CHS Varsity AND JV Robotics Dominate in Playoffs, Capture State Title

For the second time in its three-year existence, the Columbia High School (CHS) Robotics Club has captured the 2013 New Jersey State Title and is now heading for the World Championship in St. Louis, making it one of the most successful clubs in the United States.

The structure of the NJ state championship playoff system requires three teams to form an alliance. The teams that receive the highest scores in the preliminary rounds are allowed to choose their alliance partners.  As the highest ranking team in its division, the CHS Varsity team chose North Brunswick and its own CHS JV team to compete as its alliance partners.  Their resulting state championship means that for the first time in NJ robotics history, one school had two teams sharing the state championship -- Columbia's Varsity and JV teams. 

When asked the secret to their success, Allan Tumolillo, the Robotics Club coach and CHS physics teacher, replied that the team quickly learns what works and what should be tossed aside, without letting pride or personality get in the way.  "Robotics is a form of engineering in that problems are posed and a variety of tools and strategies are available as solutions," said Mr. Tumilillo. "Some work and some don't, and the true engineer learns quickly and makes adjustments." 

According to Mr. Tumolillo, this team has pursued that mindset from their first meeting, continually redesigning, reworking and improving any aspect of the robot that they identify as inefficient or not working optimally in competition.  This means that as the year progresses, their robot's performance is continually enhanced, match after match, until by the end of the year, Columbia's robot is a dominant and feared competitor.

"They work very well as a team," said Mr. Tumolillo, "They know each other's strengths and weaknesses and plan accordingly." 

And as for the Mr. Tumolillo's involvement in this business? "No small measure of success is the simple fact that I stay out of their way!"

The club's stunning success in competition is only part of the story.  Robots command so much cachet that the club regularly trots their bots out to district schools, where the younger kids are thrilled to have a hands-on robotic experience and to be mentored by the older club members. The Robotics Club has also designed several "extra-curricular" robotic innovations.  To analyze the swim team's strokes and turns, the club will work with a tech company to develop a remote-controlled underwater robot.  And to assist with fundraising, the club has even developed a golf-putting robot that will be playing at the May 6th CHS Boosters fundraiser at the Maplewood Country Club.  The Robotics Team dares any golfer, no matter how good, to show up and challenge Cougar Woods, the golfing robot.  And don't forget to bring your wallet.

Perhaps it is no surprise that in this flurry of robotically-related excitement, the South Orange-Maplewood School District (SOMSD) was ranked as NJ's fastest growing school district in robotics for the 2011-2012 school year.  And now, inspired by the club's rapid growth and success, the SOMSD Board of Education has instituted a Robotics course at Columbia High School to begin in the fall of 2013.  It seems more than fitting that senior members of the CHS Robotics Club are collaborating with Columbia faculty member and CAD teacher, Noah Brauner, to design the course curriculum.