’s theme is Destination: Deep Space. Students were tasked with building a robot capable of loading two rockets and a cargo ship as well as securing the vessels’ hatch panels.

During competition, teams are given two minutes and fifteen seconds to earn as many points as possible by loading cargo, securing panels and driving the robot back to the safety of its docking station before a sandstorm sweeps through the area. This year’s challenge was designed by a committee that included inventor and FIRST founder Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers, an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Red Plague’s robot, nicknamed Boris by the students, is made of aluminum, copper wire, plexiglass, pneumatic air compressors and carbon fiber. According to Skelton, carbon fiber weighs less than aluminum but rivals the strength of steel. It’s also much more flexible.

It’s the first year students have used carbon fiber on their robot. Skelton said that few teams are known to use the material.

Developing a robot that could carry out the mission required some trial and error. Boris is the fourth version the team built.

“The robot you see here we built in about a week and a half,” said team mentor Jon Penko. The first model was too heavy, and the second and third version required tweaking.

Junior Joel Hackett said the chance to get creative and try new approaches is exactly why he enjoys being part of the team.

“I like how we get the freedom to say whatever we want and throw out our ideas,” said Hackett. “If we think it’s a good idea, we can try it.”

This weekend’s three-day event includes one day of practice followed by a day of qualifying matches and the actual competition. The top eight teams after qualifiers will be allowed to pick two teams each to ally with in Saturday’s competition, so it’s important for teams to impress each other in both performance and design.

“It’s not just a robotics competition, it’s also about how you market the robot,” explained team mentor Janine Hebenthal. “You want the other teams to remember who you are.”

This year’s team chose a “Men in Black” theme, modeling their control station and uniforms off the science fiction film franchise starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. The students also added a decorative alien to their transport cart.

According to Penko, the regional competition will likely include teams from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, but is open to teams from around the world.

“Two years ago we were competing against a team from Turkey,” he said.

Centerburg’s performance at regionals will determine whether the team advances to the championships. The team qualified its first three seasons and went twice (funding was not available the second year), but hasn’t returned to the finals since.

This year’s team includes 12 students, all of whom attend Centerburg or are homeschooled. In the past, the Red Plague has had students from Utica, Johnstown, East Knox, Mount Vernon, Danville and Fredericktown. Penko said that students from other districts are welcome to join and that he hopes to recruit a larger team next year.

“Because they’re a small team, they’ve had to wear many hats,” said Penko.

Skelton noted that robotics is a team sport, as the group benefits from each student’s individual strengths. Some are great engineers, others stellar programmers.

Joshua Knapp works on both the robot’s electronics and pneumatic air compressors. The homeschool senior plans to pursue a degree in electrical engineering.

He’s learned a lot of hands-on skills during his four years on the team, but said the most crucial skill he’s gained isn’t a technical one.

“Working as a team in this environment is the most important thing I’ve learned,” he said. “I’ll carry that throughout my career even if I don’t go into engineering.”

The team members include Hackett, Knapp, Brian Davis, Anna Emmelhainz, Sydney Irwin, Johnathan Irwin, Macayla Knapp, Jacob Leber, Melanie McLaughlin, Miles McLaughlin, Reuben McLaughlin and Jackson Mentzer.

Mentors include Penko, Skelton, Joe and Noah Orr, John Trepp, Lori Mahn, Alex Leber and Zane Winyard. Noah Orr, Leber and Winyard were previously students in the program. This year’s team is sponsored by Ariel Corporation and a grant from NASA.

Katie Ellington: 740-397-5333 or katie@mountvernonnews.com and on Twitter, @kt_ellington