Devildroids Prep for FIRST Robotics Championships
In their first year of competition, the Huntington High School Devildroids robotics team has earned a berth in the FIRST championships at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, April 23-26.
“The team made quite an impression at the regional competition at Hofstra University,” said Huntington physics teacher Judyann Pazienza, who coaches the Devildroids. “Judges, volunteers and other teams were very impressed with the simple, yet elegant design of the Devildroid robot and the grassroots effort that got the team there.”
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) encourages young people to pursue careers in engineering and science by showing them how interesting and fun those fields can be.
“Our mission is to show students of every age that science, technology and problem-solving are not only fun and rewarding, but are proven paths to successful careers and a bright future for us all,” states the FIRST website.
Devildroids team members include Alexander Ardell, Jonathan Bethiel, Cole Blackburn, Julian Corrollo, Sam Dejoie, Garrett Filippini, Kyle Gabriel, Jack Gallagher, Ben Hebert, Ben Kaplan, Thomas Kouttron, Brian McConnell, Ashley Melgar, Olivia Palmer, Spencer Pashkin, Andres Perez Roa, Anthony Perna, John Reilly, Joe Saginaw, James Sosa, Jacob Strieb, Victor Tellez, Jarrod Totolhua, Justin Weigold, Greg West, Lyndsey Williams and Steven Yeh.
FIRST teams spend six weeks constructing a 150 lb. robot from a set of common parts. The robots compete later in the season for honors.
The Devildroids, which are formally known as FIRST team 5016, captured a pair of awards at Hofstra, including the Highest Rookie Seed Award and the prestigious Rookie All Star Award “for truly representing what FIRST is all about,” Ms. Pazienza said. The latter award qualified Huntington for the FIRST championships in St. Louis.
The Devildroids will be busy fundraising during the next few weeks as they pull together the monies needed to fund the trip, which will feature hundreds of robots from all over the United States and many other countries competing for awards. “What a ride this has been and it’s not even over yet,” Ms. Pazienza said.
“FIRST Robotics Competition is the varsity sport for the mind,” states the organization’s website. “FRC combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources, and time limits, teams of 25 students or more are challenged to raise funds, design a team ‘brand,’ hone teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get.”
The Huntington Rotary Club and North Atlantic Industries were major sponsors of the Devildroids. Representatives from both organizations were impressed with the team’s robot and were regular visitors to the Huntington pit at Hofstra.
Huntington’s Long Island regional round at Hofstra started with a four-person field team loading the robot into the arena. The Devildroids wore distinctive blue capes and glowing Blue Devil horns as they moved their robot onto the field. Matches began with the robot operating without human controllers for 10 seconds. Then the drive team moved in. Messrs. Saginaw and Perez served as the main Devildroid drivers for the 2.5 minute matches. “Being at the controls is intense,” Mr. Saginaw said.
Thursday featured practice rounds that saw robots showing off their capabilities. Qualification matches were held on Friday and the hitting intensified. By late afternoon, the Devildroid robot was still standing tall and had climbed to a rank of seventh out of 50 teams. Devildroid team members were ecstatic as the captains of other teams came over to discuss possible alliances with Huntington for the quarterfinal round.
“Although by Saturday’s end the Devildroids were no longer ranked in the top 10, the team had made a lasting impression on the judges,” Ms. Pazienza said. Over the course of three magical days, the Huntington robotics students enthusiastically discussed their journey with judges, explaining how the club was started; how they raised $11,500 for the competition; how they dug up old parts out of the school basement to build some of the items they needed.
“The judges recognized that team 5016 was the true embodiment of the FIRST motto, with students designing and building the robot on their own, with just a little support from their mentors,” Ms. Pazienza said.
Over the course of three days at Hofstra, about a dozen judges wandered through the competition area and visited each pit, interviewing members of the 50 competing teams. As the judges narrowed their lists for the half-dozen awards to be presented, they re-interviewed the teams. “We had a ton of activity at our pit,” Ms. Pazienza said. “Judges were there all three days, so we knew they were impressed.”
Ms. Pazienza had earlier created a tri-fold board with the Devildroids story told in photos. It was accompanied by a binder filled with still more photos. “The kids used these things as talking points to show the judges just how hard it was for us to be there,” said Ms. Pazienza, who donated about 200 hours of her time to the team over countless nights and weekends.
The story of Huntington’s robotics club contains all the elements of a real grassroots effort. Mr. Kouttron knew that remnants of the old wood athletic bleachers that have been replaced with modern ones were stored in the school basement. The team asked Principal Carmela Leonardi if they could harvest the materials and after she gave her blessing, the Devildroids used the materials to construct a work table, a cart to move the robot around on and a model of a low goal so they could practice pushing a ball into it with their robot. “We also rummaged around the unfinished basement area for some pieces of steel to make some brackets with,” Ms. Pazienza said.
The FIRST organization awarded the Devildroids a $4,000 rookie team grant last November, which sent the squad on its way. “The judges were impressed with our perseverance and the fact that we did it with almost no outside help.”
FIRST volunteer Mark McLeod stopped by to help the Devildroids get started and then checked in periodically during the build cycle to advise the team. Mr. Saginaw’s father, David was also a regular visitor, assisting Ms. Pazienza and keeping the team members on task. He also helped with fundraising.
When all was said and done, the Devildroids had performed so well at Hofstra that the rookie Huntington robotics team had qualified for the FIRST championships in St. Louis.
“The judges were impressed,” Ms. Pazienza said. “I am impressed. My kids are amazing!”