Robotics team explains upcoming competition to community leaders

On Jan. 27, the Belleville High School Robotics team, its teachers and its mentors invited leaders of the community to a presentation on the upcoming FIRST Robotics competition at BHS to get some publicity for the event.
FIRST, a national organization, stands for: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
Its founder Dean Kamen said, “FIRST is more than robots. The robots are a vehicle for students to learn important life skills. Kids often come in not knowing what to expect — of the program nor of themselves. They leave, even after the first season, with a vision, with confidence, and with a sense that they can create their own future.”
Kamen also is inventor of the Segway human transport.
Forty teams have registered for the competition, which will be held March 23 in the BHS main gym, with the auxiliary gym holding pit areas for the teams. The teams are scheduled to arrive in town on March 22, the competition is March 23, and the award presentation on March 24. There are 24 awards listed.
School will be in session at BHS for the first two days, so logistics are important and the mentors are taking care of the details.
Last year there were nine members on the team and it won two rookie awards. This year about 20 are on the team.
Coordinator Victor DeLibera said five adult mentors have volunteered to work on making sure the contest is set up efficiently so team members can concentrate on building the robot for the competition.
“We didn’t want the team to have to worry about the contest preparation,” he told the visitors who gathered in the school’s Einstein Room to hear the details. Mentors are covering volunteers, fund raising, facilities coordination, and food.
Those in the audience included members of the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce, Belleville Downtown Development Authority, Belleville Planning Commission, business persons, and local business owner Don Johnson who already had given the group a donation. Also present was Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara.
DeLibera said “gracious professionalism” is part of the ethos of FIRST Robotics competition and while the teams compete against each other very vigorously, they also are willing to help other teams with problems that crop up.
There are more than 500 FIRST Robotics teams in Michigan and the robots are student-piloted, head to head in short games on the floor of a sports arena. Teams earn points during two-minute rounds.
Students learn from professional engineers and get an insider’s view on what is possible, according to a packet of information passed out by mentor Mark Laginess.
After a tour of the school sites to be used for the competition, the visitors enjoyed a lunch.
More information on the competition is available at:
team6615.vanburenschools.net www.firstinmichigan.org www.firstinspires.org