Gloucester Alumni

By Patrick Anderson
Staff writer

Bragging rights in Cape Ann's newest high school rivalry will hinge on the performance of two 100-pound student-athletes made of metal and equipped with catapults, pincer claws and artificial intelligence.

For the second year in a row, teams from Gloucester and Manchester Essex Regional high schools are preparing to square off against each other and 50 New England schools in the opening round of an international robotics competition that's drawing school passion and interest usually found only at athletic events

The competition, put on by the nonprofit U.S. FIRST organization, will take place next Friday and Saturday at Boston University's Agganis Arena with the top 10 teams qualifying for the national finals in Atlanta in April.

Like many schools across the region, Gloucester and Manchester Essex have turned to robotics as a way to engage students in engineering and science while giving teens with skills in those areas a competitive outlet. Coaches from both school teams say they envision expanding the use of robotics across a number of related classroom subjects as a way teach problem solving and real-world applications of science and math.

"Robotics is everywhere," Manchester Essex robotics coach and physics teacher John Chiffer said. "These kids are using it in oceanography, in physics, in math, and everything."

The rivalry began in 2006 when Manchester Essex hired Chiffer, the former assistant robotics coach at Gloucester, as a physics teacher with the idea of using his expertise to jumpstart the Manchester program.

Last year Chiffer and the newly formed Manchester Essex team, nicknamed the Stingers, took their first robot to Boston. Boosted by sponsorships from local businesses, the team walked away with the competition's Rookie Inspiration Award and a rivalry was born.

"I would say that does fuel the rivalry," Gloucester High School robotics coach Kurt Lichtenwald said yesterday about competing against a former colleague. "Yes, there is competition between us, but not any hard feelings. It is hard enough to build a program without worrying about another school."

Both teams are largely funded by sponsorships and grants from local educational foundations. Lichtenwald said the ability of Manchester to recruit lots of local sponsors, many from Gloucester, also stokes the competition.

Gloucester High senior Nick Christo said about Manchester Essex: "We are looking forward to beating them a lot."

Chiffer yesterday said he "didn't believe in rivalries," but said in an e-mail that Gloucester may have been made "uneasy by the engineering skill and abilities of our team members."

The contest in Boston will pit the robots against one another on a 54-foot-long oval track crossed by a 6-foot overpass above the finish line with 10-pound rubber balls resting on top of it. Teams score points by having their robots race around the track, pick up the balls, carry them and toss them over the overpass.

Each team in January received a kit with raw materials for its robot and the rules of this year's game. The teams then had six weeks to design, build and test their units before shipping them to Boston by Feb 19.

Unlike some made-for-television robot competitions, the U.S. First competition is not supposed to involve combat. Lichtenwald said the guiding principle is "gracious professionalism," a form of sportsmanship that excludes anti-robot weapons, intentional damage to other teams' equipment and demolition-derby tactics.

But Lichtenwald said last year the physicality of the action surprised the Gloucester team.

"Last year we were told there was limited contact and then when we got there, there was a lot of contact," Lichtenwald said. "This time we have made our machine stronger and beefier, and if anything goes wrong, we have a catapult on the end of it."

The Manchester Essex robot, which weighs in at just under 100 pounds, features a sophisticated electromechanical lifting system with an air-pressure driven pincer to raise and grip the game balls, Chiffer said.

The Gloucester robot, tipping the scales at a robust 120 pounds, employs a car-like, rack-and-pinion steering system to provide greater speed and handling, unlike the more common tank-tread system used on many robots, Lichtenwald said.

Students described the "catapult" as a swinging boot able to kick the ball over the overpass.

Coaches at both schools said they are working to convince administrators to introduce robotics into more areas of the curriculum to capitalize on the excitement generated by the contest. At both schools, students have made videos of the competition and other students are involved in managing the teams.

This year Chiffer had students in his oceanography class build small remote-controlled submarines that they drove under the winter ice in Manchester Harbor.

In Gloucester, Lichtenwald's students have built a variety of smaller land-based robots in his classes.

"We are currently looking at ways to bring robotics into other parts of the curriculum," James Lee, principal of Manchester Essex Regional High School, said. "Parents and businesses got this off the ground and we want to continue to expand the interest in engineering."

Students at both schools said they are excited about going to Boston and seeing all the work they have put into the robots tested in battle.

"The best part is the actual building, taking raw materials and turning them into something useful," Manchester Essex senior Taylor Stevens said.

"We have gone with an entirely different design than other teams use this year," said Tim Wood, captain of the Gloucester team. "We're confident it's going to do well."

Manchester Essex junior Dan Kelly, whose family allowed its garage to be used to build the team's robot, said the camaraderie of building the robot as a team made up for some of the frustration that comes with long hours of programming and metalwork.

"Last year we had the mentors helping us a lot and this year we would do most of the work ourselves," Kelly said. "The best part is building it with your friends. The hardest part is fixing one thing and then having two more break on you."

Patrick Anderson may be contacted at panderson@gloucestertimes.com

If You Go

What: Boston's U.S. FIRST Robotics Competition

When: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, March 28, and Saturday, March 29. Event finals begin 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Agganis Arena at Boston University, 925 Commonwealth Ave., Boston.

How much: Free to the public.
ShareThis PrintThis