The Litchfield High School robotics team, the Litchbots #1784, competed Saturday in the pre-season scrimmage “The Suffield Shakedown”, to test their new robot prior to official competition. Twenty-five area high schools brought their enthusiasm and their robots to Suffield High School to compete on an official F.I.R.S.T. arena in an exciting one-day event. The Litchbots won 2 of 3 of their matches and played excellent defense, not allowing a single goal to be scored by the opponents. continued
The Litchbots were supported by their mentors Kevin Dake (faculty advisor), Lance Stronk (electrical engineer), Steve Rivers (machinist), Terry O’Brien (production manager), Tony Calderoni (engineering manager), and Laurie Piwonski (volunteer coordinator).
Our robot is designed to kick a soccer ball, drive over obstacles, and hang from elevated framework. As in years past, the teams will play in alliances of three on three in fast paced two-minute matches. To make the game more challenging, the 54-foot long field is divided into three sections by fourteen-inch tall “bumps” that the robots need to drive over without tipping. This year’s game is called Breakaway, awarding points for soccer balls kicked into corner goals with bonus points awarded to robots that can suspend themselves above the playing field.
F.I.R.S.T. is a not-for-profit public charity created to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology (www.usfirst.org). They release instructions for a new game on the first Saturday of January. High school teams then have six weeks to design and build a robot to compete in the new game. For a $5000 entrance fee, F.I.R.S.T. provides a kit of parts, rents locations for the regional events, builds playing fields, and provides referees and technical support for 44 regional events and one championship event.
This year’s registration includes over 45,000 students from 1809 high schools, representing 12 countries. The Litchbots will be competing in the CL&P/CT Regional at the Connecticut Convention Center on April 1-3, 2010. All F.I.R.S.T. events are free and open to the public. For more information please review: http://www.ctfirst.org/first-ct-programs/CTRegional-Home.cfm
Please come watch us and your favorite area teams compete. To support the Litchbots with donations or mentorship, please contact Kevin Dake at 860-567-7530 X3141 or dakek@litchfieldschools.org.
The Litchbots would like to thank our newest supporter, CL&P, for awarding us a generous grant. We greatly appreciate the support of our other donors: Seherr-Thoss Foundation; Litchfield Junior Women’s Club; Founder Insurance; Litchfield Lions Club; O & G; Maricostas Foundation; Litchfield Bancorp; R.A.M. Unlimited; and Burns, Brooks, and McNeil. Litchbots also recognizes the continued long-term support of the Litchfield Education Foundation in their efforts to provide educational programming to our students.
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