LCHS Students Offer Elvis as King of Robots

The Long Beach Convention Center filled with white smoke and screaming students Friday as a robot from the Los Angeles Regional 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition blew its limit and sparked itself out on the game floor.

was one of 64 schools to participate in the annual competition. Teams, made up of students from robotics and engineering classes or clubs, are given six weeks to design, construct, program, and test their robots before the event. Kits are provided to the schools, along with a video showing the competition game, but students, guided by mentors and faculty, must do all the work. 

The team works not in a class but in their free time, after school. “It’s a lot of after school,” said La Cañada student Luke Cycon.

“We were here working until 8 last night,” advisor Steve Zimmerman added, noting that the work does not stop once the team is at the competition.

The LCHS robot, dubbed Elvis, was the product of 27 team members working together in electronics, program coding, mechanics and, of course, fun.

This year’s “Logo Motion” game required robots to maneuver a 27 by 54 foot “field” while blocking and racing one another. Schools played in competing alliances each consisting of three robots, controlled by students using joysticks from behind a clear, safety partition. Alliances competed to hang as many plastic, inflated shapes as they could on to pegs set above the field during a two minute and 15 second match. The higher a team hung a shape, the more points their alliance received.

Each match started with a 15 second Autonomous Period during which robots had been programmed to fetch and place a ring on their own. If successful, extra points were awarded.

The match ended with robots deploying mini-bots that raced to the top of vertical poles set on the field. Each mini-bot that reached the top of its pole earned bonus points for the team.

The competition was intense, with robots fighting for shapes and position, sometimes littering the field with metal bits. An energetic crowd filled the stands while students clustered along the sidelines cheering for their alliance and their own robots. Furry school mascots showed their support while rock music pumped up the vibe, far more like a Staples Center sporting event than a high school science fair.

Elvis moved quickly and students were adept at keeping the robot controlled. Hosting a mini-bot called Hound Dog, Elvis also sported some unique features, including mechanum wheels that allowed the robot to go in any direction.

“The grabber is kind of different,” student Forrest Bourke explained of the robot’s claw, “it can grab and rotate.”  This gave Elvis an advantage in picking up and placing the plastic items onto the small pegs of the scoring area.

Behind the scenes, teams set up in a pit area where students worked like NASCAR crews on the their robots. Surrounded by tool chests and banners, teams used their spaces to fine-tune and repair their robots, problem-solve and just hang out. Safety goggles were mandatory and signed out on an honor system to visitors.

Cycon explained that in addition to the competition, the LCHS team also mentors kids in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. A collection of trophies and awards in the team’s pit area provided inspiration. The group has even built solar-powered projects.

The team has placed high in past years and, fitting for Elvis and Hound Dog, will soon be headed to Las Vegas for another round of regional competition. They felt proud that last year their alliance placed fifth in the world.

Antonia Warner, a student and the team’s strategy captain, noted that they were working to code Elvis to make the robot autonomous and therefore capable of bringing in more points. She explained that the team works in “groups on a specific area” but that everyone is involved equally in the work.

Elvis was checked-out between matches. “We find all the bugs we can,” student Bryan Watson explained.

But it wasn’t just about the competition. Teams traded buttons, bracelets and T-shirts. “Gracious professionalism” is a major part of FIRST’s philosophy, with a board set up in the pit area for teams to post what good deeds they’ve witnessed, such as the sharing of tools, parts and knowledge.

Wild applause filled the space when the previously smoking robot rose from the ashes and scored heavily in its match.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is part of NASA’s Robotics Alliance Project, which aims to encourage student interest in study and careers in robotic systems, and offers scholarships and college funding opportunities. Jet Propulsion Laboratories sponsors 11 teams, including LCHS. Zimmerman also expressed immense appreciation for sponsorship from local businesses including Enigma Screenprinters, Entertainment Partners, and Mallcraft, Inc.

Winning teams will be announced Saturday night and compete in the FIRST Championships to be held April 27-30 in St. Louis.