9 minute read
Mandeville Robotics Team
Mandeville Robotics Team
Building Robots and Futures
WRITTEN BY: KAREN B. GIBBS
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORTHSHORE ROBOTICS
Imagine 30-60 teens gathering twice a week—for three hours at a time—to learn and to work. And for six weeks out of the year, ramp that up to an impressive input of 30-plus hours a week!
Welcome to the world of the Mandeville High School Robotics Team.
What drives these kids’ extraordinary dedication? It’s the robots they design and build, bots affectionately named Rodrigue and Dizzy that begin as sketches and end up as fully operational robots competing with teams from around the world.
At its inception in 2008, the robotics team–aka The S.S. Prometheus–met in a garage and then a classroom. Now, thanks to former Mandeville Mayor Donald Villere and current Mayor Clay Madden, they gather in a spacious shop in the city’s public works complex. Having access to this facility is a major reason for the team’s success. Stocked with a plethora of tools and supplies, it attracts students— male, female, STEM and non-STEM, alike.
What keeps students coming back is the culture of “gracious professionalism,” a hallmark of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), the international robotics organization to which the team belongs.
“Teams focus on robotics and doing the best they can,” said one of the group’s mentors, Elizabeth Barilleaux. “It’s a collaborative environment with everybody working together to help each other improve.”
In fact, according to Donovon Barilleaux, the build co-captain, it’s common to ask other teams for what you need during competitions. “A team always comes and gives it to you. It’s looked on as rude if they don’t,” he said.
“With robotics, it’s competitive as ever but you don’t see the negativity that is in other sports,” said Michael Sonnier who has served as a team mentor since 2013. “Teams support teams. I have seen teams getting help from those they’re about to play against–kids and adults trying to fix another team’s robot before the next match. This is FIRSTwide. It’s very much the culture.”
The Mandeville team spreads this attitude to the community by mentoring and sharing its space, tools and equipment with other junior high and high school teams. Team Outreach Captain Gerad Gruntz has even designed a STEM kit with pieces and instructions to build a hydraulically-controlled claw. “We plan to give the kits to 40 kids at Christmas,” he said.
Among team members, gracious professionalism shines as newcomers learn coding, computer aided drafting (CAD) and design principles from older, more experienced students and adult mentors. They are challenged to put these skills to use by tackling a mini-project such as developing a shooting arm for a robot. After mastering that small task, they have enough experience under their belt to contribute to the team during build season.
Build season begins on Jan. 7 at 11 a.m. when FIRST teams worldwide receive the year’s challenge. Team Captain Oliver Casey said last year’s challenge entailed robots picking up specific colored balls and shooting them into a funnel 10 feet off the ground.
Students start collaborating and sketching ideas on paper immediately after the challenge is announced. “Then, we test those ideas with prototypes made from wood and cheap materials that we can put together quickly,” said CJ Boice, design captain. “For instance, we test the intake that picks up the balls from the ground. Does it pick up the ball? How quickly? How far off the ground does it need to be? We take measurements, then we CAD it on the computer and make a 3D model. From this we produce an actual model.”
The team has six weeks to build and program their robot. “The most challenging time is the week before competition,” said Payton Boice, build co-captain. “We’re always rushing. Last year, the night before the Tallahassee Regional, we were in the shop trying to fine-tune our robot.”
Team members—and a trailer containing their 150-pound robot and 1,500 pounds of pit equipment—caravan to a three-day competition hosted by FIRST. There are 170 worldwide.
The atmosphere at the games is energizing, exciting and fun. “People are yelling, music is playing at all times and line dances are going on,” Payton Boice said. Teams play 10 qualification matches before advancing to the elimination bracket. Each match lasts 2½ minutes. For the first 15 seconds of each match, the robot must work autonomously; thereafter, it is controlled by student drivers.
During matches, teams are randomly assigned into alliances made up of three teams each. A team’s opponent for one match may be their alliance partner for the next. “Since we work with our two alliance partners, we have to know our robot and our alliance’s robots, too,” Casey said, who strategizes to make the most of each robots’ strengths.
