"Chief Delphi" Wins Inaugural First Great Lakes Regional Robotics Competition
21 March 1998
"Chief Delphi" Wins Inaugural First Great Lakes Regional Robotics Competition
YPSILANTI, Mich., March 21 -- Pontiac (Mich.) Central High
School, sponsored by Delphi Automotive Systems' Interior & Lighting division,
won the inaugural FIRST Great Lakes Regional Robotics competition at Eastern
Michigan University today.
The "Chief Delphi" team defeated Delphi Delco Electronics Systems & Kokomo
(Ind.) High School in the best two-out-of-three finals, two matches to none.
With previous regional wins at Houston and Manchester, N.H., earlier this
month, Chief Delphi becomes a clear favorite for FIRST's National Championship
competition, to be held April 2-4 at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center in
Orlando, Fla.
"I was very proud of our team," said Barbara Sanders, sponsor for the
Chief Delphi team. "They showed a lot of heart today, and this really sets
the stage for us to have a strong competition in Orlando."
FIRST, which stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology," is a national competition which immerses high school students in
real-world applications of math and science. The students work with corporate
and university engineers to create robots that compete in games created by
FIRST ( http://www.usfirst.org ).
The team of Motorola, Inc., and Rolling Meadows (IL.)/Wheeling (IL.) High
Schools, which had captured the #1 seed in qualifying matches yesterday, lost
in the quarterfinals to Chief Delphi, two matches to none.
The other two teams to make it to the semifinals were 3-Dimensional
Services and Oakland (Mich.) Tech Center; and the GM Milford Proving Ground
and Milford/Lakeland/Harbor (Mich.) High Schools.
The teams to make it to the quarterfinals included ITW Drawform, Inc., and
Zeeland (Mich.) High School; GM Powertrain and Pontiac (Mich.) Northern High
School; and Rochester High School.
Rochester High School of Rochester Hills, Mich., was the Cinderella team
of the tournament. The team, which has no corporate sponsor and designed its
robot without professional engineering help, made it all the way to the
quarterfinals, despite placing 26th out of 31 teams in the seeding competition
yesterday. Today in the tournament, Rochester Hills beat four teams,
including eventual champion "Chief Delphi" in the double-elimination
preliminary rounds, before losing to the GM Proving Ground team in the
quarterfinals.
"We tried to find a sponsor for three months, but then we
said, heck, let's just do this on our own," said Warren Hildebrandt of
Rochester High School. "The kids did it all by themselves. I'm so proud of
what they've done."
Here's how the competition works: Three teams play at once. Each team
has five members playing the game -- two students control the robot; one
student serves as a "human player"; and two other members serve as coaches
with their robots competing within a hexagon-shaped playing field.
In the middle of the field, there's an eight-foot-tall, hexagon-shaped
central goal, with three parallel steel rails radiating out from the central
goal in an upward diagonal direction. The rails are divided into three zones
for scoring purposes.
Each team is assigned a color -- red, white or blue. In the playing
field, there are nine colored balls per team. Three balls are placed on the
rails; three are placed on the floor of the field; and three are given to the
human player.
The objective is to score as many points as possible in a two-minute
period. Teams earn points only by putting balls on the steel rails -- but
they can double their points exponentially (times two, times four, times
eight) by putting balls in the middle of the central goal.
The remote-controlled robots can play offense by picking up one of the 20-
inch vinyl balls and putting it on a rail or in the goal. The robot can play
defense by knocking another team's balls off the rail, or by protecting it own
balls. The "human player" also can influence the game by throwing at least
three balls into the field. The player can throw more if the robot retrieves
and returns balls.
"These competitions are like the last two minutes of an NBA game, over and
over again," said Woodie Flowers, a professor at MIT and one of FIRST's
originators. "It's one of the most exciting things you can attend."
More than 200 teams are competing in five regional competitions across the
United States this month, including Houston; Chicago; Manchester, N.H.;
and New Brunswick, N.J.
The robots were designed, manufactured and tested by students and adult
mentors during a six-week period starting Jan. 10. The robots have a maximum
weight of 130 lbs. and a maximum dimension of 30" x 36" x 48". For parts,
teams used materials provided to everyone by FIRST. They were also allowed to
purchase up to $425 in additional, pre-approved materials by SMALL PARTS, INC.
"Our hope is that when kids put 'FIRST' on their college applications,
admissions people will immediately recognize the activity and appreciate how
special it is," said Dave Doiron of FIRST.
RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS FIRST GREAT LAKES REGIONAL ROBOTICS COMPETITION
Featherweight in the Finals Award (lightest machine to make it to at least
the quarterfinals) -- Rochester (Mich.) High School, 89 lbs.
Outstanding Defense Award -- ITW Drawform, Inc., and Zeeland (Mich.) High
School
Best Offensive Series in Double-Elimination Play -- Rochester (Mich.) High
School
Special Judges Award for "Best Supporting Player" (for demonstrating
enthusiasm and team spirit) -- General Motors Powertrain Group and
Ypsilanti (Mich.) and Willow Run (Mich.) High Schools
Special Judges Award for "Against All Odds" (for overcoming obstacles in
getting to the competition) -- Eastern Michigan University and Oakland
Science, Mathematics & Technology Academy
Johnson & Johnson Best Sportsmanship Award -- General Motors Powertrain
and Pontiac (Mich.) Northern High School
SOURCE FIRST