Clark Robot Takes First Place

Clark Magnet High School robotics team took first place last week at the FIRST [For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology] San Diego Regional competition.

Their challenge now is to raise funds to travel to the finals competition in Atlanta, Georgia.

"We estimate the net cost of flights and hotel rooms is $20,000," said Emily Burke, Clark robotic member.

The team won second place recently at the Los Angeles Regional, but has never taken first place. With the conquest at San Diego, the team is excited, Burke said. Team parents are going to help with costs but the students are trying to raise funds on their own.

One local organization has stepped up to the plate. The board of directors of the City of Glendale Management Association agreed to pay for one student's expenses to go to Atlanta, at an estimated cost of $1,500.

The robotics team is looking forward to the finals in Atlanta because of the variety of competition. "We will be competing with teams not only from this country but from all over the world," Burke said.

The victory this year at San Diego tasted even sweeter to the team since their design and execution was questioned by several of their adult mentors.

"There was definitely some [negative] feed back that this or that needed to be changed. And they said it would be doubtful that we would be able to make it work," she said.

But the students worked together, many taking components home with them to complete.

FIRST was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen. Each year the program challenges high school teams to build a robot that can play a FIRST designed game. Clark's robot was incredibly resilient. At one point in the LA Regional competition, its arm stuck and its sides fell off, yet it still was able to make it back to the home base.

"We fixed that," said Burke.

She feels that the key to this team's success was communication among team members. They are all excited about their win and the fact that it was truly a student project. That is another reason why they want to go on to the finals — to challenge themselves and to work together as a team against teams from all over the world.

However, their triumph brings confidence. "[Our victory] didn't just prove that we know what we are doing, but that, yes, a bunch of teenagers can do something better than adults thought we could," Burke stated.

Anyone who would like to contribute and help these enterprising students take the ultimate robotic challenge can do so by going to their web site at team696.com [no www before the address]. Information on the team can also be found at this website; or call Clark Magnet High School at 248-8324 and ask for teacher, and robot mentor, Jennifer Hughes. The team is also offering advertisement on the side of their robot for a donation. The FIRST competition is televised on the web and on NASA television.