By Mary O’KEEFE

Once again, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) kids across La Crescenta and La Cañada will join their science peers and disappear from regular life for the next six weeks. These are the kids the community will see occasionally at local coffee shops and fast food restaurants, looking more than a little tired while in intense discussion, drawing on napkins and looking very intently into space. These are the kids who are part of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition and last week they received the anxiously awaited rules for this year’s game: FIRST STEAMWORKS.

FIRST is an organization founded by engineer/inventor Dean Kamen to celebrate science and engineering. His organization has several areas of outreach, including elementary and middle school Lego Leagues, tech challenges and the FIRST competition.

Crescenta Valley, La Cañada and Clark Magnet high schools participate in the competitions that are located in a variety of local areas. including Orange County, Ventura and Long Beach.

CVHS Falkons 589 team will be partici-pating in the Ventura and OC competition. Falkons, like all other teams, found out this year’s game rules and challenges last week and immediately began getting to work. Teams now have six weeks to come up with a robot that will play the new STEAMWORKS game.

“[The robot] will put balls in a low goal or high goal [basket],” said Jason Biggs, CVHS senior.

The robot can get points a few ways; the first is by getting balls representing fuel into a low goal basket or balls into a high goal. This “fuel” at a certain point will build up enough steam or pressure to turn the rotors of an airship.

“You can also gather gears and put the gears on a hook that will go up to the person in the airship to spin the rotors,” Biggs added.

In each game there are points added for teams who can raise their robot off the
ground. In the past it usually involved a robotic arm attaching itself to a bar and pulling itself up the required height. This game though will give extra points for a robot that can climb a rope.

“At the end of the game you can hang [the robot] on a rope. You can either bring your own rope or [FIRST] will supply one. Then you have to pull the robot up to push a button at the top of [a structure],” Biggs said. “This is really difficult because the rope is flexible and you have to have different flex points on the arm to pull it up.”

This is the first time the competition has a “steampunk” type theme. And although the airship appears to be powered by steam there is no actual steam involved.

“We are trying to imitate placing fuel into a boiler,” said Cole Miller, Falkons’ senior.

The balls/fuel will be calculated with an electronic sensor at the bottom of the fuel cage, he added.

In the past, the games have involved robotic versions of basketball, tic-tac-toe and soccer, to name a few. Each year there are new rules and requirements.

“This year is definitely more complicated. In years past we have one or two things we can do but [this year] there are four or five [approaches]. That’s what makes it fun for me because I think it will level the playing field,” Miller said.

He added because of the options in this game a team has a better chance at perfecting more than one ability regardless of the team’s size or financial support.

“This is going to aid the smaller teams…and make the alliances tighter,” he said.

In every game the teams work in alliances with other teams. This teaches the STEM students to work together with others and use each other’s strengths to build a stronger unit.

Alexander Luke from Clark’s robotic team 696 agreed but added a note of caution.

“One thing, even for powerhouse teams, is time,” he said.

He said that having an option to do so many things is good on the one hand but cautions that despite what a robot can do it still must be able to be efficient with its time on the field.

“You can be easily distracted,” Luke said.

His team is now approaching the game, keeping everything in mind including how to be strategic in their approach.

During the first few days of planning, the teams discuss what approach they will take in the game, and what type of robot to build. These discussions are very similar to what those working in STEM professions face on a daily basis.

“FIRST is a learning experience,” said Adam Komjathy, Falkon 589 freshman. “This is definitely new for me.”

He had participated in elementary and middle school with the Lego League teams but said high school competition is more intense.

“I am trying to contribute to this team as much as I can,” he added.

Karin Hamkins, a 589 junior, said the first few days are when the team focuses on the best mechanisms to use to play the game. It is also a time for students to decide what area of the robotics team they want to participate in. Biggs and Hamkins are interested in electronics and pneumatics, Miller is focused on special function and fabrication and Komjathy is hoping to do some type of CAD (computer aided design) work.

Miller and Luke both spoke about the six weeks of robot building being a time of concentration that is both difficult and fun.

“For me to be part of this competition is constantly working, day in and day out,” Luke said.

He added this allows him, while in high school, to get an idea of what he and others students will be doing in the real working world: concentrating on their jobs, working with a specific budget and working toward building the best product they can produce.

“It is a real life exercise that makes this program so great,” he added.

Miller felt the program gives teams a life example of what the STEM working world is like and he likes the competitive push of the program, though it is all encompassing.

“Sometimes I will wake up at night with an idea, and I have to get up and write it down,” he said.

Both teams survive on donations. For those who would like to contribute or would like more information, visit Clark’s team 696 at team696.org or CVHS 589 at cvrobots.com.

  Mary Okeefe