Thursday, February 26, 2009 By Nikiya Crisostomo - Nick Lee Advertising Robotics prepares for upcoming FIRST competition (January 26, 2007) -- For most people, the onset of January signifies new memories and second chances—a fresh start for the upcoming year. For members of the Robotics Team, the beginning of January comes with an extra thrill—the beginning of the intensive six-week build season. On Jan. 6, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) presented its sixteenth annual Robotics Competition with a Kickoff broadcast on the NASA Channel. At the Kickoff, Team 696 learned of this year’s game, “Rack N’ Roll.” The teams are supposed to design and build robots to hang inflated tubes—which look like pool floaters—on pegs arranged in rows and columns on a 10-foot high “rack.” Bonus points will be awarded if by the end of the matches the robots are in their home zone and lifted four inches off the floor by another robot. “This year’s game seems easy and not too complicated,” said senior Joshua Robins, a member of Team 696. Clark’s Robotics Team was first established in 2001, just three years after the opening of the school. It began with 13 students interested in building robots, and continued to branch out throughout the years, establishing associations with mentors and sponsors. With this new year, however, the team is faced with changes and new challenges. For the first time, another Clark teacher, Jennifer Hughes, has joined advisor Charles DeVore to organize the team. The two teachers alternate being at the meetings, meaning more time for the team to work at school. Whenever one advisor can’t stay for a meeting, the other advisor stays with the team, instead of canceling the meeting like in previous years. However, with this additional help came the loss of mentors. Robins said that many of the JPL engineers who have dedicated their time to help the Circuit Breakers during build season in the past years aren’t available this year due to their busy schedules with projects. The students are now responsible for more work without the leadership and assistance of most of the mentors, but they also experience more hands-on learning and acquire more knowledge. In addition, the issue of time is a problem that the team has to face every year. “Time is your biggest enemy,” senior Michael Hennessey said. “If you think you’re good with time, Robotics will ultimately test it.” He doesn’t think it’s sufficient to meet only one school day out of the week for most of the build season. The Circuit Breakers had been struggling these past years to become more of a student-driven team, rather than a mentor-driven team. This season, Hennessey believes that the members have made a big improvement in this aspect, but he still wants to see more initiative from them to solve the time predicament. He wishes some students could step up and volunteer any available space or meeting place where the team would be able to continue its progress outside of school. The Circuit Breakers need as much help and brainpower as they can muster, since this year’s games have the most participants in the history of FIRST. It’s the first year that all the states in the U.S. are participating, increasing the competitiveness of the regionals held in March. Luckily, old members who graduated from Clark in previous years stay committed to the team and offer their help during meetings. On Jan. 12, Kevin Lee, a 2006 Clark graduate, came to visit his friends on the team. He said he misses the cooperation and group work involved in Robotics, because in college, he mostly does individual work. He added that the skills attained in the club are extremely useful in the real world, especially in the mathematical and engineering fields. So far, the Circuit Breakers have won awards or come close to winning the competition every year since 2001. Their list of achievements includes reaching the L.A. Regional Semifinals in 2001 and 2002, reaching the L.A. Regional Finals in 2003, reaching the AZ Regional Finals in 2004 and winning the L.A. Regional Radio Shack Innovation in Control Award in 2006. This year, Team 696 will end its build season and ship its robot on Feb. 20. The students will then compete in the L.A. Regional on March 8 and the San Diego Regional on March 22, hoping to repeat the team’s successful history.

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