Falcon Robotics Team 1493 members, families and alums gathered Saturday at ÉðÊ¿Âþ» as they (and the world) watched the debut of the 2020 FIRST Robotics competition season.
In this annual competition, teams of high school students from around the globe are challenged to build a robot that responds to a specific task. Watching the international unveiling via streaming were some 50 students, family members and alums (including Max Thomas ’15 – who stopped by before his 2 p.m. flight back to Seattle, where he’s an engineer for Microsoft).
They were joined by Superintendent Kaweeda G. Adams, Instructional Technology Supervisor Nicole Lindeman and Technology Coordinator John Wyld.
This year’s challenge – INFINITE RECHARGE – has a “Star Wars” theme with a renewable energy twist. In it, student engineers and their robots are charged with protecting FIRST City, a futuristic city based on “Star Wars,” from asteroids headed their way.
Falcon Team 1493, now in its 18th year, will have to build a robot in just under eight weeks to meet the INFINITE RECHARGE challenge. Students will work with ÉðÊ¿Âþ» advisers and mentors to design, build, program and test their robots. Then they’ll head to RPI March 11-14 for the regional New York Tech Valley FIRST competition at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where they’ll simultaneously collaborate with and face off against other high school teams and their robotic creations.
At Saturday’s kickoff, teams were shown the INFINITE RECHARGE game field and challenge details for the first time. They also retrieved a parts kit that included motors, batteries, control system components, construction materials, a mix of additional automation components – and very limited instructions.
The team is supported by advisers that include teachers Brent Cady, Andre Castagna, Ph.D., Allen Landman and Kevin Allen, along with retired teacher Rich Kissane.
On the day of competition, two alliances of three teams each will be created. Each team’s pre-programmed robot will shoot power cells (foam balls) into goals for points; the power cells fuel a shield that protects the city. Team members then take over the controls to gain more points by shooting power cells and taking part in other activities that measure the effectiveness of each robot and each team’s ability to collaborate. The alliance with the highest score at the end of the match wins.
After RPI, Team 1493 will head to Utica for the Central New York regional competition.
Assisting the team as mentors are Jake Ennis, Annemarie Kissane and Max Thomas; college mentors include Gilad Asal, Piro Gusho, Christopher Kissane and Henry Thomas.
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