With the flick of a switch and business plan in hand the Near North Student Robotics Initiative (NNSRI), FIRST Team 1305; Ice Cubed launched their 2011 season on Thursday.
With the flick of a switch and business plan in hand the Near North Student Robotics Initiative (NNSRI), FIRST Team 1305; Ice Cubed launched their 2011 season on Thursday.
Over the last eleven years NNSRI Team 1305, which is open to all secondary students of the Near North District School Board, has enjoyed tremendous success at FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competitions and they expect this year to be no different. The talented groups of students have been diligently working on constructing their robot over the past several weeks getting set for two competitions in Waterloo and Toronto that take place in March and April. From those competitions the team is hoping to impress the judges and once again qualify for the World Championships this April in St. Louis, Missouri.
“It has been a fantastic adventure over the last 11 years,” states Chippewa Principal Tim Collins of his involvement with the team.
Officials explain NNSRI promotes science, technology and positive leadership and encourages students to participate in the life changing experiences offered through FIRST competitions.
The team is constantly looking for new recruits and new challenges so this year NNSRI stormed the halls of Northern Secondary in Sturgeon Falls causing a frenzy which in turn saw the birth of Team Titanic.
Northern student Alex Sinclair explains that not much was happening in the way of extra-curricular activities for his liking until the invasion and at that point he was psyched to get a team together.
“That is crazy and that has a bit to play into why our team is Titanic. We had a little story going down because our school was an impregnable hall of nothing, there was nothing to do really cause we are in a small community there’s nothing really big … you know an ice cube sunk the Titanic and Ice Cubed the North Bay team came in and drove these big robots into our school and (were) like check out what we can do,” he explains.
“So we walked up and they let us drive the robots and (we were) like okay this is fun … and then the principal comes to talk to us and is like what would you think about starting your own team and we said that would be awesome.”
Sinclair explains that five people showed up for the first meeting and four students committed to the team and with that their initiation into robotics demonstrated the first key component of FIRST -- gracious professionalism
“And it was like okay we want to be part of this! So you know Martin and Darren and the big team leaders came down and like (said) okay this is what’s up they gave us all our parts and tools and said let’s build a robot.”
“And that’s pretty much how things started, they gave us our stuff they told us what we have to do and they left us at that.”
“It was really cool, I mean the fact that they can go out of their way that much to include all of us and just bring the whole West Nipissing community together as a whole.”
This year’s FIRST robotics challenge is titled “LOGO MOTION.” It will see two alliances of three teams compete on a 27-by-54-foot field, attempting to earn points by hanging as many triangle, circle and square logo pieces as possible in their alliances zone. Bonus points will be earned for each robot that can hang and assemble logo pieces to form the FIRST logo. Robots can also deploy Mini-Bots to climb vertical poles for a chance to earn additional points. Compliance, strategy, programming, technical skill, quick thinking and perseverance are major factors in the game.
Seasoned team member and 2010 team captain Alex Wilcox explains each year the FIRST organization presents a game full of challenge and intrigue mixed with continuity. He says there are a number of additions to this year’s game that will be challenging.
“The first time you see the game there is always you go ‘Awe really,’ you’ve been doing something well and they’ve got rid of that feature of the game, there’s a lot of continuity from year to year but they change a few things that you really don’t like.”
“It is of course towards the end of the season, once you’ve sort of hammered out your idea and started building your robot or maybe you have gone through a completion or two that you really realise what makes a game unique.”
“So right now we’ve got our opinions on the game whether we think it is good or bad, but you really have to wait till competition to see how it is going to work. We were really disappointed with last year’s game when we first saw it and it turned out to be spectacular when we got to competition, so till you get there it is really hard to tell. But the mini-bots are certainly a new aspect that we’ve never had to deal with before and that is going to be a big challenge for us in the coming weeks.”
Financing the team is also a challenge and the team is grateful to all of their supporters and sponsors. This year the team is alerting residents to pre-heat their ovens because they are turning up the heat with a fundraising cookbook. The team is currently accepting recipes at [email protected]. The book, once published, will be available for sale at various locations at a cost of $10.
Background
NNSRI also maintains a website, www.team1305.ca, business plan, promotional videos, animations and documentation binders. Teamwork, community, promotion of science and technology, technical expertise, communication and entrepreneurship are crucial to the success of the team.
Last year, NNSRI brought home the Engineering Inspiration Award from the Waterloo regional, qualifying the team for the World Championship event in Atlanta, Georgia. This award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering. The robot also took a silver medal at Waterloo. At the Greater Toronto Regional NNSRI earned the Entrepreneurship Award and the robot qualified for the semifinals. At the World Championship judges selected NNSRI for the Gracious Professionalism Award.
In December 2010, NNSRI took their smaller robot, Scorpio Metal, to compete in a Vex robotics competition. While at the event in Scarborough the team made it to the semifinals and won the Energy Award for spirit. The team also continues to mentor a FIRST Lego League team, Black Ice, which qualified for the Provincials after competing at the Sudbury regional competition.
