WHS Award-Winning Robotics Team Heads to Indiana for Two-Day Invitational

Nineteen (WHS) students are taking off for another competition with Miss Daisy, who is not a chaperone, but the team’s award-winning robot.  

Team 341 will compete at FIRST's (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Indiana Robotic Invitational in Indianapolis for two days this week.

Team 341 members likened the FIRST competition to “a summer all-stars game.”  

FIRST selected Team 341 as one 66 teams to compete, out of 200 of the world’s best robotics teams that applied for the competition. 

In 2010 Team 341 received the World Championship Chairman’s Award, FIRST’s highest accolade. WHS science teacher and “Head Daisy” Alan Ostrow said the award is given for “being a role model team, performing community service and having a record of sustained excellence.” 

After winning the Chairman’s Award, the team was invited to meet President Obama at the White House on October 18, 2010. 

“It was gratifying to see how interested he was [in Miss Daisy],” said Evan Ostrow, Alan Ostrow’s son.

“People said he’d spend one minute with us. He spent five to 10 minutes with everyone and asked questions,” said team member Ryan Morris, of Blue Bell.

Immediately after meeting with the team and other scientists, including Bill Nye and the cast of MythBusters, President Obama “gave 40 percent of his speech from what we had just said to him,” said Alan Ostrow. 

The FIRST competition is dubbed “a varsity sport for the mind.”

The competition is not only good for the mind, but being a member of Team 341 proves beneficial in other ways, too. Five students in blue team polo shirts eagerly shared what they have learned from Ostrow, and by working long hours with one another toward a common goal.

Being part of the team helps students realize what career to pursue.  

“I realized I wanted to study mechanical engineering after working on electrical and mechanical aspects of designing Miss Daisy,” said Morris, who will be a freshman at Penn State this fall.

Alaric Wrasman, of Lower Gwynedd, will study digital art at Northeastern University in Boston starting this fall. He helped Team 341 by learning animation to help the group’s media team. Not only did Wrasman learn about animation as part of Team 341’s media team, he said, “I learned leadership skills.  I learned to break out of my shell, too."

Jess Chernak of Ambler, a WHS junior, said "Engineering is the heart of it [being on Team 341]. I'd like to be an electrical or mechanical engineer."

Evan Ostrow will enter Drexel as a freshman to study mechanical engineering this fall.

Alan Ostrow says 50 to 60 students take various roles each year to help Team 341 thrive. They split into teams for:   

• Mechanical, electrical and programming design
• Media arts and video production
• Business planning and networking
• 3-D animation and computer aided design
• Web design
• Art, graphics and set design.

Coaches of different backgrounds volunteer to help students in their endeavors. Alan Ostrow says a number of the coaches were former members of Team 341 that went to college, got jobs, and came back to mentor others. Matt Trageser got involved with the team when his daughter, Katherine, joined, said Alan Ostrow. Trageser did not leave the team when Katherine left for college. Currently, he manages the team’s shop.

During “build season” from early January to Presidents Day, the teams work to build not one robot, but two. One robot is shipped to meet a competition deadline, and the “twin” that rookies build is tweaked. The team uses practices for the competition on the rookies’ robot. 

Adjustments, based on the rookies’ twin, are made at the competition on the robot that was shipped early. Ostrow said rookies are thrilled at competition to see their efforts are a part of the team’s final product.

Alan Ostrow provides inspiration to his team members, and Team 341 provides inspiration to others wanting to start a team. The team gives demonstrations, answers questions and offers a free DVD, “Team in a Box,” to those wanting to start a robotics team. More than 5,000 DVDs have been shipped to six continents and every state in the U.S., said Alan Ostrow. 

Dow, Lockheed Martin, Johnson & Johnson, and AndyMark are a few of the team’s sponsors. The team also raises money through its annual Ramp Riot at WHS. Alan Ostrow says the team's annual operating budget is $70,000.

A one-time engineer, Alan Ostrow has taught high school science for 14 years “to see a more direct return, by changing a person’s life.” He stresses “gracious professionalism” to his teams. Other teams give Team 341 awards for its behavior and performances.

Michelle Galemmo, of Ambler, a WHS senior, said she learned to “be a fierce competitor on the field, and friends off the field,” from Alan Ostrow. 

Morris said Alan Ostrow is “pretty awesome. He doesn’t sleep. We get emails from him at 3 or 4 in the morning,” he said. 

Alan Ostrow and his team won’t get much sleep Thursday, July 21, boarding the bus for Indianapolis at 5 a.m. 

The team competes Friday and Saturday, and gets back on the bus Sunday to return home.

For more about the team, visit its website.