Robotics teams show off their works at Eastside High event

There was a good turnout over the three-day event, and the reviews from participants were good, organizer David Voracek said.

The event is part of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST, an international organization that promotes science education. Each year, teams create robots designed to accomplish a specific task. Teams and their robots face off in regional events, with the competitions culminating at the international finals.

The Aerospace Valley Regional’s participants are high school teams in the FIRST Robotic Competition level, in which they build large, complex robots. Teams vie for a berth in the finals April 17-20 in Houston.

This year’s theme reflects the incorporation of arts into the science, technology, engineering and math (STEAM) skills encouraged and showcased by the FIRST Robotics Competition.

This year’s game is called “Crescendo” and has a music performance theme, with Haas as the presenting sponsor. Working in alliances of three teams each, robots must collect and launch “notes” (rings) into targets (amps and speakers) to earn points. Additional points are awarded for meeting certain scoring thresholds and cooperating with the opposing alliance.

In the final seconds of each two-minute match, robots earn additional points by climbing onto the “stage” at the center of the playing field and hoisting themselves off the ground by grabbing a chain.

Of the five local high school teams, Team 399 Eagle Robotics from Lancaster High School performed the best during the competition, ranking 12th overall and making it as far as the semifinals.

Their robot performance improved with each competition, culminating in the Aerospace Valley Regional, team member Ashley Guerrero said.

Although they placed last following the qualifying matches, Quartz Hill High School’s Aqueducks team members were very pleased with how their robot functioned, a great improvement over last year.

“Robotwise, this is the best” event, team member Amy Wanis said. “The performance on our own is really good.”

The team has built up its expertise and it showed in their capabilities. Compared to last year, when the team had a lot of work to do on its robot between matches in the “pit” area, this year there was only fine-tuning to be done, team member Jordan Charles said.

Rosamond High School’s Circuit Serpents placed 27th and Highland High School’s The Blackbirds placed 31st.

Gryffingear, the team from The Palmdale Aerospace Academy, placed 28th and won the Imagery Award, for “attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance.”

The 40 teams in the competition were largely from Southern California, but also from the northern part of the state and Arizona. Four international teams took part, two each from Turkey and Chinese Taipei.

Teams stood out in the stands in their spirit wear: everything from matching T-shirts and jerseys to mascot costumes and wild wigs.

Supporting the teams and their mentors was a small army of more than 100 volunteers. These volunteers judged robots, refereed matches, directed traffic within the gym, set up the playing field, handled registration, announced the matches and myriad other tasks to make the event run smoothly.

Their ranks filled quickly this year and included volunteers from the local aerospace industry, community, robotics alumni and even parents of visiting teams who came to Lancaster to support their students and decided to lend a hand, organizer Maryann Germita said.

Much like the teams themselves, many volunteers return year after year, helping to build the knowledge base behind the event. Some parents, who helped when their students were involved, continue to help out long after their own children have graduated the program, Germita said.

While Eastside High School has been accommodating in the use of its gym for the past five years, organizers would like to secure a larger venue to allow more teams to participate.

The 40 teams taking part this year is the maximum the current site can hold, Voracek said, and there was a waiting list of 20 teams.

Organizers of the Aerospace Valley Regional are also looking for sponsors to continue the successful event. Costs for presenting the competition for the first five years have been largely supported by a grant from NASA, but additional funding will be needed to replace that beginning next year, Voracek said.

“We’re at risk of losing the regional unless we find sponsors,” he said.

For information on sponsorship or other aspects of the Aerospace Valley Regional, visit avregional.org.