BRANDON SCHOOLS- The Brandon High School Robotics team are no new kids on the block when it comes to robotics.
They are, however, when it comes to FIRST.
The, “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,” (FIRST) competitions are designed for students to learn engineering and its various attributes through hands on activities.
“I have been an advisor for our robotics team for three years,” said Bill Bonsky, tech lab teacher and robotics team advisor at Brandon High School. “This year is my first year with the FIRST competitions though. For the past several years the Brandon team has participated in the Oakland County Robotics Association (OCRA).”
“The biggest difference I have found is that in OCRA the students are required to do everything themselves, engineers were only allowed to supply a basic knowledge to the students. Now, in FIRST, where engineers can even work on the robots, students learn more by watching what is and can be done,” he added.
Being a rookie team in the league, Brandon with only nine students is a relatively small group.”This is only our first year,” Bonsky said. “Next year will be different. [Technology] aspect of school is still new, and will continue to be seen that way until we either win big, or lose big, or something big happens.”
With only nine students, the team has been able to schedule each of the team members to go to all three regional competitions. “We have a small team, because this is our first year and because there are Brandon students on other area teams,” Bonsky said.
Even though the Brandon Team are rookies, they are not seeing that as a disadvantage says Will McCullough robotics team member. “We have a chance to win this thing.You could say that Brandon is the number one student supplier for area robotics teams.”
The opportunity to win was helped along with the support of team sponsor Continental Teves, an electronics systems company which makes things such as anti-lock brake systems and other vital components for automotive companies. Continental Teves provided a $25,000 donation to help fund the league registration fee of $13,000.
Not only did Continental Teves provide financial support for the Brandon Robotics team, they provided workers and facilities for the projects. “They have done a lot for us,” Bonsky said. “Not just monetarily, they have come up with the extra things as well such as team shirts and emergency production of parts.”
The company also provided five engineers to help the team design and build its robot for the competitions. “We had five engineers to help us with the project,” Bonsky mentioned. “We only had one or two a night coming over to help, but each engineer specialized in a different aspect of the project.”
The Brandon Robotics team went to their first regional competition this past weekend, at Eastern Michigan University, in Ypsilanti. Though the outcome of the weekend-long tournament was not available by press time, prior to the event the team was excited to be going.
“We are looking forward to it,” Bonsky said.
“There is more energy at these robotics competitions than at a football game,” McCullough said. “Most people would think it’s a bunch of nerdy kids working on mechanics, but it’s not. Some of these teams fill the stands with upwards of 30 fans, and there are 200 teams at a competition. It’s crazy and loud, and a lot of fun.”
“We think we have a chance because of our design. It’s really a simple design, and as long as everything works the way it is supposed to, we could win this thing,” Bonsky said.