FIRST Robotics competition this weekend at BHS

Thousands of visitors are expected in Belleville this week end as the FIRST Robotics competition is held at Belleville High School.
There are 40 teams and with their support crews and families they are expected to register on Thursday. Competition is Friday and Saturday in the main gymnasium, with the teams using the auxiliary gym for their pit areas.
Sandy Ennis, DTE’s vice president of Diversity and Inclusion, will speak at the event at 9 a.m. Saturday. DTE is one of the sponsors of the event.
The public is invited to view the competition without charge. Doors open at 8 a.m. for viewing the robots. The event opens at 10 a.m. Friday.
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.
There are 24 awards listed.
School will be in session at BHS on Thursday and Friday, so logistics are important and the mentors are taking care of the details.
On March 10, the BHS robotics team traveled to St. Joseph, MI, to participate in a FIRST competition and brought home a gold medal.
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.” Mentors are covering volunteers, fund raising, facilities coordination, and food.
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 mentor Mark Laginess.