Robotics Team Takes Top Award at Regional Competition

When you think of robotics, you might think of something cold, logical and mechanical. But what stands out about Gus Robotics Team 228 is its heart. And heart is a big part of what earned the team the Chairman’s Award at the FIRST Worcester Polytechnic Institute Regional Competition in Worcester, Mass., this weekend.

The Chairman’s Award recognizes the team from each region that best represents the goals, mission and ideals of FIRST Robotics, including the spirit of “gracious professionalism.” Gracious professionals, according to the organization’s website, compete wholeheartedly while treating each other with respect and kindness. Gus was chosen out of 36 teams in the region, including teams from as far away as England, Brazil and Hawaii.

“We were blown away when we won the Chairman’s Award,” said Joy Dutra, an adult mentor for the team.

What Is FIRST Robotics?

The goal of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders while providing experiences that help them develop important life skills such as self-confidence, communication and leadership. FIRST holds 43 regional competitions involving about 2,000 teams. Each team gets six weeks to build a robot that will compete against other robots to accomplish a task. This year’s robot has to pick up tubes of different shapes and hang them on hooks in a certain order.

Last year, Gus won its regional competition. This year, the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals. While the current robot may not have been ultimately victorious, the team itself was. Taking home the coveted Chairman’s Award earned Gus the right to compete in the FIRST World Championships in St. Louis on April 27 - 30, 2011. Each member of the team who chooses to attend Worcester Polytech receives a $2,500 scholarship as part of the award, as well.

The regional competition also brought recognition to team captain Tina Dutra. For the second year in a row, she was one of two students chosen as finalists for the FIRST Dean’s List, named for inventor Dean Kamen (creator of the Segway) who founded FIRST. She will vie for a spot on the Dean’s List at the FIRST World Championships.

Dutra, a senior and four-year member of the team, insists she has learned things from Gus Robotics that you can’t learn in a normal classroom. And she doesn’t just mean how to build a robot. (Yes, Dutra is planning to study engineering in college.) Giving presentations for the team, like the one that earned the Chairman’s Award, has given her more confidence and made her better at explaining things, she says.

“I feel like, in my personal experience, it has helped me feel more comfortable talking in front of people,” Dutra explains.

What Is Gus Robotics Team 228?

Gus Robotics Team 228, founded in 1999, has 25 student members and 10 adult mentors. Over the years, the team name has evolved from Roboticus Maximus to Spartagus (the name of its first robot), to Gus. The number 228, assigned to the team in its first competition, has never changed.

Gus 228 blends students from two sets of competing high schools—Platt, Maloney and Wilcox Tech in Meriden and Lyman Hall and Sheehan in Wallingford. While students from these schools often face each other in fierce rivalry, they work side by side as part of the same team on Gus.

“It’s a family,” says Gordon Morrison, team mentor and former Maloney science teacher. “We take care of each other.”

Tina Dutra, a member of the Platt cross country team, says the Meriden sports teams can be very competitive. “Here, we all support and help each other,” she maintains.

That spirit of cooperation extends beyond the team, too. At competitions, teams help each other out when needed. Last year, for instance, a rookie team was almost disqualified because its robot didn’t meet the specifications. Tina Dutra spent the day helping to fix it because she wanted the team’s first competition to be a good experience.

And when Gus’s robot experienced drive-train problems, another team came to the rescue. Ironically, Gus went on to defeat them in the championship round.

Team members form strong bonds, with each other and with friends from around the country and the world that they meet at competitions. Those bonds last long after students graduate. In fact, many Gus member go off to college and then come back to work for the team as adult mentors.

“We generate our own engineers,” Morrison laughs.

Learning Real-Life Skills beyond the Classroom

Being part of the Gus team gives students valuable real-life experience. They have to work together as a team to design and build a robot according to specifications and within a budget and a deadline, just as working engineers do.

Designing, building and “driving” the robot aren’t the only jobs for Gus members. FIRST competitions also include awards for best website, best computer animation, and other contests. Team jobs include everything from fundraising to publicity to serving as the team mascot.

The main job facing the team now is raising the money needed to compete in the FIRST World Championships next month—about $10,000, according to Joy Dutra. It’s a daunting task, but “our kids are determined,” she says.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to Gus, or to find out more about the team, visit the award-winning website at www.team228.org.