Blair Robotics Club unable to compete in FIRST Robotics Competition

Funding issues prevented the Blair Robotics Club from competing in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) National Robotics Competition this past Tuesday, April 19 through Thursday, April 21.

A personnel change in the club's primary sponsor, BAE Systems's, administration delayed funding until after the registration deadline for the prerequisite regional qualifying competition, according to senior club Treasurer David Crawford. "They realized in January that they hadn't sent us any money, and the deadline was December 31," says club sponsor James Distler.

"Regional champions"

During the competition, teams have limited time and materials that can be used to build the robot. "You can't use anything to make it exceptionally dangerous, and some sorts of rare and expensive parts you can't have," says junior club member Rachel Hunter. The competition varies from year to year, but last year, the contest involved foam ball-gathering and an attempt for the robot to grab a bar and suspend itself.

The disappointment caused by the club's inability to compete is compounded by their success at this challenge during the 2004 FIRST contest, where they were named Chesapeake Area "Regional Champions" and competed in the FIRST National Robotics Competition. "The team was kind of down in the dumps about it," says Distler. "We were riding on a kind of high from last year when we suddenly got our robotic legs knocked down from under us."

Since January, the club has received some money with which to complete more Blair-related activities, but nowhere near enough for the competition. The registration for both the regional and national competitions alone cost $6,000 and $5,000 respectively, and the robot then takes thousands of additional dollars. "You really need $15,000 just to be competitive," says Distler.

The PTA granted the team $500 in order to continue their Career Exploring and Mentoring Program (CEMP), which designs and holds challenges for elementary and middle school students involving Lego^TM Robotics. A private donor who wishes not to be named also donated $2,000, according to Distler, of which a portion will go towards CEMP, a portion to "morale boosters" to help raise the team's spirit, and a portion towards other projects such as an animated robotic mascot for Blair.

A change of profession

Distler is also contemplating career options "beyond the classroom at program development opportunities." He says that he would like to stay at Blair if at all possible, and would continue sponsoring the Robotics Club in roughly the same capacity. Instead of teaching, his main focus would be the development of a county curriculum for Technology Education for the next decade or so. "Technology Education in Montgomery County is in a state of flux right now. It's changing, but the changes have not been worked out yet," explains Distler.

New educational requirements would mean that Technology Education would need to be more academically focused. "We now need to tie engineering to the HSAs, " says Distler, adding, "I've had one of my classes do engineering papers." Standard engineering papers are formal essays that describe the steps taken to build and test a project and the results of the tests.

Eventually, he also hopes to make the Robotics Club more than simply a club. "I know that kids sometimes don't want to take [Tech Ed] because it could lower their GPA [because it is not an honors class]," says Distler. As an AP class, Distler believes that it would be more appealing to students who might not otherwise be involved with engineering and robotics and feels that the school is doing students a disservice by not providing an academic outlet for these interests that will not negatively impact GPAs. "For example, of the 16 [club members] who graduated last year, not one of them took a Tech Ed class while at Blair." As a program developer, Distler hopes that he will be able to change this and help broaden educational opportunities at Blair.