by Muneera Naseer, Special Writer
Joy Wolfe, a Robbinsville High School technology teacher, laughs as she recalls the rookie moment her team had last year in its first appearance at a national robotics competition in Atlanta.
After weeks of putting together a robot, her team flew to the site, opened up boxes only to make a sobering discovery – the controls for the robot were back in New Jersey.
Fortunately, the team was at the FIRST Robotics Competition, where competitiveness has a different meaning. Ms. Wolfe said her team quickly made a public announcement.
”Within five minutes, kids were running over with controls from other teams,” she said, noting that such overtures are a trademark of the competition, started by the FIRST organization, a not-for-profit entity, the brainchild of engineer and innovator Dean Kamen.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) aims to show students that science and technology can be fun and exciting. The organization began in 1989, with the competitive games added in 1992.
Ms. Wolfe expects things to run smoothly this year for Robbinsville’s team, as thousands of students gather for the 13th New Jersey regional competition Friday and Saturday at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton.
Teams that do well in the regional go on to the national championship April 14 through 16 in Atlanta.
The goal of the competition is simple: Students must create a robotic machine, under strict guidelines, that can achieve a certain task. This year, the robots must be able to pick up 9-inch balls and place them in a trailer hitched behind an opposing team’s robot, while being maneuvered on a low-friction floor.
This year’s game theme is “Lunacy” in celebration of the lunar landing nearly 40 years ago.
Teams get only six weeks beginning in January to put together a machine. It’s six weeks of brainstorming, developing prototypes, and fixing technical problems – all involving long hours after school and on weekends.
The Robbinsville High School Robotics team documented their weekly progress on the team’s Web site, RHS2590.org, in reference to their team number.
Ms. Wolfe said the effort wouldn’t be a success without the involvement of mentors from the community.
Scott Whitlock, an engineer and one of the mentors for the Robbinsville team, said the experience is important to him and the students.
”It really helps them learn how something is put together,” he said. “It’s great training for the real world.”
There is more to the process than putting a robotic machine together.
Teams must pay their way to attend the competition, a cost that runs in the thousands. Ms. Wolfe explained that while some students work on the technical aspect, others put together a business plan, marketing ideas, selling pizzas and pies and soliciting donations. It was a generous donation that allowed the team to go to the finals last year.
”This is a very giving community,” she said.
Nearly 86,000 parents, mentors and community volunteers help make the FIRST program and the games a success, said Maureen Collins, a spokeswoman for the organization, based in Manchester, N.H. Ms. Collins said the student participation at the events is equally diverse.
”We have teams from small towns and big cities, home schools, Girl Scout troops,” she said.
The 2009 competition itself will involve nearly 1,700 teams competing in 40 regional competitions. The entire competition is based on a sense of “gracious professionalism,” Ms. Collins said. That means if any team encounters a technical glitch or a problem – like the Robbinsville team — others jump in to help.
”It’s not about crushing your opponent,” Ms. Collins said. “We all need to be innovators and achieve great things, but not at the risk of other people’s failures.”
It was such sportsmanship that left a lasting impression on Teri Nalbone, an Allentown High School parent who attended a robotics event some years ago. It was enough for her to forge an effort to start a club at her son’s high school — the Allentown Redbird Robotics, now in its fifth year.
“It was just so exciting,” she said. “The students were really excited to share what they did. I had never seen anything like that before.”
The club offers something for people with different interests, said Ms. Nalbone, an artist.
Michelle Principato, 14, a freshman at Robbinsville, said she got involved in the marketing aspect for her team’s project by working on the team’s Web site.
”I really didn’t know anything about Photoshop and other types of those programs,” she said. “When I came here, I learned how to use those programs.”
Zak Terry, 15, a sophomore at Allentown High, said he wants to be a video game programmer and this experience is only a plus for his future career. He said he enjoys seeing what other teams bring to the table.
”Definitely, creativity is probably what you see the most,” he said of other team projects.
For Zak Moy, 17, a senior at Allentown High, meeting people from all over has helped build friendships. At the national level, teams from other countries also participate.
”I’ve seen people from many communities over the last four years, and we trade e-mails back and forth,” said Zak, who plans to go into bio-medical engineering. “I’ve learned how to cooperate or work with other people. I’ve also learned a lot about speaking with people, public relations.”
He said it also gave him a chance to believe in one’s abilities.
”I’ve never experienced anything like this program,” he said. “I didn’t know how a bunch of high school students were going to be able to accomplish this.”
He said he didn’t get to see much of his friends in the last few weeks.
”This is my life. They know it’s important to me,” he said.
Now that the machine is out of the team’s hands, there is relief, but a healthy dose of nerves as well.
”I think we have a chance,” he said. “I’m trying to stay positive.”
The regional games run from 9 a.m. to 5 a.m., and are free and open to the public. For more information, visit USFIRST.org.

