By Mary Beth Hislop
 joe hu/town crier Members of Los Altos High School’s robotics team, Eagle Strike, work on their robot to prepare for their next match. |
After soaring into first place in the semifinals at the Silicon Valley Regional 2007 FIRST Robotics Competition, the Los Altos High School “Eagle Strike” science team’s wings were clipped by other competitors. They will not advance to the championship in Atlanta next month.
The loss came on Saturday in the finals of a three-day competition held at the San Jose State University Event Center March 15-17.
Now in their 10th year of participating in “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science in Technology,” the Los Altos team competed against 48 teams after making it to the quarterfinals in the Pacific Northwest Regional competition held earlier this month in Portland, Ore.
Led by team captains Michael Corsetto and Adam Garcia, and head designer and engineer Craig Hickman, the 20 students from the after-school club have been working on a six-week project to create a robot that can “place inflatable colored tubes on spider legs of a rack structure” while meeting specifications required by Autodesk Inc., the San Rafael-based software company.
“I believe robotics is more educational than school,” said Hickman, 16. “Everything we’ve learned here, we’ll use in real life.”
Hickman said the team had six weeks to create the prototype on the software provided by Autodesk, and then build the robot itself. Prototype design began Jan. 7. The students worked 2:30-9 p.m. every day until they had to ship their robot to Autodesk.
The students worked in teams and individually on the different parts of the robot - the arm, grabber, camera programming and pneumatics, according to Hickman - and were mentored by physics instructor Adam Randall.
“He keeps the team together and sane,” Hickman said.
Randall said he has mentored and guided the science students since 1998, and that each year’s team is special.
“But this year’s team is the most sophisticated, technologically,” Randall said.
Randall said the students must solve very difficult problems by breaking them down into several simple problems.
“I’m not a big fan of the robots,” Randall said. “I’m a fan of the students. The students are absolutely incredible in what they can do.”
Now 18 and a senior at The King’s Academy, Corsetto is in his fourth and final competition with the robotics team. Corsetto said the high school has allowed him to participate with the team because his school does not have a program.
“Each year, the projects get better,” Corsetto said. “We progress in knowledge, in technology and learn from our mistakes.”
Corsetto said the team concentrated on the robot’s speed, which helped them maintain fourth place by 2 p.m. on Friday.
Charlie Morrin, 16, was responsible for the pneumatics of the project, including the compressors that propel the robot, lift its arms and give it its speed.
“Instead of a motor, I see the compressor as an alternative to get power from point A to point B,” Morrin said.
Autodesk solutions engineer Derrick Smith said his company has sponsored the event for 16 years and has donated more than $72 million in software, program support and technical advice, including $17 million this year.
“The students are very excited about the opportunity to use the software from Autodesk,” Smith said. “It gives them a leg up. They’re learning early the value of prototyping.”
The robots don’t necessarily retire after the competition, Corsetto said. The robots will go to elementary and preschools to inspire young scientists and will also be used in demonstrations to recruit new club members.
Next year’s rookies will use the current robot to test their skills at a minicompetition in October.
Corsetto and Garcia will graduate this spring; they’ll also assign new team captains. Hickman will be a senior, participating in his final year of the competition.
“It’s the hardest fun I’ve ever had,” he said.
