Ontario-Texas-Michigan Alliance Goes Into "Overdrive," Taking Top Honors at FIRST Championship

Benedict Bahner
ASME News Online

An alliance of three teams — from St. Catharines, Ontario; Greenville, Texas; and Sterling Heights, Mich. — won the top prize at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship, which took place from April 17-19 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Since 1996, ASME has endorsed the event, and encouraged the participation of members, students, and staff in the program. FIRST, which was founded by inventor Dean Kamen, is a not-for-profit public charity offering innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math while building life skills.

More than 1,500 teams from around the globe competed in the 2008 FIRST Robotics program.

The championship event in Atlanta wrapped up months of competition involving more than 1,500 teams from the United States, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

For this year's game, "FIRST Overdrive," the student teams built robots that had to move inflated balls around a track, and then pass them either over or under a six-foot, six-inch overpass. Vince Wilczynski, a volunteer in the FIRST program who helped devise this year's competition, said "FIRST Overdrive" was designed to highlight the creative thinking and manufacturing skills of the teams.

Vince Wilczynski, who helped design this year's robot competition, described the atmosphere in Atlanta: "The speed of NASCAR was matched with the intellect of the best engineers, with the result being super-charged-machines of magic."

In addition, Wilczynski noted that "the game was structured to amplify and reward the scoring aspects of the robots, and to deemphasize defense. Also, ranges of possibilities were included in the game, so that a rookie team could still be in the game and pick up points, while advanced teams could be challenged with problems they had not seen before."

Three student teams rose to those challenges and were named the Winning Alliance by the judges at the FIRST Championship. That alliance was composed of "Robowranglers" (Team 148), from Greenville High School in Greenville, Texas; "ThunderChickens" (Team 217), from Utica Community Schools in Sterling Heights, Mich.; and "Simbotics" (Team 1114), from Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario.

The Georgia Dome was buzzing with energy during the championship round of FIRST.

Another big winner at the event in Atlanta was "Falcon Robotics" (Team 842), from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, Ariz., which won the prestigious FIRST Robotics Competition Championship Chairman's Award. The Chairman's Award goes to the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.

Other major honors given at the FIRST Championship in Atlanta included the Founder's Award, which was presented by FIRST Founder Dean Kamen to BAE Systems for its exceptional service in advancing the ideals and mission of FIRST, and the Woodie Flowers Award for outstanding engineer or teacher, which went to Mark Breadner, vice principal of the Toronto District School Board.

Team 359, the "Hawaiian Kids" from Waialua, Hawaii, won the Engineering Inspiration Award at the event, while Team 2352, "Metal Mayhem" from Ada, Okla., took home the Rookie All-Star Award. The Rookie Inspiration Award went to Team 2599, "Full Throttle" from Chula Vista, Calif.

Dean Kamen (right), founder of the FIRST competition, autographs a shirt for one of the FIRST team members.

"FIRST is inspiring the next generation of innovators and engineers," Kamen said in Atlanta. "Years from now, some of the students who competed in the Georgia Dome will be inventing solutions to society's most challenging problems."

ASME staff member Dave Soukup, whose daughter participated in the event, added, "It's very much a celebration of the students and their accomplishments. And it gives them hands-on experience that they may not get in school, where they may get bogged down in bookwork."

Soukup, managing director for ASME Centers, noted that FIRST gives students "the same kind of experience that their peers who are involved in arts or sports get. As Dean Kamen put it, 'Everybody involved in this can become a professional at it.' Unlike sports, where playing football in high school doesn't ensure that you will play professionally when you're an adult."

The crowd is always an enthusiastic one at the FIRST robotics competition. This year was no exception.

Wilczynski, who had two sons involved in FIRST this year, said he has firsthand evidence that the program is a success. Discussing his oldest son, who graduates high school this spring, he said, "To him, building a robot and working side-by-side with professionals is the norm and that is exactly what the program intends to do. He is off to college, with the intent of majoring in molecular biology and molecular chemistry, so I can vouch without any reservation that FIRST works."

In fact, even the engineers who volunteer to judge the contest or mentor the student teams come away from the experience learning something, according to Cynthia Stong, one of the head judges for the championship event. "The FIRST students have shown me how to write excellent business plans, strategize with others to have a successful team, plan travel logistics, fund raise, and on and on," she said. "I encourage you if you are not already, to volunteer. FIRST provides a proven and successful environment for enriching both your life if you volunteer and the lives of the students you touch."

The event in Atlanta also included two additional activities for students - the FIRST Tech Challenge, in which 1,000 high school students built robots that placed rings on goals and moved goals around the field, and the FIRST Lego League, in which 81 teams from around the world designed, built, and programmed robots to explore sustainable options to meet the planet's growing energy needs.

For more information on the FIRST Championship, and a complete list of winners, visit www.usfirst.org/who/content.aspx?id=4190.

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