Lewis engineers and East Tech students partner
for FIRST robogladiator competition

The 1998 NASA Lewis/East Technical High School FIRST Robotics team, the "Scarabian Knights," shined at the FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) National Competition held Apr. 2-4 at the Disney World Epcot Center. Amid the pageantry and thrills of competing in arenas named for famous innovators Newton, Edison, and Einstein, members of all 166 teams were made to feel like winners in what founder Dean Kamen has coined the "Olympics of the Mind."

Students from across the country earned the opportunity to compete after six weeks of intense building, strategy, and practice sessions where flexing their brains instead of their muscles helped them construct a robot capable of fighting off a human and machine to score maximum points.

"More students applied for the FIRST program than for both the football and basketball teams combined this school year," said Jerry Seppelt, program manager for the NASA Lewis/East Tech Partnership. "The FIRST program isn’t an educational program--its a motivational program. Academics has become number one at East Tech because everyone wants to be on the FIRST team."

The FIRST program’s ability to motivate is universal. Corporate sponsors Battelle Memorial Institute, TRW, Inc., and The Illuminating Company are repeat investors because they are inspired by the talent and commitment of the students. NASA Lewis management committed ongoing support in a Director’s Leadership Team Decision Memo to assure consistency in mentoring and hands-on activities for these budding scientist and engineers to aid in the design/construction of the robot. The experience is so rewarding that nine of the volunteers were returning veterans.

"Coming up with a competent design within 6 weeks with limited parts was a true challenge in engineering," said Mary Palumbo, FIRST project manager from the Engineering Design and Analysis Division (EDAD), "but the ingenuity and bonding of our engineers and technicians with the students working together made this a great learning experience."

According to David Cotton, a mechanical technician in EDAD and the only one to have served on all five FIRST teams since 1993, the major source of difficulty in this competition is not the robot or the competition.

"Each year you have to deal with a learning curve that has frustrated novices at one end and team members holding more than one year of experience at the other," Cotton said. "The goal is to make sure everybody has a chance to air their ideas and know that what they offered is considered to have some validity."

To minimize that frustration, NASA Lewis engineers and technicians began working with the students in November 1997 to familiarize them with the basic principles of engineering and to develop good teamwork.

While the technical skills required for this year’s robot were perhaps the most complex due to method necessary to earn maximum points, it ended up being the easiest to develop because everyone kept an open mind to the other’s ideas.

"Not only are the students smart in terms of intelligence, but they are also street smart, which helps them be more resourceful and come with different strategies." said Dan Spina, an electronic technician from the Test Installation Division, who has three years of experience working with the FIRST team.

For the potential volunteer who may be under the illusion that FIRST is like a homework assignment with a Disney vacation as part of the package, they are sadly mistaken.

"The FIRST program requires teamwork to build a robot under real world constraints with deadlines, budget constraints, and limited inventory," said Michael Krasowski, an electrical engineer and 3-year veteran from the Instrumentation and Controls Division(ICD). "The additions of new personnel with industrial experience and the ability to think ‘out-of-the-box’ was critical for quick solutions necessary in the heat of battle and provided a better learning experience for the students."

Michael Cawthon, a mechanical technician and 3-year veteran from EDAD, knows all too well the amount of work that goes into the project.

"You have to be dedicated because once we receive the kit, every day you miss an opportunity to work on the project is a day lost in our ability to be competitive," he said. "Some people at the kickoff workshop fax back the rules and instructions the same day we receive them so that their team back home can begin brainstorming."

The "Scarabian Knights" proved worthy of a top quarter-round position after four matches played the first day of the competition at EPCOT, before falling to defeat the second day during the intense double elimination rounds. Although they didn’t win the national tournament--placing 79th out of the 166 teams-- they were thrilled to experience the thunderous applause of 12,000 cheering FIRST fans as they received a plaque as one of five finalist for the coveted Chairman’s Award. The award was presented to the team judged to have created and documented the best partnership effort between team partners and includes outreach activities with children, universities, and corporate sponsors in their community leading up to the competition.

Prior to the Epcot competition, the team’s robot, nicknamed "Ribbot" for its resemblance to a frog, earned a Top Ten finish in the Great Lakes Regional tournament held Mar. 19-21 in Detroit, MI. While there, they received the Xerox "Creativity Award" for their ingenuity in design using aluminum flame spray on the rollers to give them traction when gripping the balls. Also noteworthy was the use of a retractable ‘tongue’ as a means of pulling the balls into the ladder rails to prevent them from being knocked loose by opponents.

"The students did an admirable job under real constraints", said Lawrence Oberle, FIRST deputy project manager from ICD. "I’m grateful to have worked with them and to witness the processes used to resolve different issues this year so that I will have a head start on how to improve things for next year when I assume the role of project manager."

NASA Lewis FIRST program manager Alicia Gonzalez, Educational Programs Office, said that the Agency-wide initiative supporting FIRST is based on the Center’s benchmark leadership with the program that led to 12 NASA-sponsored teams competing this year. For their ability to achieve far beyond any of their predecessors, the 1998 NASA Lewis/ East Tech FIRST team can truly say they are winners and inspiration to those who follow in their footsteps.

Editor’s Note: Further information about the FIRST program is available on the Internet at: http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/FIRST