By Gerry Descoteaux
Correspondent

Proudly unveiling their robotic masterwork at a special evening ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 15, Pembroke Academy’s Team Discovery was joined by several dozen supporters, mentors, teachers and members of the press. Team members Colby Sortevik and Jake Gallagher delivered a comprehensive presentation to the audience, including a PowerPoint slideshow and a short film of what this year’s U.S. FIRST Robotics Competition is all about.

IT’S ALL IN THE ARM – Pembroke Academy’s Team Discovery’s creation successfully completes its task of stacking tetras in a demonstration Tuesday, Feb. 15, of the robot, known simply as Hercules. They will compete March 3 to 5 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester at the BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional FIRST competition. (Gerry Descoteaux Photo)

Team Discovery has entered 11 competitions, as well as seven post-season competitions. They’ve won both state and regional titles and have also made it to two national competitions. This year’s competition at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester will take place March 3 through 5, with 52 teams from throughout New England scheduled to attend.

The Granite State Regional, sponsored by BAE Systems, brings more than 1,500 students and their mentors together in a competition that emphasizes teamwork, innovation and strategy.

FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” and was founded by Bedford inventor Dean Kamen. From the BAE-FIRST Web site, he is quoted as saying the reason he began the program was “to create a world where science and technology are celebrated... where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.”

The 2005 FIRST Robotics Competition challenge called “Triple Play” requires both pre-competition creativity along with on-the-fly strategizing by team members controlling their robots. Some key robot characteristics for the Triple Play challenge include maneuverability in a densely populated field, a strong autonomous mode and strength in the large arm(s) needed to reach the 5- to 7-foot tall goals.

“We had just six weeks to conceive, design, build and test the robot,” said Team Discovery overcame several hurdles along the way, including a slight snafu regarding our inability to use some needed power equipment and tools. Luckily, one of our advisors, Ms. Roche, was able to complete some of this work in the school’s machine shop. We also had to do quite a bit of fundraising as well.”

The entry fee for the national competition is $6,000 which, in addition to registering the team, provides them the bulk of the basic materials, including most of the necessary components such as motors, gears, electronic devices, switches, etc. needed to produce a working robot. However, the design is completely left up to individual teams who, with the help of their mentors and advisors, create their robots from scratch.

Advisor and teacher David Kelly, who initiated the school’s entry into the program in 1997 after a student asked him to check it out, said the students succeeded in meeting all the requirements of the competition, including fundraising.

Creativity was also well employed there too.

PA’S FIRST TEAM – Team Discovery poses with its newly built robot, Hercules. In the back row are Bryan Pond, Scott Christie, Jim Hering, Alex Ham, Ryan Foster, Michelle Kelly, Laura Shively. In the middle row are Kori Laskey, Matt Kowalik, Colby Sortevik, Andrew LaValley, Brian Roche, Joe Phillips, and Ryan Cumings. In front are Joshua Lemoine, Jeff Roche, R.J. Wasowski and Jake Gallagher. (Gerry Descoteaux Photo)

“Instead of the standard bake sales and car washes, the students solicited sponsorships from local businesses whose names are now printed on the team’s uniforms,” said Kelly. “And rather than look for one large contributor, students approached dozens of local businesses and in the end, successfully raised nearly $9,000,” Kelly said.

As part of the presentation, the team demonstrated the robot they’ve nicknamed Hercules. To the approving applause of everyone gathered, the robot completed its tasks almost effortlessly, a true testament to the hard work and time the team has put into its design and construction.

The game, Triple Play, involves lifting triangularshaped three dimensional “tetras” and placing them up onto and within larger similarly shaped tetra structures. Teams from all over the state will compete, guiding their robots through the competitions, which also will require cooperation between teams. Robots will be teamed with other robots belonging to two other teams and, as an alliance, will compete against other three robot teams. Pembroke’s Team Discovery members are very excited about the coming event.

Teams from Manchester West, Central and Memorial high schools, Pinkerton Academy, Bishop Brady High School, St. Paul’s School, Raymond High School, Bishop Guertin High School, and Trinity High School are also scheduled to enter the competition.

Admission to the competition is free, but seating is limited and on a first come first serve basis. Doors open at 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 3, for pregame testing and preparation. Initial competitive rounds are set to begin Friday, March 4, at 9 a.m. The meet continues Saturday, March 5, at 9 a.m. The final rounds are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Saturday. All times are subject to change.

For more information, call Pembroke Academy Team Discovery at 485-7881 or visit their Web site at www.sau53.org.