Robotics teams ready to rock after months of designing, building

The basement garage of Greg Vincent's Murrysville house used to be home to an Airstream trailer and a small light airplane. Now, the space is a workshop for FRobotics — the Franklin Regional High School robotics team.

Each of the past five winters, the team of about 20 students descends upon Vincent's home — he's the head coach, and his son was a member before graduating — for the robotics competition season. Starting in January, Vincent, the students and other volunteer coaches spend hours after school and on weekends sketching, building and programming a 120-pound robot.

“You go every day, every other day, whenever you're able to, and your goal is to improve all the time,” said Dana Lynch, a Franklin Regional sophomore and one of the team's computer programmers. “How can you make your code, how can you make the robot, better?”

This weekend, FRobotics will join more than 50 other robotics teams from nine states, as well as China and Taiwan, at the Convocation Center at California University of Pennsylvania for the Greater Pittsburgh Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, one of 83 such events taking place around the globe this spring.

Teams comprised of middle and high school students had six weeks, starting in early January, to build a robot that is able to complete tasks such as driving autonomously, picking up and stacking boxes and climbing onto platforms. Winners will move on to national championships in Detroit and Houston in late May, but all of the students have the chance to compete for other awards recognizing leadership and sportsmanship, as well as college scholarships.

“Since I've been in here for four seasons, I'm looking forward to the competition and being able to compete with the best robot we've ever had,” said Michael Cao, a senior at Franklin Regional and vice president of FRobotics in charge of leading programming operations. He plans to study computer science in college.

“I get to watch these kids go from freshmen on through to senior and build skills and develop an interest in doing this kind of stuff — fabricating, designing, debugging, all that kind of stuff,” said Vincent, a nuclear engineer by schooling and a product manager at Westinghouse Electric.Of the 3,650 teams competing in FIRST competitions around the world this spring, about 20 are from southwestern Pennsylvania. Many local teams compete under the banner of students' high schools, while other teams are organized by nonprofits or universities.

Though there seems to be more opportunities for students to engage with robotics and other technical fields than ever, students like Michael Singer, a senior at Central Westmoreland Career and Technical Center, or CWCTC, say there's something unique about FIRST. Regional competitions take on the feeling of a sporting event, complete with wild crowds, dancing mascots and announcers calling each match while instant replays are displayed on the Jumbotron, he said.

“I know what to expect, but it's still exciting every year,” said Singer, who has participated in the competitions since ninth grade with the Road Dogs, his team housed at CWCTC. Singer plans to study mechatronics at Cal U in the fall.

Teams range in size from about five to more than 30 students responsible for tasks that go beyond designing, building and programming the robot.

“We need people who are interested in art, and writing, pretty much everything,” said Michael Rossi, a Franklin Regional senior and co-vice president of FRobotics. “This is basically a full business, and we need a wide range of talents to keep it running.”

Teams generally rely on funding from sponsors, fundraising and donations — in the form of time, materials and manpower — to make the season possible.

Though Franklin Regional will help the team with the cost of entry fees this year, high school Principal Ron Suvak said that there are still some limitations.

“It is still largely privately funded because we just don't have the room to house them properly,” Suvak said.

Jamie Martines is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at jmartines@tribweb.com, 724-850-2867 or via Twitter @Jamie_Martines.