Members who are neither driving the robot nor in the pit repairing it scout other teams. The students wrote a phone app where they record pertinent information for analysis.
"This year, we placed second at Tallahasse against some of the best teams in the world. But we still advanced to Worlds because we won the Chairman’s award for outstanding outreach in the community,” said Christopher Pedersen, media captain.
In 2021’s virtual competition (due to Covid), the team whizzed their robot, Dizzy, through an obstacle course to win third place in the world. Indeed, the Mandeville Robotics Team has come a long way since its inception in 2008. “But in the end, this is not about building robots, it’s about building students,” Sonnier said.
And build them they do!
Audrey Borstel, a junior who joined the team in June said she’s grown through robotics. “Everyone is so accepting of everybody. Even though I’m not mechanically inclined, I’m able to show my strengths with the team in fundraising and community outreach,” she said.
Ninth grader Sofia Villegas, whose parents work in STEM-related careers, likes the people on the team and the connection they share with robotics. She loves CAD and attends classes given by CJ Boice. “He’s taught me how to do gears, pulleys, chains and belts,” she said.
Veronica Ise, a junior, has been on the build team for three years. “I helped design and build Dizzy and worked a lot on the shooter and the ball intake. It’s really fun to work with the team,” she said. She’s also learning to code and CAD. “We used CAD to make the 3D model on the computer; then we made mock models and coded all the motors to test the pieces.”
Barilleaux, who’s also involved in band and Boy Scouts, said robotics is the “most enjoyable thing I do. I love all the people; most are my friends. I feel the team listens to and values my opinion.”
Barilleaux recalls working with Christopher Pedersen to build Woodie, a freshman robot. “I drove Woodie against a team ranked 31st in the world,” he said. “Woodie blocked their robot so they couldn’t score.”
Gruntz, a junior and the team’s outreach captain, spreads the word about robotics to kids in area schools. “We get their attention by showing off the robot and letting them play catch with it. They think it’s cool. Then we talk with parents about how they can get their kids involved with STEM,” he said.
Other outreach activities include a robotics summer camp for middle schoolers, off-season regional competitions and fundraising demonstrations at businesses like Barnes and Noble and Sam’s Club that supplement the support the team gets from corporate sponsors.
Students aren’t the only fans of the Mandeville robotics team. “Mandeville High is noted for parental involvement. It’s something we encourage, whatever their niche. And when mentors stay on after their kids graduate, their longterm experience and tribal knowledge become huge factors in our success,” Sonnier said.
Four-year mentor and chemical engineer Corey Boice credits robotics for the interest his sons, CJ and Payton, have in soldering, motors and electronics—and for CJ’s plans to study mechanical engineering at the Air Force Academy.
Mechanical engineer and former robotics team member Michael Adams has no children at the school but volunteers to pass on the tradition. “I can show them how to use a tool, but prefer to be hands off. Kids pick things up quickly,” he said.
Software engineer Ryan Harvey, whose daughter Maya is on the team, teaches coding. “Coding is programming—the brains of the robot,” Harvey said. Having taught at Loyola, he knows that hands-on experience motivates students.
“In robotics, kids can learn something and immediately start using it to bring value to the robot,” he said. “Whether it’s coding, CAD, building, outreach, fundraising or media—it’s all part of the team. That makes robotics a very compelling experience, a more open and diverse invitation. And the competition—that makes it exciting!”
Louis Gruntz, Gerad’s dad, said team members are gaining invaluable experience. “These kids are doing things I didn’t learn until college—and didn’t understand until I was in the workforce,” he said.
Four-year mentor and electrical engineer Lonny Orth joined the team when son Loki was a freshman. “I’m from the Star Wars era,” he said. “I’m living my dream helping kids build a robot from scratch.”
Robotics can help kids live their dream, too. Forget touchdowns, slam dunks and winning goals. Robotics may be the only sport where every student has the opportunity to go pro.
