Local Wilmette Robotics Club Wins Two Coveted Trophies

While it is the rookie year for the Newton Busters, a group of 11 kids, immersing themselves in the world of FIRST FTC robotics, they are showing strong resolve in competition to solve unexpected problems and fierce competition. 28 teams gathered Chicago Math and Science Academy on January 23, 2016. Robots made of mostly aluminum Tetrix parts, geared up with motors and servos to scoop balls into baskets, push buttons showcased their skill on a field of obstacles measuring 12 feet by 12 feet.

The Newton Busters were one of the four alliance captains after accumulating enough wins over 27 other teams. They won two trophies, one for the PTC Design Award and the other the FIRST Alliance Captain Award. Their robot features mecanum wheels with secondary wheels that lift the back of the robot up during a steep hill climb. It also has a self-made telescoping extension pole that elevates hooks to hang the robot freely on a bar. Knowing that the robot weighs close to 50 pounds, pulling the robot up for a hang is no easy task. Their robot detects the color on the floor to follow a line as well as detects the color of blue or red to push a selected color. There is a time limit of 30 seconds for an autonomous mode and 2 minutes for a driver mode.

Members of the Newton Busters include students from Wilmette Public School District 39 and New Trier High School - Max Malecki, Alex Yasumoto, Gavin Fountain, Athena Zheng, Aryo Patel, Samantha Fountain, Yara Goldina, Allison Liu, Jasmine Wu, Brandon Lee, Simone Wall. With 6 Girls Scouts on the team, the team is sponsored by the Girl Scouts. With only 25% of women represented in STEM careers, the team hopes to inspire more girls and women to join the field of STEM.

The team fielded questions by 2 groups of judges in their team pit. Judges were interested in how they developed the hardware and software as well as how the team demonstrated core values that the FIRST organization holds dear. Some of the core values include FIRST coined terminology such as “gracious professionalism” and “coopertition.”

FIRST FTC is a robotics competition program designed for kids in the 7th to 12th grade. There is an annual theme that is announced in August. This year, the theme name is “ResQ” which is modeled after rescue situations faced by mountain explorers all over the globe. Played by two alliances of two robots each, robots score points by: “resetting” rescue beacons; delivering rescue climbers to a shelter; parking on the mountain; and parking in the rescue beacon repair zone or floor goal. Robots may also score points by retrieving debris from the playing field and placing them in mountain or floor goals, and also by hanging from a pull-up bar during the last 30-seconds of a match.

There is a Chicago league championship scheduled for February 13, 2016 at Benito Juarez Community Academy on 1450 W Cermak Rd in Chicago. The event is free to the public. 29 teams will compete in hopes of an advancement into the state championship.