Chop Shop 166 Continues to Foster FIRST Ideals

Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series about the FIRST Robotics team at Merrimack High School and the ongoing build and upcoming competition seasons.

Merrimack High School's FIRST Robotics team, Chop Shop 166, is coming off of a pretty big year.

In 2011, the science and teamwork-loving group of nearly 60 students competed in two regional finals, took home the Quality Award sponsored by Motorola from the Las Vegas Regional and the prestigious and most-sought-after Chairman's Award from the Granite State Regional in Manchester. Winning the Chairman's Award earned the team an automatic berth into the FIRST Championship held in St. Louis, Mo.

The Chairman's Award goes to the team that best spreads passion for science and technology around the community and who can present it in a way that the team's enthusiasm and passion shines through in essays and interviews with judges at the competition.

This year, the Merrimack team, made up of students from freshmen to seniors, will compete again for awards and to score points in this year's Rebound Rumble challenge. But ask senior co-captains Ben Rogers and Perry Franklin and they'll tell you that winning is not the most important thing.

And they aren't just saying that.

A key component of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) program is a term known around the robotics program community as gracious professionalism.

"It's a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community," according to the FIRST website.

“Outside of the (playing) field, you really do, as a FIRST student, try to help other teams do their best,” Rogers said on a recent build season night at Merrimack High School.

“You're there to compete, but you're there to help other teams, too,” Franklin added.

It's Merrimack's philosophy to live the “gracious professional” ideal as much as possible. And they aren't the only ones.

According to Isabelle Beauregard, a leader on the Chairman's Committee, last year while in Las Vegas, another team invited the Merrimack Team to a pre-competition picnic to help make them feel a little more at home.

Gracious professionalism is why you'll find students running around in “the pit” lending tools and even parts off their own robots to help another team succeed. It's why teams get together for an unveiling of their robots with other teams ahead of the competition and why it's not uncommon to find teams have posted photos and videos of their prototypes online in advance of the regional championships.

And this year this spirit of cooperation will come in awfully handy in competition.

Rebound Rumble is a competition that requires members of three teams to form an alliance to compete against an alliance of another three teams. Robots from each team take the playing field and must shoot compact, foam basketballs at three levels of basketball hoops, each worth different points.

In addition to scoring baskets to score points, there is a final element of “coopertition” at the end of the match that earns additional point for all of the teams in the two alliances if robots from the opposing alliances are balanced on a bridge between each side of the playing field at the match's ends.

“It's going to require a lot of coopertition,” Rogers said.

FIRST was founded 21 years ago by Segway creator Dean Kamen. According to the FIRST website, Kamen's vision was "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."

For Rogers and Franklin, leading the team this year is kind of like the cherry on top of the sundae. The pair makes no bones about the challenge at hand. But entering their fourth year on the team, they were both up for it. They associate it with the idea of being a project manager at a job site, tasked with making sure others are on task to get the robot built and their presentation ready in the short, six-week build season.

“If anyone ever tells you leadership is hard, I can tell you it's true,” Franklin said.

But he takes comfort in knowing at the end of the build season, the team will have a working robot. It's his and Rogers' job to see to that.

Thursday: Read more about what it takes to make it through the build season to the competition season.

Friday: Hear from team advisor Chris Petrovic and his perspective on the FIRST program and the team of students he works with.