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"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants"
- Isaac Newton
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This entire website is "about me" and describes who I really am. It still won't completely describe me, but it is closer to a full description than an essay. This web page serves as a index to the rest of the website, and has extra random pieces of information about me. Enjoy!
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Lathrop robotics team celebrates successful competition
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by Reba Lean / rlean@newsminer.com
May 04, 2011
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FAIRBANKS — The machine is deceptive. It looks like a metal cube with little wheels mounted around the outside edges. A pushover, right?
What competitors didn’t see, though, helped a Lathrop High School’s robotics team go all the way to the world championship Division II finals at the 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition last week in St. Louis, Mo.
The Lathrop team, dubbed ICY (short for “I see why”), included Heather Parsons, Jaguar Kristeller, Rohan Weeden and Aven Bross.
They set their multi-wheeled creation loose on a 12-foot-square mat, where it competed against other robots to put the most batons in goals, climb small hills and balance on teeter-totters. To earn the most points, robots competed in alliances, allowing one robot to score goals while the other pushed other robots around, running interference.
Kristeller, 17, has liked robots since elementary school. He played a major part in building the team’s machine. The big, metal-framed cube sports many parts that help complete the robot’s tasks. It has a conveyor belt for picking up batons and depositing them into compartments, and it has doors for releasing the batons. It also has magnetic and color sensors for the robot to distinguish the types of batons it picks up.
Weeden, 15, and Bross, 17, were competing for the first time. Bross helped with programming and Weeden helped build the robot.
Weeden’s 10-wheeled design provided the deception. Six wheels with interspersed grip were visible from the outside, making the robot appear easy to push around. Inside the six wheels were four more heavy ones, though, which people couldn’t see. They created more friction on the match floor. The multiple wheels also made the robot easy for the ICY team to maneuver.
The team headed to St. Louis last week for the championships. They spent long days competing and long nights tending to their robot. After coming in 10th for the qualifying rounds in Division II, it was time for the top four finalists to pick their alliances. The second-place team chose ICY to be on their alliance, which didn’t come as a huge surprise to the Lathrop team.
“They really liked us because we beat them,” Kristeller explained. While many might expect a team to hold a grudge, students at FIRST like to share their knowledge of robots, which creates lasting friendships.
After an exciting semifinals round, ICY’s alliance made it to finals. In the first two matches (of three total), their alliance split with their competitors, so it was up to the third match. ICY’s robot wasn’t in the match, and an alliance member’s robot broke down and couldn’t move the entire match. Still, their alliance lost by only two points to the overall winning team. That was enough for team ICY.
“It was a really amazing season,” said Parsons, 17. Since age 5, she has been involved with FIRST — “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” Now a high school junior, she travels around helping other students learn how to program their FIRST robots. Recently, she traveled to the village of Beaver on the Yukon River and helped students there create a team to compete at the state competition.
The other three members of the team are students of Lathrop’s engineering academy.
“Just getting to the world championship is difficult, and getting to the finals is unbelievable,” said Robert Parsons, the team’s coach. He works at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on a NASA grant. Part of his job is to get kids interested in math and science.
The team spent about six months perfecting the robot and making it their own.
“You have to erect this robot from your imagination — none of them look the same,” Robert Parsons said. “They’re totally different.”
Although the world championships put the team members a week behind in school, they were happy to go. In addition to finishing well, they watched the Black Eyed Peas in concert, wore bright orange costumes based on the game Portal and hung out with fellow Alaskans from Kasigluk, a village west of Bethel on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
“It was definitely worth it,” Kristeller said.
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Lathrop robotics team celebrates successful competition
Contact staff writer Reba Lean at 459-7523.
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